Easy Caramel Corn With Peanuts

5 from 11 votes

Easy Caramel Corn With Peanuts

This caramel corn with peanuts delivers glossy, bakery-quality caramel that stays crisp for weeks. It's the ultimate movie-night snack and an edible gift that'll have everyone asking for your secret recipe.

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 10

Servings

Calories 335kcal

Author Krystle Smith

Ingredients

10-12 cups Air popped Popcorn Okay so substitute a 3.5 ounce bag of Microwave popcorn
1 cup Brown Sugar packed
¼ cup Light Corn Syrup
½ cup Butter melted
1 tablespoon Water
2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Salted Peanuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pop your popcorn by following the instructions on the kernels.
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Pour popped corn in.
Mix together brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt , and water in a medium saucepan.
Simmer stirring frequently until the temperature reaches 250 on a candy thermometer.
Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and baking soda.
Pour caramel mixture over the popcorn. Fold in until popcorn is evenly coated. Stir in peanuts.
Pour popcorn onto prepared baking sheet in a single layer.
Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so.
Cool completely. Break up and store in an airtight container.

Notes

Ingredient Notes

Popcorn: Air-popped gives you the cleanest flavor. You can also use plain microwave popcorn just avoid the butter-flavored variety. Before you start cooking, dump the popped corn into a large bowl: the kernels will sink to the bottom!

Brown Sugar: Pack it firmly into your measuring cup. Don't use white sugar.

Baking Soda: Don't leave this out.Don't substitute baking powder it won't foam up the same way.

Butter: Use real butter, not margarine. I use salted butter because the tiny bit of salt enhances the sweetness, but unsalted works too if that's what you have.

Krystle's Tips

Prep Your Mise en Place: Measure out the baking soda and vanilla before you start cooking. Once caramel reaches 250 degrees you need to work fast.

Oil Everything: Before you start, spray your mixing spoon, measuring cup, and anything else that might touch caramel with nonstick spray like Pam.

Prevent Crystallization: While your syrup cooks, use a wet pastry brush to wipe down any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan. I also like to put a lid on the pan for the first few minutes to create steam that washes away any crystals.

Stir Like Your Life Depends On It: Once that caramel hits the popcorn, you have about two minutes to get everything coated before it starts setting.

The Paper Bag Trick: I like to put my popcorn in a large brown paper grocery bag, pour the hot caramel over it, and stir or shake it right in the bag.

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