Description
A festive and crunchy Christmas popcorn candy coated with warm spiced caramel and crunchy almonds. This sweet treat combines the cozy flavors of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and cloves with a buttery caramel coating for a perfect holiday snack or dessert.
Ingredients
Scale
Popcorn
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (not required if air popping with a popcorn maker)
- 1/3 cup popping corn (makes 10 cups popcorn)
- 2/3 cup slivered almonds
Caramel
- 100 g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (170 g) light corn syrup (substitute glucose or other syrups)
- 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
- Prepare popcorn: Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add a few kernels and wait for them to pop, then remove those. Add remaining popcorn kernels, shake pot to spread corn evenly, cover with a lid, and let popcorn pop, shaking gently once during popping. Remove from heat when popping slows and transfer popcorn to a very large bowl to yield 10 cups.
- Make caramel: Preheat oven to 110°C (230°F). Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt, stirring until just combined. Once bubbling, simmer the mixture without stirring for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in Christmas spices, vanilla, and baking soda vigorously for 10 seconds until caramel foams and increases in volume.
- Coat popcorn: Immediately pour the hot caramel over the popcorn. Toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle slivered almonds over the coated popcorn and toss again until caramel cools and starts to harden.
- Bake to crisp: Spread coated popcorn evenly across two baking trays. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes to ensure even coating and prevent clumping. If using glucose or alternative syrups instead of corn syrup, bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Store: Once cooled, gently break popcorn candy into pieces. Transfer to an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to 2 to 3 weeks to maintain crispness.
Notes
- For heavier caramel coverage and a candy-like sweetness, 1/3 cup popcorn kernels yields a full coat. Use 3/4 cup kernels for more moderate coverage.
- Corn syrup stabilizes caramel to prevent crystallization. Glucose syrup can be used as a substitute, but requires longer baking time.
- Alternative liquid sweeteners like golden syrup, honey, or maple syrup can be employed but also require an additional 15 minutes of baking to set properly.
- Store popcorn candy in an airtight container to keep crisp for 2 to 3 weeks.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 250 kcal
- Sugar: 20 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 30 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg
