Delicious chewy Caramel popcorn
Caramel popcorn
Okay I’ll admit it! I’m usually a microwave popcorn kind of person. It’s just so handy! Just pop it in the oven for 2 minutes, *pop* *pop* *pop* *ping!*, and then freshly made popcorn! But today I had the random thought of ‘What if I’m missing out on something by not actually popping popcorn the way popcorn was meant to be popped?’ (sounds like a tongue twister doesn’t it?). So I decided to venture out into the unknown (I know! The unknown can be very scary!) and pop popcorn the traditional way and do one better by making caramel popcorn
I have to say it was surprisingly easy. The popcorn kernels really do all the work by popping themselves, but hey, it was so much more exciting waiting for the popcorn to pop! One minute they’re kernels and then suddenly *pop* popcorn! It’s amazing! Like magic!
One thing about making your own caramel popcorn is that you realise just how much butter is in caramel popcorn! Too much! The recipe I was going to follow said 125g! If you didn’t already know that’s half a block of butter. That’s almost enough butter to make a rich butter cake! Adding that much is almost like serving a heart attack as a side dish! So I decided to improvise, as I do, and cut it down to just 80g butter, and it still turned out just fine! More than fine! Chewy sweet caramel popcorn fine! Very delicious! And the best thing is that you feel all proud at being able to make your own caramel popcorn! Who needs Kernels popcorn when you can make your own! Make sure you invite some friends over to share it though; otherwise it can get just a tad toxically sweet.
Caramel Popcorn
Ingredients: ½ cup popping corn kernels, 5 tbsp vegetable oil, 2 heaped tbsp honey, 1 cup caster sugar, 80g butter
Steps: To cook the popcorn: Add 5 tbsp vegetable oil to the bottom of a 2 litre saucepan. Heat slowly over medium heat for a couple of minutes. To test whether the temperature is just right, drop a couple of kernels into the oil. If the oil is hot enough, they will spin slowly, and little bubbles will appear outside the kernel and within seconds they will pop.
Once the oil is hot enough, add ½ cup of popping corn kernels to the hot oil. Cover. Shake saucepan regularly until popping ceases. Remove from heat and empty popcorn into a large bowl. Remove any un-popped kernels!
To make the caramel: add honey, sugar and butter into a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Boil uncovered for 5 minutes or until the mixtures turns a nice golden colour. Remove from heat and pour over popcorn. Mix to coat popcorn. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then serve!
Serves 4-6
Tip! Keep your eyes and ears open when popping the popcorn. It should only take a minute or two! If you leave it to pop for too long, all you will have is BLACK popcorn.
