Nothing beats a good batch of homemade caramel corn. Sweet and salty all at once, this version uses sugars with minimal processing, leaving it with a slighty mellow yet rich flavor from the real maple syrup.
I got this basic recipe from Kelly the Kitchen Kop and changed it just slightly for my own tastes. I love to make this when I get a sweet tooth and I feel much better about it knowing I use only real, whole ingredients and there’s no high fructose corn syrup in it! It’s my new favorite Saturday night snack.
Homemade Caramel Corn
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup organic popping corn
- 2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil for popping
- you’ll want about 6 cups of popped corn
- The caramel:
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup whole cane sugar
- 1/4 cup real maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- optional – chopped nuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Mix topping ingredients together in saucepan over medium heat while corn is popping (or for about 2 minutes).
- Then mix the topping and popcorn (and nuts if using) together well in a large bowl, taking out any unpopped kernels you find.
- Place in a 300 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
- Let cool slightly and break apart. Enjoy!
I also love to take a big bowl of caramel corn to family get-togethers and it’s a great gift item as well.
One of my favorite add-in’s is a big spoonful of peanut butter (approximately 2-3 tablespoons), though you can use any nut or seed butter you have on hand.
Donielle Baker
Homemade Pizza Sauce
We seriously just made caramel corn, and I’m sitting here munching on it! 🙂 Looking at your recipe, ours is very similar; I use honey instead of maple syrup. Yum! 🙂 I like to stir in some peanuts, too, so that it tastes like Cracker Jack.
Blessings,
Michele
Have you tried popping your corn in coconut oil like Kelly the Kitchen Kop? OH MY. Yum. It tastes heavenly with just salt; I can only imagine what it would taste like with carmel.
Julie – I’m out of my kitchen coconut oil right now, but I have made it many times w/ it. Right now my only jar of coconut oil I have is in the bathroom, so I get lazy and just use butter. Still yummier than store bought!
What is sucanat? I have a similar recipe that calls for brown sugar. Mine also calls for baking soda which makes the topping very light and tasty!
Sucanat is basically sugar in it’s most natural form. It’s pure dried cane sugar juice that retains it’s molasses content.
I use it to replace brown sugar in recipes as brown sugar is actually refined white sugar with the molasses added back in for coloring and flavor.
Thanks for sharing, Donielle! Do you happen to have a picture of this recipe? 🙂 It sounds so yummy! 😀
@Tammy L, It’s fabulous! I actually made a big batch of it on Monday to keep in a large ziploc and snack on throughout the week. And I’d love to show you a picture, but our ‘week’ of popcorn lasted only 2 days! But maybe the “I have to take a pic for my blog” excuse is reason enough to make it again. 🙂 I’ll let you know when I get one up!
Divine, didn’t think I would be able to eat carmel corn again!
Discovered this recipe a few months ago, and I absolutely love it! I’ve made & mailed it to quite a few new moms as a special treat, and everyone’s loved it. Works perfectly with coconut sugar, and is also wonderful sprinkled with a little natural cocoa powder. Thanks for the perfect recipe!
@amanda, Yay – so glad you like it! It’s one of our favorite indulgences too. 🙂