Caramel Corn
I absolutely love popcorn. It’s such a great little snack. Caramel corn is even better. And I love every excuse I can come up with to use my candy thermometer (now that I have one).
I made this caramel corn for a football party over at a friend’s house. I popped the popcorn at home and then made it into caramel corn once we got there. It smelled amazing while it was baking and I’m not the only one who burnt my tongue because I was too impatient to wait for it to cool down after it came out of the oven.
I went ahead and threw in the optional peanuts. I liked the additional saltiness and crunch that they provided. When I make this again, I’ll probably even throw a bit more in.
This caramel corn would also make a great homemade gift since it keeps very well. How excited would you be if you got some homemade caramel corn for the holidays?
One Year Ago: Chocolate Mousse and Eggplant Parmesan
Two Years Ago: Chocolate Chip Snowballs and Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
Caramel Corn
Yield: 8-12
Ingredients:
15 cups popped corn (9 tablespoons kernels, popped)
2 Tbsp molasses
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup salted butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 200°F and line a half-sheet pan (18" x 13" pan) with parchment paper. Pour the popped corn into a large bowl, at least 6 quarts, and set aside.
In a large saucepan over medium-high heat bring the molasses, brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup to a boil. Boil, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the baking soda. Stir well as the mixture turns foamy.
Immediately (and carefully) pour the hot syrup over the popped corn and stir until the corn is well coated.
Spread the hot caramel corn into the parchment-lined pan. Bake at 200°F for one hour. Stir the corn every 15 minutes during this time.
Remove from the oven. This caramel corn is a warm, sticky, sweet and crunchy treat straight from the oven. It can also be cooled and stored airtight for several days. This recipe doubles and triples very well.
Recipe from King Arthur Flour
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’ll take any leftovers! They sound amazing. I keep saying dessert recipes with bacon and bookmarking them, but I haven’t tried any yet. Adding this one to the list now too. 🙂
These look so terrific. I love the flavor combinations!
I’m intrigued!
interesting! I have a recipe for chocolate bacon fudge or maybe pb bacon fudge but I’m afraid to try it
The frosting sounds amazing. I honestly still can’t bring myself to get behind bacon in desserts. Maybe someday I’ll try a bacon cupcake if I’m given one though. 🙂 I can only resist so long.
YUM! These look so good! I haven’t tried the bacon / sweet combo yet, but I’m sure I would love it!
This looks delicious but I’ve got to ask….what is a pirate party?
Fun and Fearless – It’s exactly like it sounds… Everyone dresses up as a pirate (or something related – Hubby and I went as Treasure maps last year). They even hire this guy who looks like Captain Jack Sparrow to come and there’s a prize for best costume. One of the best parties of the year!
Sounds great! The problem I’ve seen with bacon is that sometimes it is chewy in cupcakes. That’s not good. I like that this recipe says to cook until crispy. Extra crispy for me!
My favorite candy bar is bacon chocolate!!! I can’t wait to try this 🙂
Wow, those look and sound amazing!
oh yum. after putting bacon in last years cookies this might need to be next 🙂
I’m so curious to try bacon in baked goods, but do you think turkey bacon would work?
Corrine – I’m sure turkey bacon would work if you could get it nice and crispy. I’ve heard that if the bacon isn’t super crispy, it has a really weird chewy texture in baked goods.
Thanks Jen! I’m going to give it a try!
This has just about everything that I would want to go together. Awesome recipe!
This is certianly a unqiue mixture of tastes and textures, but it comes together nicely. Definatly a must try!
Chocolate..caramel…bacon…PERFECTION.
I am infatuated with the perfect smoky/salty addition of bacon into sweet baked goods. So delicious. Of course, I’m kind of a fan of adding bacon into just about anything.
Great pics, def wanna try these out!
Sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out like you wanted. Have you ever tried the bacon/chocolate cupcake at Cherry Bomb Bakery in Brighton? They are fantastic!