crunchy caramel popcorn

Megan was in search a caramel popcorn recipe to make oodles of packets for a fete. We gave our friend Mari-Louis from cakebreads recipe a bash and it came out tops! 

Check out her blog and the recipe @ Fabulously Faking It!

INGREDIENTS
150 g popcorn (unpopped) or 8 cups popped popcorn
120 g (1 cup) peanuts or cashew nuts
5 ml (1 tsp) sea salt
250 g butter
200 g (1 cup) brown sugar
200 g (1 cup) white sugar
125 ml (½ cup) golden syrup

You can't resist the temptation of fresh nutty caramalised popcorn. 

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

Spread the popcorn and nuts over a large baking tray and sprinkle with salt.
In a saucepan over low heat, stir the butter, brown and white sugar and golden syrup together until the sugar has dissolved.

Increase the heat slightly and continue stirring until the mixture starts to boil. Stop stirring and gently boil for 4 minutes.

Drizzle the hot caramel over the popcorn and nuts. Use two wooden spoons to toss the mixture and make sure the popcorn and nuts are evenly coated.

Pop into the oven for 20 minutes, tossing the popcorn every 5 minutes. Transfer to a cold, clean silicone baking mat or lined baking tray to stop the cooking process. Leave to cool.

Makes 8-10 large cups or 16-20 small cups

We roped the kids in at pivotal points: popping, mixing and eating.  The hot syrup could cause some nasty burns so the moms took command of the syrup making.

Caramelly and buttery, with the perfect crunch. The kitchen smelt of carnivals and enchanting childhood memories.

 And once we started munching, we could not stop till our bellies ached.