In the event you’re in search of a selfmade deal with that tastes like pure nostalgic magic, you’ve simply discovered it. This Finest Caramel Popcorn Ever recipe is every little thing we love about old school sweets: heat, golden caramel, crunchy popcorn kernels, and that melt-in-your-mouth buttery end that makes it not possible to cease snacking. Whether or not you’re making it for a comfortable film evening, packaging it up for items, or getting ready a giant bowl for a vacation social gathering, this caramel popcorn comes out completely each single time.
Impressed by the basic flavors which have made caramel popcorn a beloved American favourite for greater than a century, this recipe takes easy pantry staples and transforms them into one thing actually unforgettable. Prepare; your kitchen is about to scent like a classic sweet store, and your folks shall be begging for the recipe!
I’d like to share learn how to make the perfect caramel popcorn ever! It has a gooey, yummy caramel unfold over popcorn or corn pops and stays mushy however not drippy. It’s an outdated favourite that our household loves.
I assume that’s how I’d describe this caramel deal with. I take advantage of the caramel for apples within the fall, popcorn in the summertime, or anytime in between! This can be a household reunion favourite shared deal with!
That is extremely simple to make, and the caramel popcorn is so mushy that you just’ll find it irresistible! It’s a type of treats you’ll be able to’t cease consuming—it’s important to find it irresistible!
The Candy Historical past Behind the Finest Caramel Popcorn Ever
Caramel popcorn might really feel like a contemporary consolation deal with. Nonetheless, its historical past stretches again greater than a century—and it’s a narrative full of American nostalgia, innovation, and healthful fairgrounds allure.
Early Beginnings
Popcorn itself has been loved for hundreds of years, however it wasn’t till the late 1800s that caramel and popcorn got here collectively. As popcorn surged in recognition—due to cheap corn and the invention of the steam-powered popcorn machine—inventive confectioners began experimenting with candy coatings to make popcorn much more irresistible.
Enter Caramel
Caramel, made merely from sugar, butter, and warmth, grew to become the successful mixture. Across the 1870s–Eighteen Eighties, small sweet makers started promoting sugar-coated popcorn clusters at festivals, markets, and touring exhibits. The sticky-sweet coating saved properly and traveled properly, making popcorn really feel like a particular deal with.
Cracker Jack Makes Historical past
In 1896, Frederick and Louis Rueckheim launched Cracker Jack, the primary mass-produced caramel-coated popcorn blended with peanuts. This single product revolutionized American snacking. It was featured on the Chicago World’s Truthful, embraced by baseball followers, and finally immortalized within the music “Take Me Out to the Ball Recreation.”
Cracker Jack proved that caramel popcorn wasn’t only a novelty—it was a nationwide treasure.
Selfmade Caramel Popcorn Takes Off
By the mid-1900s, residence cooks started making their very own small-batch variations. Recipes appeared in church cookbooks, neighborhood recipe playing cards, and household vacation traditions. Selfmade caramel popcorn grew to become a basic for:
- Fall festivals
- College bake gross sales
- Halloween treats
- Vacation film nights
- Neighbor items and social gathering bowls
Households liked its simplicity and the magical second when the nice and cozy caramel mingled with fluffy popcorn.
At this time’s Caramel Popcorn
Fashionable variations use richer butter, pure vanilla, and baking methods that create the proper crunch with out being too sticky. The greatest caramel popcorn at the moment stays true to its roots: heat, buttery, golden, cozy, and stuffed with nostalgic allure.
The Finest Caramel Popcorn Ever
What Makes It the BEST?
- Excellent candy–salt–butter steadiness
- Extremely-crunchy (by no means soggy!)
