Hello. My name is Heather and I am addicted to Gingerbread.
Seriously, I am having a “thing” about it right now. (my popcorn “thing” is old news.) Behind the scenes of this blog, there is far more gingerbread damage to the thighs then meets the eyes. Some of it will continue to trickle down to you (the recipes- not the thighs). Like in this insanely addictive Gingerbread Caramel Corn.
It has that sweet and crispy coating of traditional caramel corn with the rich flavors of ginger and mollasses. I threw in the salty crunch of the pretzels, and made a little extra magic.
When this posts I will be gawking at the holiday windows in New York, making out with my husband and shoveling $25 dollar salads in my mouth- because that’s how much a salad costs there. Isn’t that crazy!?
I will include a bunch of Instagram shots tomorrow and Friday because I love Christmas time in NY more than anything and want to share it with you.
Now, back to the Gingerbread Caramel Corn.
Ok- so I actually made this and had the nerve to not photograph document it. Except for this one. I am sorry.
The good news is that you can see step-by-step instructions WITH photo’s of the same process HERE.
Recipe: Gingerbread Caramel Corn
Ingredients
- Popcorn:
- -¼ cup vegetable oil
- -½ cup popping corn
- -3 cups pretzel sticks
- Caramel:
- -1 cup butter
- -2 cups dark brown sugar
- -¼ cup light corn syrup
- -¼ cup molasses
- -1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- -1 teaspoon vanilla
- -½ teaspoon baking soda
- -½ teaspoon cinnamon
- -½ teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
- 2. Put a large pot over a medium heat, and add the oil and popcorn. Put a lid on the pot, with a small gap so that steam can escape. Pop the corn until there are a few seconds between pops, and it sounds like they are mostly cooked.
- 3. Dump the popped corn into a large sheet pan and sprinkle with kosher salt. Toss with the pretzels.
- 4. In the same pot that you made the popcorn, melt the butter, sugar, corn syrup, mollasses and salt together. Let them boil, and continue to stir them for about 10 minutes, until the caramel is bubbling and dark amber colored.
- 5. In a tiny bowl, mix the baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla together so that the soda and spices are mostly dissolved.
- 6. Pull the pot off of the heat, and quickly stir in the vanilla and baking soda. The caramel should get very light and frothy. Then immediately pour the popcorn and pretzels into the caramel, and gently fold the caramel into the corn and pretzels to try to coat it.
- 7. Transfer the popcorn to sheet pans (I divided it between 2) Put the sheet pans in the preheated oven (250 degrees), and bake the popcorn for about 15 minutes. Gently stir the popcorn into the melting caramel until the popcorn is better coated. Repeat this again at the 15 minute mark, after which the popcorn should be quite evenly coated. Bake for another 15 minutes, and then remove from the oven. Give the corn one final stir to coat the popcorn.
- 8. When the popcorn is totally cool, it will have a nice, thin, crispy coating. Store in airtight containers.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 1 hour(s)
Number of servings (yield): 12
Print Recipe
Pure. Brilliance. I’m peeved I didn’t think of it first. 🙂
Hope you are having a fabulous time in New York. Please go ice skating at an outdoor rink so I can live vicariously!
lol! Kare- I will see if I can get my husband to try it. I somehow doubt it. It may just be me on the ice myself. But I will at least watch others!
I am making something like this today. I love the addition of pretzel sticks. You are so creative, Heather!
Seriously, you need your own candy shop! No one comes up with the flavors you do.
ha! I would LOVE my own candy shop Vicki! that would be awesome. Imagine all the possibilities….
What, Heather? This is too delicious!
Hey girl. I am addicted to gingerbread too!
ha! oh good Allison- that makes me feel better 🙂
Love this idea! Gingerbread is an amazing flavor! Thanks for sharing….pinning and making very soon! 🙂
Oh good! Thanks so much Liz!!
Count me in on a few baskets full!
no problem Marla!!
Are you for real right now???? Your recipes are always so creative and put all of my favorite things together in a way I never would have thought of.
Awwww. THank you so much Ari!!
Oh my gosh Heather! This sounds amazing!! Love!!
Thanks AManda!
This recipe should come with an addiction warning!!! This was soooo good that I had to hold off the family from eating it so I could pack some for the neighbors as a holiday gift! 🙂
Lol!! totally!! that’s how I feel about all caramel corn recipes!
I am SO excited to try this. Just one question: Is there any reason why I couldn’t pop the corn with my air popper instead of in the pan? The only difference would be that the popped corn wouldn’t be oiled and I don’t know if that would be problematic. Thanks so much far sharing!
that would be totally fine Becky!
Thanks Heather. We actually made this last night. It was so delicious, but it didn’t turn out like your pictures and description. The caramel became thick and crystalized after baking it and it didn’t make as much as I expected. So a couple more questions: On step 7 is it baked for a total of 45 minutes? And should I use one cup of un-popped corn instead of the half cup? Or maybe I boiled it wrong. All I know is that the coating wasn’t thin and crispy, but thick and crumbly. Like I said though, it was still delicious 🙂
I had the same problem. The caramel was beautiful and glossy until it went into the oven. After that it turned dull and crumbly. It tastes good; it just doesn’t look great. I’ve made pumpkin spice caramel corn in the past that didn’t do this, so I think I will go back and adapt that recipe. Nice flavors, though!
I, too, am a popcorn and ginger-anything addict, and also have a thighs-and-more issue. I was delighted and also frightened to see this recipe. I was looking for homemade food gift ideas, but I don’t know if this will make it much further than my own kitchen! Thanks!