This decadent, chocolate-swirled homemade caramel corn was actually kind of a happy accident, and totally the idea of my friend Cory (she blogs some fabulous recipes over at Fresh is the Taste!).
Cory and a few of our friends were over making a bunch of caramel corn the other night for Christmas gifts and the last batch got a little darker than usual (the product of us girls talking too much while we were working!).
Totally still edible, but a little stronger than we’d like, so Cory suggested we toss in some chocolate chips to see if that helped.
I love my caramel corn plain, so I don’t know if I would have ever thought of that, but it was genius.
The chocolate swirled caramel corn is absolutely delicious and definitely worth making, and even gifting this holiday season!
And the best part? Caramel corn freezes wonderfully, so make this when you have time, freeze it in quart-sized freezer bags, and you’ve got some great Christmas gifts all ready to go!
(Oh, and for the classic recipe just leave out the chocolate chips!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup popcorn kernels, air popped (about 6 quarts)
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat the oven to 250ºF.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, and then let it boil without stirring for 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. Gradually pour the hot caramel over the popcorn, stirring well until well-coated.
Spread the caramel corn onto 2 greased rimmed baking sheets and place them both in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, take the pans out, stir the caramel corn and rotate the sheets (top to bottom) and bake for another 15 minutes.
Let the caramel corn cool just enough so you can handle it (still warm), break it up with a spoon/your hands and then stir in the chocolate chips until melted and roughly coating the caramel corn. Let cool completely and serve!
(This caramel corn freezes really well in tupperware or freezer bags. Perfect make-ahead holiday gifts!!)
https://sweetannas.com/2012/12/decadent-dark-chocolate-swirled-caramel-corn.html