- Straightforward components present in any pantry
- Critically addictive
Star Components
- Popcorn
- Butter
- Brown sugar
- Corn syrup
- Vanilla
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
Why You’ll Love It
- Prepared in below an hour
- Smells like an old school sweet store
- Nice for gifting, events, or cozy nights in
- Child-approved + crowd-approved
Excellent Events
- Film nights
- Bake gross sales
- Vacation tins
- After-school snacks
- Fall + winter gatherings
Professional Ideas
- Bake it low + gradual for a fair crunch
- Break aside whereas heat
- Retailer hermetic to maintain it crisp
Selfmade Caramel Popcorn
Gadgets Wanted within the Kitchen:
The Finest Caramel Popcorn Ever Components
- Brown Sugar is a mix of granulated white sugar and molasses. It’s added for taste and to assist keep moisture. Brown sugar caramelizes because it cooks, creating a strong, wealthy taste that makes this caramel actually unbelievable!
- Gentle Corn Syrup: is a mild-tasting sweetener good for making caramel popcorn, sweet, frosting, and sauces. It’s a clear syrup made by extracting cornstarch with added vanilla flavoring.
- Salted or Unsalted Butter: Salted butter helps stop the caramel from crumbling. It additionally prevents the sweetened condensed milk from evaporating, creating moist, mushy, and fluffy caramel popcorn. Nevertheless, salt is already added to ready-made prepackaged popcorn and corn pops, so it’s as much as you whether or not you employ salted or unsalted butter.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: is milk with sugar added and many of the water eliminated. It has a pleasant, creamy taste and a syrupy texture.
- Popcorn is a corn kernel that enlarges and puffs up when heated. It’s good for absorbing the luscious caramel on this recipe!
- Corn Puffs are just like popcorn however with out the kernels! I take advantage of Clover Membership’s Corn Puffs (see image beneath), which isn’t the well-known Kellogg’s Corn Pops cereal.
Step One: Collect Components
These are the one components you want. Karo Syrup doesn’t include Excessive Fructose Syrup.
Step Two: Grease Two Giant Bowls
Step one is to take a plastic bag with some butter to grease two giant bowls. One giant bowl for the popped popcorn and one other for the corn puffs. These are the bowls I take advantage of: Stainless Metal Bowls
PopCorn
Corn Puffs (not the cereal form)
Step Three: Convey the Brown Sugar and Corn Syrup to a boil.
On the range, at medium-high warmth, convey the brown sugar and corn syrup to a boil.
Step 4: Stir Always
I’ve discovered that if I don’t proceed stirring, the combination can get “burned” on the underside and persist with the pan. Stirring helps make sure that the total combination involves a boil, not simply alongside the sides.
Step 5: Convey Brown Sugar and Corn Syrup to a Boil
Proceed stirring continuously over medium warmth till it begins to boil.
Step Six: Add Butter and Sweetened Condensed Milk
Stir continuously and add the butter items and sweetened condensed milk.
Sweetened Condensed Milk
Step Seven: Stir Always
Once more, you could proceed stirring. Because the combination involves a boil, it turns into lighter in colour and thickens. Attempt to get the boiling combination to 220°F to 240°F earlier than turning off the warmth. I used a sweet thermometer, however nearly any meals thermometer ought to work fantastic.
Step Eight: Prepare dinner Till the Combination Varieties a Semi-firm Ball
Prepare dinner to a semi-firm texture. To check the feel, drop some caramel in a cup of chilly water. If it may be made right into a semi-firm ball, it’s prepared.
Step 9: Pour Caramel Over Popcorn and Corn Puffs – Stir
Pour the caramel combination over the buttered popcorn and the corn puffs. Then, stir rapidly with a silicone spoon, guaranteeing the caramel covers the popcorn and corn puffs in every bowl. This can imply bringing the caramel and corn from the underside to the highest in the course of the stirring. Watch out as you do that for the reason that caramel is sizzling.
You’re welcome to serve the caramel popcorn and caramel corn puffs proper from the big bowls, or you’ll be able to unfold them out on baking sheets or extra dressy serving bowls. It depends upon the way you’d like them to look as you serve them. I wouldn’t put the combination on a cooling rack as you let it cool to room temperature, such as you did along with your cookies. It might create a much bigger mess and make clean-up tougher.
