Christmas Popcorn Candy

This Christmas Popcorn should come with a warning. It’s dangerously addictive, and will be the likely cause of many sugar crash sofa naps during this holiday season!

It’s my caramel corn with a Christmas twist – traditional festive spices and a sprinkle of almonds. It makes for great Christmas candy snacks as well as food gifts that’s easy to make in bulk, economical and lasts for 2 – 3 weeks.

Christmas Popcorn

While everybody likes a good Caramel Popcorn, it really is just flat out sweet, and that’s it (but I still love you, Caramel Popcorn, don’t worry).

On the other hand, this caramel popcorn is far beyond just sweet. It’s loaded with warm Christmas spices and is studded with nutty almond for extra crunch. It is insanely, completely and ridiculously addictive!

What you need for Christmas Popcorn

Here’s what you need to make this:

• Popcorn kernels – Just plain popping kernels
• Holiday spices – I’ve use a mix reminiscent of Gingerbread Men, but you could even just use cinnamon alone and it would still be wonderful!
• Corn syrup (or glucose) – This is required to ensure the caramel doesn’t crystallise, ie. when instead of turning into liquid, you end up with sugar grains. You can make caramel without it, but it’s a bit temperamental so corn syrup helps makes it a sure thing.

Corn syrup is not sold in Australian grocery stores but that’s not a problem. Just use glucose instead. It’s just a thicker form of corn syrup which works just as well. I get corn syrup online from USA Foods because I make caramel popcorn regularly for bribing gifting!

Other substitutions: golden syrup is best for the dry crisp coating. Honey also works but it does add extra flavour.

• Baking soda / bi-carb soda – An important ingredient which makes the caramel foam up and lighten a bit so you get a more even, thin coverage on the popcorn surface (rather than thick globs that get stuck in your teeth);
• Brown sugar – Better than white, for extra caramel flavours;
• Salt – Just a touch, to balance out all the sweetness; and
• Almonds – Because I think of nuts when I think of Christmas candy! Switch it out with literally any other nut you want – or seeds like pepitas, sunflower seeds or anything else that will hold up in the oven.

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How to make Christmas Popcorn Candy

1. The Popcorn

You can either air pop the popcorn using a popcorn machine – in which case no oil is required – or cook it on the stove.

PRO TIP: While air popped popcorn is fat-free, it is not as crispy as stove popped popcorn!

2.Christmas Caramel for Popcorn

Plonk ➔ Simmer ➔ whisk!

1. Combine the sugar, butter and corn syrup in a saucepan;
2. Once it starts foaming, simmer for 4 minutes without stirring;
3. Take it off the stove, then add the spices and baking soda; and …
4. Foam it! Whisk vigorously and you’ll notice that the caramel increases in volume slightly and becomes a bit foamy. It looks a bit like candy honeycomb. This is due to the baking soda and is key to achieving a thin even coverage of caramel over all the popcorn. Without the baking soda, you end up with thick globs of caramel that gets stuck in your teeth when you eat the popcorn.

3. Bake to crisp it!

1. Pour the caramel over the popcorn;
2. Toss well to coat, add the almonds and keep tossing. You won’t be able to get an even coating at this stage because the caramel will harden too quickly. But don’t worry, we’ll fix this during the oven tossing stage!
3. Bake & toss! Spread the popcorn across two lined baking trays, then bake in a low 110°C/230°F oven for 45 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes or so. Baking makes the caramel melt again so it can continue spreading over the popcorn in a more even coating as you continue to toss it. It also dries the popcorn and caramel coating so the caramel coating is brittle and crisp instead of sticky and chewy;
4. Cool on the trays then break it up into small or large chunks before storing in airtight containers or bags.

What to do with Christmas Popcorn Candy

This particular type of Caramel Popcorn is new to my stable of recipes so I haven’t used it to its full potential yet! But here’s what I envisage:

1. Bribing Gifting – Who doesn’t love a homemade edible gift?? (Bonus that it’s super-duper economical, easy to make in bulk and has a shelf life of 2 – 3 weeks!)
2. Nibbly-style dessert – If your family is anything like mine, we inevitably go all out on the mains and tap out before dessert, leaving us too full to eat a full size, proper dessert. So snack-size sweet treats like this are ideal. I am forever scarred by the giant gingerbread house I made once which took me hours to construct, only to be completely rejected by the entire family because everyone was so full after dinner. Only the chimney got eaten. Reluctantly, at that!! I was seriously peeved shattered, and vowed never again to make an enormous effort for Christmas dinner dessert; and
3. Candy – Certainly with the amount of sugar in this, it totally qualifies as a candy! And it has the shelf life of candy too (2 -3 weeks).

Of course, it also makes for an excellent secret stash of treats, just for yourself. Shh! I won’t tell if you don’t… 😉 – Nagi x

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Watch how to make it

Life of Dozer

I’d be pretty happy if I found a Dozer under MY Christmas Tree…..