Cinema snack recipe: How to DIY salted caramel popcorn at home

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This exact scenario happened to me last Sunday when I was at home and had cued-up Inside Out 2 to watch on Disney. Cinema-style snacks were called for and all I had were some storecupboard ingredients in my pantry. So I got creative.

This caramel recipe uses milk and butter in the sauce rather than cream, so I already had those basics in my fridge. Along with sugar from my tea cupboard, I could easily whip up a batch of dizzly caramel to pour over my popcorn.

Making the popcorn

By the way, all you need for the popcorn is some kernels and about a tablespoon of oil. Warm the oil in a large pan over a medium heat then throw in the kernels. Over with a lid and wait for the popcorn to start popping. Take it off the heat when most of the kernels are popped so that it doesn’t burn, then simply remove all the unpopped kernels before dishing up the snack.

By the way, this popcorn lino print in the pic above was handmade by local artist Unruly Print, who has a shop on Etsy if you fancy checking out their fun prints – they’re great as gifts and are currently reduced!

Ingredients for the caramel sauce

The recipe I followed to make the caramel uses cups to measure the ingredients, which makes it super easy. But, if you don’t have cups or want to make a different quantity, you can use an online ingredient conversion calculator to get the weights in grams, lbs or fluid oz etc – whatever suits you.

This should be enough to coat 4 large breakfast-sized bowls of popcorn. I used half of this quantity in one large pasta-bowl as a sharing snack.

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup of white granulated sugar (brown sugar creates butterscotch if you prefer)
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 sprinkle of Himalayan pink salt (or your choice)

Let’s start with an important disclaimer first – DO NOT TOUCH THE HOT SUGAR OR CARAMEL. It is boiling hot and sticky so it WILL do you harm and cause burns. DON’T be tempted to try it at any stage. Cook it without touching it at all and allow it to cool down before pouring it onto the popcorn or eating it.

Step 1

In a small pan, stir the sugar into the water and then cover with a lid. Heat this on the hob over a medium-high heat until it bubbles and boils, then remove the lid and do not stir!

Step 2

Continue cooking the sugar syrup until it turns a golden caramel colour – this took about 8 minutes for me but it depends on the temperature of your hob so just keep an eye on it.

Step 3

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk the syrup while slowly drizzling in the warm milk. This will bubble as you add it to the sugar syrup so take care and don’t allow it to boil over.

Step 4

Return the mixture to the heat and cook it while whisking to thoroughly combine the milk and syrup. Once the sauce has thickened you can whisk in the butter.

Step 5

Allow the caramel syrup to cool before drizzling it over the popped popcorn and stirring around to coat it. The butter will have made the caramel slightly salted but, if you want little more of a salted caramel flavour you can sprinkle a little extra salt onto the popcorn but be careful to sprinkle it sparingly as it’ll cling to the caramel and you might end up with one very saltly piece of popcorn!

I hope you enjoy this cinema snack the next time you watch a movie at home. There are so many brilliant magical festive movies coming out this year for Christmas such as The Magic Reindeer in November, or you can find lots of silly spooky films on digital download to suit the kids during half term.

If you’re enjoying an adult-only evening in front of the TV, you could even pimp up your popcorn with a little boozy addition – how about adding a splash of Project 173 butterscotch rum to the sauce? You can add this as part of the water measurement to add a little kick to your popcorn – yum!

Let me know in the comments below if you have a go at making this recipe and please share any extra additions you’ve enjoyed such as a sprinkle of cinnamon or a grating of dark chocolate. Thanks!

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