Completed Product:
The Finest Caramel Popcorn Ever Recipe
Course:
Dessert
Delicacies:
American
Servings: 15 individuals
:
-
4
cups
of brown sugar -
2
cups
of sunshine Corn Syrup -
1
cup
of salted or unsalted butter (minimize into items) -
2
14-ounce cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk - Buttered popcorn (bag)
- Clover Membership Corn Puffs
-
Collect your entire components. Take a plastic bag with some butter on it to grease two giant bowls. One for the popped popcorn and one other bowl for the corn puffs.
-
Convey the brown sugar and corn syrup to a boil.
-
Stir continuously and add the butter items and sweetened condensed milk.
-
Proceed stirring continuously over medium warmth. Prepare dinner till you will get the combination to kind right into a semi-firm ball. To check out the feel, drop some caramel in a cup of chilly water and if it may be made right into a semi-firm ball…it is prepared.
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This makes loads of caramel so you may make a big batch of caramel popcorn. I like to purchase already-popped popcorn at Harmon’s grocery retailer, or an analogous grocery retailer. The corn puffs bundle I used at the moment is named “Corn Puffs” from an organization known as Clover Membership (not the cereal corn pops) and a bundle of buttered popped popcorn. Put the popped popcorn and/or corn puffs in a really giant greased/buttered bowl so you’re able to stir the caramel over the 1 pound of popcorn in a short time. You may add peanuts, pecans, and almonds for a singular taste. Get pleasure from!
Can I pop my popcorn as a substitute of shopping for it?
You might be welcome to pop your popcorn. I like the flavour of the buttered pre-made popcorn you should purchase on the retailer. The popcorn and the caramel within the recipe are unbeatable! Plus, it’s all about simplicity, proper? One much less step if the popcorn is able to go!
How do I retailer the caramel popcorn?
I extremely suggest storing the caramel popcorn in an hermetic container. If saved appropriately, it should final about 3-5 days in your countertop. If you would like a heat deal with, I’d put the caramel popcorn in your microwave for a brief interval, relying on how a lot you’re attempting to warmth up. I wouldn’t attempt to reheat it in your oven.
What variations may I make to this caramel popcorn recipe?
I like this caramel popcorn the best way it’s! In the event you’d like so as to add components to differ the recipe, I like to recommend including nuts—reminiscent of cashews, pecans, peanuts, almonds, or walnuts. You would additionally drizzle milk chocolate or white chocolate over the caramel popcorn.
You would add a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract to the caramel combination, however I really feel the flavour is ideal and doesn’t want any further flavoring. The choices are countless with this recipe!
Some like so as to add a little bit baking soda to their caramel popcorn recipes, however I don’t really feel that it’s crucial for this recipe. The components come collectively properly with out it.
If you wish to make Caramel Apples with the Caramel Sauce
Wash the apples and dry them completely. Put the “Popsicle” sticks into the apples, then place the apples on parchment paper within the fridge. The caramel sticks to chilly apples higher than room-temperature apples.
I often have a small hammer subsequent to the apples as a result of it’s the one solution to get the sticks into the crisp apples.
You may roll the caramel apples in mini chocolate chips (let the caramel calm down first, or the chips will soften), coconut, or chopped pecans.
Anticipate two issues to occur after you make and serve these enjoyable treats: (1) your fingers and tooth will get sticky caramel throughout them, and (2) your loved ones will beg you to make extra batches as soon as these are rapidly eaten up. Get pleasure from!
I hope you attempt making my caramel popcorn recipe; please let me know when you do. It’s the perfect caramel popcorn ever!
The style of brown sugar, mild corn syrup, butter, and sweetened condensed milk caramelize as they warmth is totally superb! The chewiness is the proper mix of gooey and simply the correct quantity of crunch from the popcorn and corn puffs! You and your visitors will return for one handful after one other!
Test for unpopped popcorn kernels, significantly when you pop your corn at residence. Biting right into a kernel can harm your tooth.
It’s nice for events, household reunions, and neighborhood get-togethers. It’s additionally good for a snack whereas watching films on film evening or for giving to your neighbors as a Christmas present. Could God bless this world, Linda
