Crunchy Baked Caramel Corn Recipes

CRUNCHY CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Place popcorn in a large bowl; if using cashews, add to bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.
• In a small saucepan, bring butter, sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil, stirring constantly. Working quickly, drizzle popcorn with sugar syrup, and toss.
• Spread popcorn evenly on prepared baking sheet. Bake, tossing occasionally, until golden and shiny, about 40 minutes. Transfer hot popcorn to parchment-paper-lined baking sheet; let cool.

CLASSIC CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Spray large shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Add popcorn and place in preheated 250 degrees F oven while preparing caramel.
• Mix brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Boil 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla; mix well.
• Pour syrup over warm popcorn, stirring to coat evenly.
• Bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and spread on foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
• Cool; break apart. Store in tightly covered container.

BAKED CARAMEL POPCORN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250ºF.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugar, corn syrup, and salt; stir to combine. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once the mixture comes to a boil, let it boil for 5 minutes without stirring.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and the baking soda. Be careful - as the mixture will bubble up.
• Gradually pour the caramel over the popped corn, mixing well. (I usually have the popcorn in 2 big bowls to give me enough room to stir to coat it with caramel.)
• Turn the coated popcorn out onto 2 large, shallow baking sheets. I usually use half sheet baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minute, or until fairly dry, stirring twice during baking time. Remove from the pan and break into pieces.
• Store the caramel popcorn in an air-tight container.

CRUNCHY BAKED CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Put 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover until popped; add remaining kernels to the saucepan in an even layer. Cover and remove from heat, about 30 seconds. Return to heat and gently shake pan back and forth over the burner until popping slows to several seconds between pops, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.
• Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in a 2-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Let boil for 5 minutes more without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and baking soda. Stir well. Pour over the popcorn; mix until evenly coated. Transfer to a shallow oven-safe pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, until a cooled piece of popcorn is crunchy, about 1 hour.

CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250°. Place popcorn in 2 large bowls. Add 1/2 pound peanuts to each bowl. In a Dutch oven, combine remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir 5 minutes. , Pour half of the syrup over each bowl of popcorn and stir to coat. Transfer to large roasting or 15x10x1-in. baking pans. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes., Remove from oven and break apart while warm. Cool completely. Store in airtight containers.