Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe: Easy make at home caramel corn, so good, better than store bought, perfect for gift giving.
It’s the final day, Day Five of Christmas Treats Week. And today we're making Homemade Caramel Corn. It’s been so much fun making lots of sweet treats for the holidays. And, my family and friends sure are enjoying eating them all. Check them all out at the bottom of this post.
This caramel corn recipe is amazing. Like I can’t stop eating it amazing. I mention to my friend Leanne long ago that I was looking for a caramel corn recipe. She said she had one, and that people she’d given the caramel corn to in the past keep asking her and asking her to make it for them again. Always a good sign. And after making it myself I knew why they keep asking for it, it’s so good. This is sometimes called Amish caramel corn, and comes from an old Amish family recipe. This Amish recipe uses simple ingredients.
One of my very favourite things to get at Disney World is the amazing Caramel Corn at Epcot, from the Werthers Bake Shop. After I first made this caramel corn, I told my husband we don’t have to go to Disney World anymore. Then he looked sad, so I revised it to, we can satisfy our Disney World Caramel Corn cravings in between trips. ;). If you're a fan of the Disney Werthers caramel corn, I know you'll love this recipe too.
This caramel corn is quite easy to make, it just takes a little time. I promise it’s worth it though.
Popcorn
We used our air popper to make our popcorn. The measurement in the recipe is for unpopped kernels. All of the popcorn kernels will not pop, but make sure to remove them. You don't want to bite into a caramel covered unpopped kernel, as it would be very hard on your teeth. I don't recommend using microwave popcorn for this, as it usually included salt and butter which we don't want for our caramel corn recipe.
Optional:
This caramel corn is also be great with some nuts stirred in with the popcorn. Add a cup of peanuts to the popcorn and caramel mixture before baking if you wish. We like using roasted peanuts, but you can alter the nuts, or try mixed nuts if you wish, or slivered almonds, or pecans. Salted nuts add that great salty sweet combo, that many people love and is something a little different.
Gift Giving
This sweet treat is perfect for gift giving. I’ve packaged it up into cute little take-out boxes, it would also be great in cello bags. It's a great recipe with no artificial flavors, made with simple ingredients you probably have in your pantry and fridge. It has a great depth of flavor and is buttery and rich. We love to make this around the holiday season. It's become one of our family traditions to bring it to holiday parties and family gatherings. Anyone with a sweet tooth will love it. It's a perfect hostess gift. It's also great around Halloween. It makes a great little party favor packaged in cute containers. Really, this is a lovely homemade gift anytime of year.
Be sure to store it in an airtight container. But, it probably won’t last too long. It tends to be a little bit addictive once you start eating it.
Recipe
Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups brown sugar
- ½ cup corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup unpopped popcorn kernels -popped
Instructions
- Start by popping your popcorn, and removing any unpopped kernels. Set the popped popcorn aside.
- In a large pot, melt your butter over a high heat and stir in the sugar, corn syrup and salt.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 5 min. without stirring.
- Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda. Take care, it will foam up when the baking soda is added.
- Add the popcorn to the caramel sauce and stir until the popcorn is completely covered.
- Pour mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Bake at 250 for 75 min. stirring every 15 min.
- Continue to stir and break up the caramel popcorn clusters as it cools after baking for the best results, so that it doesn't stick together as it cools.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Nutrition
With this Homemade Caramel Corn, life really is a party!
More Homemade Candy Inspiration
Check out all these other posts from our Christmas Treat Week:
Pecan Butter Crunch recipe here.
Creamy Caramels and Chocolate Salted Caramels recipe here.
Homemade Caramel Apples recipe here.
Homemade Coffee Marshmallows recipe here.
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