The Amish make the best, melt-in-your-mouth caramel corn. With just a few simple ingredients, you can whip up this simple holiday treat in about 1 hour.
This is my go-to recipe for every Thanksgiving and Christmas get-together. Homemade Caramel Corn is a classic. It’s also makes for an excellent gift. I like to fill up those big decorative popcorn cans and hand these out to family, friends, teachers, the bus driver, you name it.
Everyone loves caramel corn. In fact, I often have to hide it around the house. Otherwise, my family would devour it in just a few days.
You can also store it in Ziploc baggies and send it off with the kids in their lunchbox. Pretty sure this gets me some extra hugs around the holidays.
How long can caramel corn be stored?
Popcorn is one of those foods that seems to last forever! In fact, popcorn (including caramel corn) doesn’t spoil or go bad. It just loses its flavor and crispiness over time. But when you store it in an airtight container, it should last up to 3 months.
But if you’re like our family, it’s usually gone within a week. You can also fill up some Ziploc bags and pass them out as gifts.
Why is my caramel corn so sticky?
If you find that your caramel corn is excessively sticky, it hasn’t been cooked properly. Temperature and timing are very important when it comes to making the perfect batch of homemade caramel corn.
Be sure to bring it to the correct temperature. This ensures that when it cools, it dries as a shiny coating rather than a sticky sauce. Also, be sure to take your time when you bring the mixture to a boil. If you’re like me, I tend to get a little impatient. But it’s important that you keep the heat on medium and allow it to come to a boil naturally. You want a nice SLOW bubbling boil.
2cupsslivered almonds (Can also use dry roasted nuts, honey rosated peanuts, cashews, Macadamia nuts, or pecans)
2cupsbrown sugar
1/2cuplight corn syrup
1tspsalt
1cupbutter
1tspbaking soda
1tspvanilla extract
Dash of cayenne pepper
Instructions
Cook 2 bags of popcorn in the microwave. Two 3.5oz bags of microwave popcorn equals 7 quarts of popped corn.
Place the popped popcorn into (2) shallow greased baking pans. Sprinkle the slivered almonds or nuts of your choice on top. Set aside. You can also use roasting pans if you prefer, which makes it a bit easier to stir without any popcorn falling out.
Preheat the oven to 240 degrees F. While the oven is heating, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Note: It’s important not to get in a hurry and bring everything to a boil too quickly. You want a nice SLOW bubbling boil.
Once the mixture begins to boil, continue boiling for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the baking pans. Stir to coat.
Bake for 1 hour. But be sure to remove them from the oven and give them a good stir every 15 minutes.
After it’s done baking, line the countertop with waxed paper. Pour the popcorn out onto the waxed paper. Allow the popcorn to cool completely.
Store in airtight containers. It can be kept for up to 3 months.
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If you prefer chewy caramel corn, let it sit until the caramel has hardened. If you prefer crunchy caramel corn, Preheat oven to 250 F. and bake for 30-40 minutes, tossing occasionally. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Once cooled, break the larger clumps into smaller pieces if desired.
If you keep it in a airtight container it will last up to one month, and if it takes stale, put it in a warm oven, for a few minutes about 250 degrees, and it will freshen it up ! If you use a machine that takes the air out it will last even longer, up to several months !
While some people said that she added the egg to absorb extra heat, others had different views. "Whole eggs absorb excess heat so it's an easy way to regulate the temperature balance of the other ingredients," a user wrote.
In terms of caramel popcorn, a cup of it has a trace amount of iron and roughly 1.3 grams of protein. Additionally, it offers roughly 160 calories, 32 net carbs, and slightly over one gram of fiber. It promotes health.
Perhaps you have some granules of sugar that are 'un-melted'. It could be that your corn syrup (if used) is reacting in some way. Now to the second - chewy. Try heating your sugar syrup for a little longer.
How Do I Get My Popcorn Crunchy and Not Soggy? The longer you cook the syrup (the mixture of sugar and water the forms the base of the caramel sauce), the crunchier your popcorn will be. For very crunchy popcorn (my favorite!), stop cooking when you see the first wisps of smoke coming from the sugar mixture.
Too short of a cooling time: Caramel sauce thickens significantly as it cools, so let the caramel cool for the appropriate time to achieve the right thickness. If the sauce is still too thin after cooling completely, place it back on the stovetop and reheat it on low heat for a few additional minutes.
Be very careful as you heat your caramel. Follow the recipe carefully, and never melt your caramel on your stove's highest setting—it will cause the caramel to scorch and taste burnt. Once it gets a burnt or bitter flavor, it can't be saved. Luckily, sugar is inexpensive, so you can always start over!
The liquefied sugar is then cooked, without stirring, until it darkens in color, taking on additional flavor notes the longer it remains on the heat. You want to hit the sweet spot here: If the caramel is too light, it won't have much flavor, but if it gets too dark, it will taste burnt and bitter.
For each cup (240 mL) of caramel sauce that you need to thicken, run 1 tbsp (14.7 mL) of cold water into a measuring cup, and slowly stir in 1 tbsp of cornstarch. Pour the cornstarch mixture into your pot caramel sauce, and stir constantly. Keep the sauce on low heat until it begins to thicken.
Generally, the caramel will have a higher 'water activity' than the popcorn. As a result, if you leave the popcorn for a while, moisture from the caramel will migrate into the corn. This causes the popcorn to lose its 'crunch' and become soft and chewy.
A granule of sugar, over-mixing, or uncooperative clumps of sea salt can turn caramel from a glossy, shiny confection into a dull grainy heap of chewy, brown sugar crystals. Candy making, or in this case caramel popcorn making, involves a significant amount of chemistry.
Store caramel corn in an airtight container at room temperature to keep it fresh and crunchy. Avoid storing it in the refrigerator, as the humidity can make it soft.
Salt: To balance the sweet. Baking Soda: Arguably the most important ingredient! The purpose of baking soda in the caramel is to react with the acidic ingredients (brown sugar, cream of tartar, and corn syrup), which creates tiny carbon dioxide air bubbles.
– the science bit. The citric acid reacts with the carbonate in bicarbonate of soda to form carbon dioxide gas. These bubbles of carbon dioxide are what make your drink fizzy. You can find out more about carbonates and acids here.
A good lid is important when making popcorn, but there's a bit of a strategy here. For the best results, and lowest number of un-popped kernels leave the lid open just a hairline amount. It allows any steam or moisture to get out as well, resulting in fluffy kernels.
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Introduction: My name is Madonna Wisozk, I am a attractive, healthy, thoughtful, faithful, open, vivacious, zany person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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