Easy Peppermint Caramel Corn Recipe Without Corn Syrup
Irresistible peppermint caramel corn recipe skips the need for corn syrup and features a delightful coating of white chocolate.
Servings: 14 cups
Calories: 303kcal
Equipment
- 2 large bowls
- waxed paper or parchment paper
Ingredients
1 Batch Caramel Corn Made with Honey: (See this recipe for more details)
- 2/3 cup unpopped popcorn
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For Peppermint Caramel Corn:
- 12 ounces white chocolate ,chopped or chips
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil or butter
- 1.5 tablespoon crushed peppermint candies or more as needed
Instructions
Make the Honey Caramel Corn:
- Heat oven to 250 degrees. Pop the popcorn and spread it in a large, oiled roasting pan. Put the pan in the oven to stay warm and crisp (it also helps to spread the hot caramel evenly on warm popcorn).
- Combine the butter, sugars, honey, and salt in a large saucepan. Place over medium heat and stir while mixture melts and starts gently bubbling. Set a timer for 5 minutes and stir constantly while mixture gently boils.
- At the end of 5 minutes, remove from heat. Take the pan of popcorn out of the oven and pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn, stirring to coat the popcorn evenly.
- Return to oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring once at the 15 minute mark and again when it’s done (a piece removed with a spoon should be crisp to the bite).
- While caramel corn is cooking, prep a cooling area on a counter with two large pieces of waxed paper (or parchment).
- Immediately pour the hot caramel corn onto the waxed paper and spread evenly to cool, breaking up bigger pieces with a fork so that there will be smaller pieces to coat with the white chocolate.
Make Peppermint Caramel Corn:
- Once the honey caramel corn is made, evenly divide it into two large bowls. Cover one bowl and set aside.
- Melt the white chocolate and coconut oil or butter in a double boiler (a pot or glass bowl that fits over a pot with boiling water) or gently in the microwave. (The coconut oil or butter is added to make it easier to melt and pour.)
- Pour the melted white chocolate over the caramel corn in one of the large bowls. Gently stir to coat the popcorn as evenly as possible.
- Dump the coated popcorn onto a large sheet of waxed paper and separate so the pieces can dry. TIP: Use two forks to separate them as much as possible.
- Immediately sprinkle the coated popcorn with the crushed candies. Be generous - you can use the forks to move it around if you want to get more candies on the other sides of the popcorn.
- Leave the coated popcorn to dry overnight (or at least 8 hours) to make sure it's fully hardened. TIP: keep it on the waxed paper and lay another sheet of paper on top to cover it and use a large cookie sheet if you need to move it.
- Once the coated popcorn is dry, remove it from the waxed paper, breaking up any clumps as needed and add it to the bowl of plain caramel corn. Toss the plain caramel corn and the coated corn together to mix evenly.
Notes
- Storing: You can make this up to two weeks in advance when kept in airtight bags or containers at room temperature.
- Freezing: Surprisingly, I’ve found this also freezes well - I pulled it out after a month and found it was perfect when defrosted!
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 303kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 160mg | Potassium: 107mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 35g | Vitamin A: 210IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 0.4mg
