make: halloween caramel corn

As a kid, the weeks leading up to Halloween were always filled with two flavors: Candy Corn and Caramel Corn. With Halloween only a little over a week away, I have been craving both so this weekend I went crazy and threw them all together. And added peanuts because I also was introduced to the genius pairing of candy corn and salted peanuts this weekend. Mind blowing and totally changes the flavor of the candy corn. If you haven’t tried it, try a few handfuls of each while you are making this. This is my mother’s recipe for Caramel Corn, in my very biased opinion it is the best and easiest way to make this treat.

Halloween Caramel Corn
Ingredients

+ Vegetable Oil
+ 1 /4 cup popcorn kernel
+ 1 cup light brown sugar
+ 1/4 cup light corn syrup
+ 1 pinch of sea salt
+ 1/3 cup unsalted butter
+ 1 tsp baking soda
+ One 11 oz. bag of candy corn
+ 2 cups salted boiled peanuts

Start by popping the popcorn. I prefer to do this in a pan on the stove so use a large sauce pan/stock pot, add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan (approximately 1 tablespoon) and place 3 kernels of popcorn into the pan. When the three kernels pop, add 1/4 cup of popcorn. Shake the pan every 30 or so seconds until the popcorn has stopped popping. Remove to cookie sheet or bowl. This should make approximately 6 cups of popped-popcorn.

Next, make the caramel. In a medium sauce pan add butter, sugar, corn syrup, and salt to pan and stir until melted. Bring it to a boil and remove from heat. Add baking soda and stir–it will foam up a bit. Throw in popcorn and mix until the popcorn is fully coated. Add an entire bag of candy corn and 2 cups of peanuts and stir until mixed. You can either wait five minutes and then form the mix into balls or spread it out onto a parchment lined cookie sheet to cool.

Enjoy!

xo

kw

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Posted in cook, make, the goodsTagged candy corn, caramel, halloween, kw, make, peanuts, popcorn, the goodsLeave a comment

whisk: peanut butter cup + brownies popcorn

As a kid, I loved Dairy Queen Blizzards (and their low fat sibling, the Breeze) There’s something so wonderful about blending your favorite things together. As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, I have a tendency to do this with a lot of things (see crack brownies) and now with this — Peanut Butter Cup Brownie Popcorn. Popcorn, like rice krispie treats, will gladly take on the flavor of whatever you mix it with while adding its crunchy texture and shape. In this case, I combined it with peanut butter, chocolate, brownie mix and peanut butter cups. I made this intending to give it to family at Sunday’s Easter brunch but I, shamefully, am not sure there will be any left to giveaway… Here’s how it’s made:

Ingredients
+ 6 cups popcorn (popped)
+ 1.25 c. dark chocolate chips
+ 1.25 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
+ 1/3 c. creamy peanut butter
+ 3/4 c. brownie mix
+ 1 10 oz. bag of mini peanut butter cups (unwrapped)

Pop the popcorn using your preferred method. I have an old stove top whirly bird that I use but you could just as easily use your favorite microwave popcorn. Place the popcorn in a large bowl and set aside.

Combine the chocolate chips in a microwave proof bowl and melt in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. This should take about 2-3 minutes to melt. Do not overheat it, make sure you heat only until it is melted and smooth. Then add the peanut butter and stir until combined. You may have to microwave it for a few seconds to get it to melt (no more than 15 seconds).

Then 1/4 c. at a time, add the dry brownie mix. The key to this is that you want the chocolate to get thick but not gritty, you want it to remain smooth so you may not need the full 3/4c, use your judgement here.

Once mixed, quickly pour the chocolate over the popcorn and add the peanut butter cups. Using a set of tongs, toss everything together until the popcorn is coated.

Pour the popcorn out onto two sheet pans/cookie sheets and allow to cool until the chocolate hardens. I put it in the fridge for an hour or so. You want to wait until it is fully hardened before serving (if you can).

There you have it. The possibilities are endless here and if I do run out, I’m tempted to make a caramel corn with rolo batch for my family instead. Enjoy!

–kw