Gourmet Caramel Covered Popcorn

I love popcorn that’s coated with cheese, taco seasoning, butter or CARAMEL!!  This caramel popcorn is sweet, salty, crunchy & downright addictive!!!  It’s what I call a good whore recipe.

Let me explain, a whore recipe is one that has been pass around and talked about…A LOT so you know it’s gotta be good!! One of my girls called me up and said she had a good whore recipe for me to try for caramel popcorn. I didn’t need any convincing. I wrote down the ingredients and immediately got to work.

The results: sinfully good! This caramel popcorn is one of those snacks where you beg someone to take the bowl away from you. You know it’s not good for you but you just can’t freakin stop! Every time I walk into the kitchen I leave out with a handful of this stuff!! You can double the caramel mixture if you like for your popcorn to be super coated.


Gourmet Caramel Covered Popcorn
Recipe Type: popcorn
Author: Divas Can Cook
Ingredients
  • 1 (3.3 oz ) bag of regular salted popcorn
  • 5 Tablespoons of butter
  • 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup corn syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon2-3 baking soda
  • Peanuts (optional)
Instructions
  1. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray and set aside
  2. Microwave a bag of popcorn. I use “Natural” by Orville Redenbacher which is lightly salted & not buttered.
  3. When the popcorn is done pour it into a large bowl and sift through it to remove the unpopped kernels. (they usually settle on the bottom) Set aside.
  4. In a medium saucepan melt butter
  5. Add in brown sugar, corn syrup & vanilla
  6. Stir and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for about 2-3 minutes. (be sure to watch the sauce carefully because it is hell to clean up if it boils over)
  7. Add baking soda & stir. The mixture will become lighter and frothy
  8. Quickly pour the caramel mixture over popcorn and toss with a spoon until well coated. Work quickly since the caramel hardens pretty fast. If you are adding in peanuts then toss them in as well. (hmm…I guess you could also just pour the popcorn into the caramel sauce…I’ll do that next time around to see if it makes mixing easier)
  9. Spread popcorn in a a single layer on a baking sheet and let sit until it’s set. Go ahead and have a taste. I can never wait until it’s done to start munching!
  10. When popcorn is set, break it apart and store in an airtight container.

 


Helpful Tips*

*If you desire every single corner of your popcorn to be coated in caramel (you naughty little girl you!) then you can double the caramel recipe.

*Increase the caramel mixture and add in a 1/2 cup or more of peanuts for a better than crunch n’ munch recipe!

*This caramel popcorn hardens up on it’s own but if you want it to have a super crunch to it (and not really into picking caramel out of your teeth) then bake it in the oven on 250 for 1 hour (turning every 15 minutes)