Description
Delight in this festive Christmas Popcorn Candy recipe featuring crispy popcorn coated in a spiced caramel glaze, enhanced with toasted slivered almonds. Perfect as a sweet holiday treat that stays fresh and crunchy for weeks.
Ingredients
Scale
Popcorn
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (not required if air popping with a popcorn maker)
- 1/3 cup popping corn (yields 10 cups popcorn)
- 2/3 cup slivered almonds
Caramel
- 100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (170g) light corn syrup (substitute glucose if desired)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Christmas Spices
- 3 tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 tsp ginger powder
- 1/2 tsp allspice powder (or more cinnamon)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves (or more cinnamon)
Instructions
- Pop the Popcorn: Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add a few popcorn kernels and wait until they pop, then quickly remove them. Add the remaining popcorn kernels, lift the pot off the stove to shake and spread kernels evenly, then cover with a lid. Return to heat and once popping starts vigorously, shake the pot gently once. Remove from heat when popping slows down (about a count of 3 between pops). Transfer the 10 cups of popped popcorn to a very large bowl.
- Make the Caramel: Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F). Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt, stirring just until combined. When the mixture starts to bubble, simmer without stirring for 4 minutes. Remove from heat, then whisk in the Christmas spices, vanilla extract, and baking soda vigorously for 10 seconds until the caramel foams and increases in volume.
- Coat the Popcorn: Quickly pour the hot caramel over the popcorn and toss thoroughly to coat. Sprinkle the slivered almonds over the popcorn and toss again until the caramel begins to cool and harden slightly.
- Bake to Crisp: Spread the coated popcorn evenly across two baking trays. Bake for 45 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes to ensure even coating and crispiness. If using glucose or other substitutes for corn syrup, bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- Store: Once cooled, gently break the popcorn candy into pieces. Store in an airtight container to keep crisp for 2 to 3 weeks.
Notes
- Using 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels yields a full caramel coverage, making the popcorn very sweet and candy-like; using 3/4 cup kernels results in lighter caramel coverage.
- Corn syrup stabilizes the caramel and prevents crystallization. Glucose syrup is a good substitute but requires longer baking time; golden syrup, honey, or maple syrup can also be used with additional baking time.
- Store popcorn candy in an airtight container to maintain crispness for up to 3 weeks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 250 kcal
- Sugar: 18 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 32 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
