Dark Chocolate Drizzled Caramel Corn is sweet, crunchy, and totally addictive. It will keep for several weeks when stored in an airtight container, if it lasts that long! Better yet, package it in decorative containers for awesome Christmas gifts.
Ingredients For Dark Chocolate Drizzled Caramel Corn:
I used the following ingredients for this incredible caramel corn: Freshly popped unsalted popcorn, unsalted dry roasted peanuts, brown sugar, unsalted butter, corn syrup, salt, vanilla extract, baking soda, and dark chocolate melting wafers.
Making The Dark Chocolate Drizzled Caramel Corn:
I started by popping some popcorn on the stove in a little bit of oil. A word of caution here – don’t be tempted to use microwave popcorn. It has a lot of additives in it that will impact the final taste of the caramel corn. However, you can use Unflavored Skinny Pop. Because Skinny Pop is lightly salted, omit the salt from the caramel.
I dumped the popped corn onto a wire rack on top of a rimmed baking sheet. The reason that I did this was to ensure that no unpopped kernels made their way into the caramel corn.
I put the popped corn and peanuts into a large mixing bowl, and turned my attention to making the caramel. For this, I stirred the brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Once the butter had melted and the mixture had come to a boil, I lowered the heat to medium low. I let the caramel mixture continue to boil without stirring for five minutes. After five minutes, I removed the pan from the heat, and added the vanilla extract and baking soda. I stirred the caramel to ensure that the vanilla and baking soda were well incorporated, being careful not to burn myself as the caramel bubbled up!
Next, Then, I poured the caramel over the peanuts and popcorn. I quickly stirred the mixture with a wooden spoon to coat the peanuts and popcorn. Then, I dumped it onto a large disposable aluminum roasting pan (15-3/16 x 11-5/16 inches).
Finishing the Dark Chocolate Drizzled Caramel Corn:
After spreading the mixture out in the pan, I popped it into a preheated 250° F oven for an hour and 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes, I removed the aluminum pan, and stirred the caramel corn to ensure that the peanuts and popcorn were well coated. I gave the caramel corn one last stir and I dumped it onto a piece of parchment paper so that it could completely cool. Once the caramel corn had cooled completely, I drizzled it with melted dark chocolate.
I left it in I-inch to 2-inch clumps, and ended up with about 13 cups of Dark Chocolate Drizzled Caramel Corn. I took some of it to a family holiday gathering, and packaged the rest for gifts. Every bite was crunchy and totally addictive. Yum!
- 12 cups fresh popped unsalted popcorn (about 1/2 cup unpopped corn)*
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted dry roasted peanuts
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup firmly packed (7.5 ounces) light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate melting wafer, melted according to package directions
- Preheat oven to 250° F.
- Place popped corn into a large bowl; add peanuts on the top.
- Heat the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until butter is melted. Reduce heat to medium low; cook, undisturbed and uncovered, for 5 minutes.
- Remove saucepan from heat and stir in vanilla extract and baking soda.
- Pour the caramel over the peanuts and popcorn; stir to coat.
- Spread the mixture onto an ungreased, large disposable aluminum roasting pan. Bake for one hour and 15 minutes, removing every 15 minutes to stir.
- Spread the mixture onto parchment paper to cool. It may seem sticky at first, but will dry as it cools.
- Once caramel corn is cooled, drizzle with melted dark chocolate.
- Store in airtight container.
- Yield: 14 cups.
*Note: You can use Unflavored Skinny Pop rather than popping your own. Because the Skinny Pop is lightly salted, omit the salt from the caramel mixture.
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