Cayenne Caramel Popcorn with Peanuts
we out here caking cayenne carmel popcorn and peanuts! who wants some?
Sweet and hot in the same mouthful, and then it keeps getting hotter while you reach for more, which is the entire trick of putting cayenne in caramel.
The step that separates this from the sticky mess most people make is the hour in a low oven afterwards. Caramel poured over popcorn and left to cool stays tacky for ever. An hour at 250°F, stirred every fifteen minutes, drives off the last of the water and the glaze sets glassy and shatters.
And a spoon of baking soda into the hot caramel right at the end. It foams up enormously, and that foam is thousands of tiny bubbles that make the coating light instead of a solid sheet of toffee.
- Makes
- A big tray
- Hands-on
- 25 minutes
- In the oven
- 1 hour at 250°F
- Secret
- Baking soda in the caramel
What you need
The popcorn
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels, popped — about 16 cups
- 1 1/2 cups whole roasted peanuts
- Every unpopped kernel picked out
The cayenne caramel
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 stick butter
- 1/4 cup corn syrup or golden syrup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cayenne — start here
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
How it goes
1 — Pick out every unpopped kernel
Tip the popcorn into a big bowl and shake it; the hard ones fall to the bottom. Two minutes of work against somebody breaking a tooth.
2 — Boil the caramel four minutes without stirring
Sugar, butter, syrup and salt brought to a boil, then left alone at a steady bubble for four minutes. Stirring at this stage makes it grainy.
3 — Cayenne in while it is on the heat
Whisked in at the end of the four minutes so it blooms in the hot fat. Two teaspoons is a warm back-of-the-throat heat; three is the version that stops conversation.
4 — Off the heat: vanilla, then baking soda
Vanilla first, then the soda. It will foam up to three times its volume in about two seconds, so use a pan far bigger than you think you need.
pro tip — That foam is the whole texture. Pour it over the popcorn immediately, while it is still full of air.
5 — Pour over and fold fast
Over the popcorn and peanuts in a very large bowl, folded with a spatula in long strokes. It sets fast, so work quickly and accept that it will not be perfectly even yet — the oven fixes that.
6 — One hour at 250°F, stirred every fifteen minutes
Spread on two lined trays. Each stir redistributes the caramel and another batch of moisture leaves. This is the step that makes it crisp rather than chewy.
7 — Cool completely on the tray, then break it up
It is still soft when it comes out and only sets as it cools. Twenty minutes, then broken into pieces with your hands.
8 — Into a tin, airtight
A week at room temperature. Humidity is the enemy — left out in a bowl overnight it goes sticky again.
Who wants some? Everybody, it turns out. LFG.