Butter Caramel Puff Corn – No Kernels, No Hulls!
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I posted my caramel corn recipe on Facebook yesterday (click here to get it if you’d like) and realized that I’d never posted my Butter Caramel Puff Corn recipe on here! Oh mercy, where has my head been? This stuff is absolutely divine, with a capital “D”. It has a delicious honey taste to it (regardless of which ingredient options you use) and none of the pesky hulls or kernels you encounter with traditional caramel corn. Also, since you buy the puff corn in a bag, there is no popping popcorn in preparation for making it. Just walk into your kitchen, put some stuff in a pot, pour the puff corn in a baking dish and proceed as directed!
Personally, I like this better than caramel corn because it is easier on your teeth.
Oh but Christy, have we really got to the age where we have to worry about whether or not something is hard on our teeth? I don’t know about you but I sure have!
Warning: make this early in the day because you may end up eating it all yourself and if you do, you’ll need plenty of time to hide the evidence that you made it and didn’t share.
Recipe Ingredients:
Corn Syrup or Honey
Light Brown Sugar (the world won’t end if you use dark though)
Butter
A wee bit of Baking Soda.
and Puff corn…
This isn’t popcorn. There are no hulls or anything and it is baked. It sure is good!
What Kind of Puff Corn Do I Get?
Sometimes puff corn can be hard to find, though. My Wal Mart carries the cheese flavored kind but not the butter flavored kind you need for this recipe. I got these are Krogers for $2 a bag. Each bag is 3.5 ounces, so you end up with 10.5 ounces, which is what you need for a single recipe of Caramel Puff Corn. However, Mama’s Foodland carries bags twice this size for the same price so maybe you’ll get lucky and find the bigger, cheaper bags. They’re all good. Check online at our grocer too.
By the way, if you’ve never looked for this before, it is usually near the cheetos and such.
See? Oven baked, no hulls, no kernels.
Easy on your teeth 🙂
Place brown sugar, butter, and honey or corn syrup in a medium sauce pot.
Stir constantly while bringing to a boil over medium high heat.
Once boiling, allow to boil for one minute.
Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.
This will get it kind of foamy.
Stir until it’s all dissolved in there, which will just take a minute.
Spray a large roasting pan or two 9×13 baking dishes with cooking spray.
Divide puff corn among the two dishes.
Pour topping evenly over all of the puff corn.
Stir really well until it is well coated.
Place in 250 degree oven and bake for 45 minutes, stirring really well every 15 minutes.
Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.
Ingredients
- 3 Bags Butter Flavored Puff Corn 3.5 ounces each
- 2 sticks butter 1 cup
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup or honey
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Spray a large roasting pan or two 9x13 pans with cooking spray. Divide puff corn up between two dishes.
- In medium sauce pot, combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup (or honey). Stir constantly while bringing to a boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, allow to boil for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Mixture will foam. Stir until well blended.
- Pour over puff corn. Stir really well to coat. Bake at 250 for 45 minutes, stirring well every 15 minutes. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.
- If you eat it all before everyone gets home, just make sure you clean up the kitchen really good so they never knew it existed. Make double next time so you can share 🙂
Nutrition
“When tempted to fight fire with fire,
remember that the fire department usually uses water.”
~Unknown
🙂
Sad to see that inflation has affected this recipe. The puffcorn bags now only have 3 1/4 ounces. I guess that means it will just make that much more yummy coating on each piece. Love this recipe, I’ve been making it now for years and thank you for having it posted here to find quickly every Christmas. Have a wonderful Christmas.
I agree Molly, it is sad. I hope your holiday season is a blessed one!!
This looks so good. but i hafta ask, for those who have tried it (or Christy, if she knows?)… does this end up tasting anything like Screaming Yellow Zonkers? (if you know what they were, then you know what i mean, and how they were different from all the other coated popcorn things!)
I have never in my life heard of those but I sure did enjoy the google search results! I’m afraid I can’t tell you but by the description I read it sounds very similar. What a name! love it!
Love, love, love this recipe.
However, I thought I already had corn syrup. … Turns out, I didn’t. So, I used honey. Don’t ever do this.
Sorry it didn’t turn out Sarah, but that is good to know in case anyone else ever has the same predicament.
Ok. So, I put 2 pans in my oven at once. At 250° F for the 2nd time. I think it is just due to my oven, because both times, one pan of it started to burn (with honey the 1st time, and corn syrup the 2nd). SO, I turned it down to 200°F and cooked it like that, stirring every 15 minutes. This fixed my issue.
I am so glad you were able to figure out what the problem was Sarah. No two ovens are alike so adjusting the temperature is always my first suggestion.
I get requests for this every Christmas… I can’t tell you how much I’ve made !! Everyone just loves it …
I’m so grateful that you shared this recipe! I have around 50 employees at work and I wanted to do something for them for Christmas without breaking the bank! This seems like the perfect little homemade something. I may throw in a few Holly Jollies, as well! I just keep coming back to your website for the BEST recipes. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Thank you so much Ashley, that just made my day!! I hope your employees love their treat and you all have a Merry Christmas!
This looks amazing! I’m going to try and make it this weekend. Also, if you pour your baking soda box into a glass jar at home, it will be slightly less annoying I’m a firm believer in, everything’s better in a jar!
Enjoy the Caramel Corn and thanks for the tip!!!
I’m making it now but it seems like I don’t have enough sauce to cover the corn. I stirred and stirred but not all the puffs are covered. Is this normal?
There isn’t an abundance of sauce, just enough for a gentle coating. Some pieces won’t be as coated as others 🙂