Gingerbread Caramel Corn Recipe
Delicious Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe made with warming gingerbread spices and sweet buttery caramel sauce. Enjoy this perfectly sweet and crunchy snack time favorite all holiday season and share your very own gingerbread caramel corn with family and friends for an easy, homemade, edible gift.
Servings: 20 cups (approximately)
Ingredients
- 20 cups popped corn (approximately 1 cup kernels)
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks
- ¼ cup corn syrup (light or dark corn syrup OK)
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 cups light brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250°F. Grease or lightly spray a large roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with parchment paper (see notes).
- Transfer the popped corn to your prepared roasting pan and set aside.
- Heat the butter, corn syrup, molasses, brown sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the butter is melted and everything is combined and the mixture comes to a boil. Once boiling, stop stirring. Allow the mixture to boil for 5 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Quickly add the vanilla extract, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir to combine. Then add the baking soda and stir again (the mixture will bubble up and become foamy).
- Immediately pour the prepared caramel over the popcorn, mixing as you pour (if possible). Continue to stir until the popcorn is completely coated.
- Transfer the roasting pan to the oven and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. While it is still warm, transfer the gingerbread caramel corn to two rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Save time and use pre-popped popcorn or microwave (plain) popcorn. The exact number of bags will vary from one brand to another, so plan accordingly.
- The non-stick cooking spray and parchment paper will make for much easier clean-up! Baked on caramel sauce is not easy to scrub off.
- Mixing and baking the caramel corn in a roasting pan helps make prep much easier given the tall sides of the roasting pan (less chance of the caramel corn spilling over the sides).
- Once the caramel is made, the recipe moves very quickly, so it’s a good idea to have your extract, spices, and baking soda pre-measured and ready to go.
Nutrition
Calories: 234kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 272mg | Potassium: 130mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 305IU | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg
