Bacon Cashew Caramel Corn

Do you like the taste of salty and sweet at the same time? Do you like Moose Munch?  Do you like caramel corn?  Do you like bacon?  Do you have free microwave popcorn at your place of employment?  Then here are five recipes you may want to try out!  These were tested on twenty 18 year olds, and a dozen other silly adults last weekend.

Here is how they ranked:

1.      Bacon Cashew

2.      Macadamia Nut & White Chocolate

3.      Squirrel Munch (Peanuts, Almonds & Cashews, Milk Chocolate Chips & semi Sweet Chocolate Drizzle)

4.      Peanut Butter Cup (Peanuts, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups & Milk Chocolate Drizzle)

5.      Spicy Parmesan & Almond (Smokehouse Almonds, a dash of Ground Cayenne Pepper, Fresh Grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese) 

INGREDIENTS:

2 bags of microwave popcorn

1 stick of salted butter

1 cup of sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons of light corn syrup

¼ teaspoon of baking soda

Dash of salt

(Any kind of nut, chocolate chips, M&M’s, Peanut Butter cups, Smokehouse Almonds, Cheese, Cereal… I tried BACON….

½ pound of crisp cooked bacon chopped

1 small can of cashews (Bacon alone would have been fine, but the cashews added a buttery depth that made them amazing!)

COOKING MUSIC SELECTION: Dj Packi - Popcorn Song (Remix) 2011

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 300º. Remove all unpopped kernels from popcorn and pour popcorn into a bowl. Combine butter, corn syrup, and sugar over medium heat. Cook and stir until mixture boils. Continue boiling at a steady rate for 4 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. 

Pour caramel over popcorn and stir to coat. Spread onto greased cookie sheet, and bake for 10-15 minutes (10 for chewy, 15 for crunchy). Remove from oven and add toppings. For other versions, you can melt chocolate chips for 1 minute in the microwave oven and drizzle chocolate all over the caramel corn.  I found that the lighter crunchier texture happened when I added the baking soda last to the pot, mixed it well and turned off the heat and poured it quickly.  Let cool….. YUM!!!!!

Bacon Cashew Munch Goodness!

Peanut Butter Cup Munch Madness!

Macadamia Nut & White Chocolate

Nutty Munch to squirrel away with while watching a good movie!