This is still my favorite treats.
If you remember, this past October I made caramel popcorn and I told you that is was my favorite treat. I am pretty sure it still is because I have yet to come across something more deliciously addictive. This holiday season I wanted to give it as gifts because it is that good. I was curious to see if I could use food coloring to dye some of the caramel sauce red and green and you know what...it worked! Now this popcorn is delicious and super festive.
When you make this, make as large a batch as possible because everybody will want some. If all you have is a 9x13 pan, it will fit one bag of popcorn easily, two if you are super careful when you stir. To make the colored popcorn I did three bags of popcorn and divided them into three 9x13 pans. The original recipe is written for 4 bags, so I have adjusted below in case you want to color the popcorn.
Caramel Popcorn
recipe adapted from Sue Harmon
3 bags butters and salted popcorn, popped (remove any kernels) unpopped
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 + 1/8 cup light corn syrup
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
red and green food coloring
Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, sitting frequently. Boil over low heat for five minutes. Remove from heat and add the baking soda and vanilla
Place each bag of popcorn in a 9x13 pan coated with cooking spray. Pour approximately 1/3 the caramel over one pan of popcorn. Toss to coat.
Place half of remaining carmel in medium bowl and add red food coloring until you reach the desired shade of red. Immediately pour over second pan of popcorn. Toss to coat.
Add green food coloring to the remaining caramel until you reach desired shade of green. Immediately pour over third pan of popcorn. Toss to coat.
Bake for 45 minutes, rotating pans and stirring each pan with a spatula coated with cooking spray every 15 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
12 comments:
Cute! So many possibilities for every holiday, too!
Love the green and red popcorn too :) I made caramel corn for the first time this year and added bacon! It's such a great snack!
This looks delish and I am definitely making it this week. I can't wait to color the caramel.
I never thought of colouring caramel, Great idea and so cute for Christmas!
oh wow, so festive and yummy looking!
Last week I made it and I added one cup of lightly salted cocktail peanuts. This made me realize that there are limitless possibilities if you want to vary it a little (chocolate chips/chunks, walnuts, coconut, etc.) however, the original is hard to beat.
I love caramel popcorn(: It's pretty much the only popcorn I like. I love the colors of it!
Oh wow. I love caramel popcorn, would never have thought of coloring it!! Great idea :)
I've seen it made with Jell-O as well so not only is it colored, it's flavored like cherry or lime or whatever.
Love this idea! Will make great gifts for neighbors & such
I just made this last night and I had a quick question; how did you keep the caramel from hardening so quickly between mixing the colors and pouring it onto the popcorn? By the time I got to the green batch, the caramel was already pretty hard and I had to heat it up again to get it to mix well with the popcorn. Thanks! :)
Hi Julie,
To answer your question, I had to work extremely fast to prevent the caramel from hardening before mixing it over the popcorn. You definitely took the right approach by re-heating it.
Risa
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