Party Caramel-Coated Popcorn
Here is how to make Party Caramel-Coated Popped Corn. This popcorn has a delicious caramel topping and is perfect for munching on while you watch a movie or ballgame. Or you can enjoy it as a comfort food when you want to curl up on the couch!
Here is how to make Party Caramel-Coated Popped Corn. This popcorn has a delicious caramel topping and is perfect for munching on while you watch a movie or ballgame. Or you can enjoy it as a comfort food when you want to curl up on the couch!
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- cooking oil spray
- 5 to 8 cups popped popcorn with unpopped kernels removed (this will heavily coat a microwa
- 1/2 stick butter melted
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup peanuts (optional) (i did not use nuts, but you may add any nuts of your
- Carbohydrate 35.63185625 g
- Cholesterol 15.260625 mg
- Fat 34.6742853125 g
- Fiber 1.19 g
- Protein 3.810199375 g
- Saturated Fat 7.84465828125 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (79g)
- Sodium 28.09490625 mg
- Sugar 34.44185625 g
- Trans Fat 1.15488025 g
- Calories 460 calories
Step-by-step
- Begin by popping the corn you want to coat with caramel topping.
- Then, spray a large bowl and a large spoon with cooking oil spray.
- Place about half of the popped popcorn into the sprayed bowl.
- Now, prepare your topping.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, melt ? stick butter.
- Add 1 cup light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, ? teaspoon vanilla extract, and ? cup peanuts (if desired).
- Mix together, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- When the mixture is at a full, rolling boil, cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat, and add ? to ? teaspoon of baking soda.
- Stir the baking soda briskly into the cooked coating mixture.
- The consistency of the mixture will change, and it will bubble up some.
- Continue to stir, occasionally, as the coating begins to cool.
- After about a couple of minutes, the coating will thicken and begin to lose its gloss.
- Quickly pour about half of it over the popcorn in the greased bowl.
- (Make sure you dont let the topping set up before you get your popcorn coated!)
- Gently stir the popcorn/coating mixture with the greased spoon.
- Working quickly, add as much more popcorn as you want to coat, pour the remaining coating over the popcorn, and stir quickly, but gently.
- When the popcorn is coated to your satisfaction, pour it out onto a baking pan that has been covered with waxed paper.
- Spread it out as evenly as possible.
- Let it cool, (which will be very quick), and then break it apart and place it in serving bowls.
- Enjoy!!!
- Happy movie!
- Happy ballgame!
- Happy comfort food
Adding baking soda to boiling sugar syrup creates microscopic carbon dioxide bubbles that alter the texture of hardened caramel. Confectioners adopted this chemical leavening agent in the late nineteenth century to prevent popcorn coatings from forming tooth-shattering glass-like sheets. Without this aeration step, sugar cools into a dense, hard shell.
- Substitute the dairy butter with refined coconut oil at a one-to-one ratio for a dairy-free version, ensuring the fat content matches the original recipe to achieve proper emulsion during boiling.
- Incorporate roasted peanuts or raw cashews directly into the boiling sugar mixture so the heat toasts the nut proteins while coating them simultaneously.
- Pour the finished mixture onto waxed paper rather than parchment to prevent sticking, as the paraffin coating releases the sugary shell easily once cooled below 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Store cooled portions in an airtight metal tin lined with parchment paper for up to five weeks at room temperature to prevent moisture absorption from the air.
Freezing caramel corn is not recommended because ambient freezer humidity liquefies the sugar matrix upon thawing. Maintaining strict moisture control guarantees crispness throughout the storage window.
