I love sweets.
I love popcorn.
I love chocolate.
I love peanut butter.
I LOVE CARAMEL CORN!
So like...I know Thanksgiving is this week, and I don't really know if caramel corn is a particularly Thanksgiving kinda thing but...I mean...corn was a big deal at the time, with the natives and such, ya know? So...yeah. That makes sense.
My beloved Kristina (from Whipped) shared this recipe around Halloween time. Because it's like candy. But somehow low-cal? I think it's because of the popcorn, I don't know. All I know is I wasted pretty much no time to get this in Michael's and my bellies. We were pretty darned excited. And it was delicious. And we ate it. A lot. And before we knew it...it was gone. Because popcorn is addictive like that.
I'm not gonna lie...this recipe is difficult...I think? I'm not 100% sure if making caramel corn is hard or if I just suck at it, but all I know is I can never evenly coat all the popcorn and the caramel is hot and I burn myself and I can't make it all sit on the pan evenly and when I try to mix it I make a mess and...yeah. But then all those annoyances fade away when I take the first bite. Kinda like how moms supposedly forget the pain of childbirth once they hold their baby in their arms (is that true? I sure hope so). You know? But yeah. You should make this. It's popcorn (popped in a big pot which is way more fun than I realized...heheeee all the lil kernels go "pop! pop! pop!"), a peanut butter caramel, and a yummalicious chocolate drizzle on top of it all. Oh yeah and peanuts. Sweet...salty....nummy.
"Snickers" Peanut Butter Caramel Corn
Adapted very slightly from Whipped Baking
Makes 20 servings (3/4 cup per serving)
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp. canola oil
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
- 1/2 cup peanuts, lightly salted
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2/3 cup light corn syrup
- 2 1/2 tbsp. butter
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 tsp. (liquid) coconut oil
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and coat in cooking spray.
- Heat oil in large pot/Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add kernels and cover with lid. Cook for about 4 minutes, shaking frequently. When popping slows, remove from heat. Stand until popping stops. Uncover, remove unpopped kernels, and add peanuts.
- Mix sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Drizzle over popcorn and toss well to coat.
- Spread popcorn mixture onto prepared baking sheet.
- Bake 1 hour, stirring ever 15 minutes, until uniformly crunchy & browned.
- Cool completely.
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt milk chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave (should take 1-2 minutes, stir every 20 seconds or so until smooth).
- Drizzle chocolate over cooled popcorn and allow to sit until chocolate has hardened.
Not only tasty, but also pretty.
*crunch*
(that's the sound of you trying to take a bite out of the screen...silly you. You can't eat caramel corn from the screen. You have to go make some yourself! :P)