Smoky Honey Caramel Corn with Pecans

I've said it before and I'll say it again, sweet and salty is my jam. In fact, looking over the recipes I've posted here you all may think I have a flaky salt addiction. Who am I kidding, you're totally right. My favorite treats are the ones that keep you guessing a little bit, the ones that hit your taste buds from all angles. When I was putting this recipe together I was feeling a little wild so I tossed in some smoked paprika at the end which ended up being a light, subtle background note, and who doesn't love a honey roasted pecan? Not this gal.

p.s. Wow, wow! Thank you for all of the kind comments on my last post. I don't know what to say except, it's so nice to know that I'm not alone over here.

Smoky Honey Caramel Corn with Pecans

4T butter
2T water
1/2c honey
1c brown sugar
1T salt
1t baking soda
1t smoked paprika
2c pecan halves (optional, but recommended)
8c popped corn (from about 1/2c kernels)

Preheat oven to 200º and line 2 baking sheets with silicone mats, or grease well

1. Put the popped corn and pecans in a large bowl and lightly grease (or spray with cooking spray) two wooden or silicone spoons
2. In a heavy bottomed pot combine the butter, water, honey, brown sugar and salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and cook for 5 min. Whisk in the baking soda and smoked paprika.
3. Pour the hot sugar mixture over the pop corn and pecans and stir well to combine. This recipe makes a lot of syrup, so don't worry about getting it all out of the pan.
4. Divide the mixture between the two baking sheets and spread into an even layer.
5. Slide the baking sheets into the oven and cook, stirring occasionally for 60min. Cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature.


Notes:

- Check out this post for instructions on how to pop corn kernels on the stove, I love to use mushroom corn kernels for caramel corn.
- To wash all of your caramel covered bowls, spoons, and pots just soak them in really hot water and all of the sugar will just melt off.
-You can buy your own mushroom popcorn kernels here. I've ordered from JustPoppin.com quite a few times and their customer service is great, plus I really like their name.

Edible Holiday Gifts: Spicy Caramel Cashew Corn

Every year around this time I try to take up knitting. I've always wanted to give hand knit hats and scarves and chunky cowls as gifts, but every year I get about 20 rows into the same scarf and give up. Patience for learning new tasks is hard for me to come by these days. The thing is, I really love to give hand made gifts. So after giving up on knitting and purling I inevitably end up in the kitchen stirring boiling hot pots of sugar, rolling out cookie doughs and pulling the sprinkles down from the top shelf to decorate cookie ornaments. Over the years I've built up quite a repertoire of tasty gifts and this caramel corn is one of my favorite snacks to bring to a holiday party. It also looks oh so cute packed up in little jars or bags for party favors. It is salty, sweet with just a hint of heat from the cayenne pepper and it is totally addictive. I use mushroom corn here which is a super fluffy variety of popcorn that is just perfect for holding lots and lots of tasty caramel and can handle the stirring without breaking, but good old fashioned jiffy pop works too.

Spicy Caramel Cashew Corn
yield about 2 quarts of finished caramel corn

3T oil
1/2c popcorn kernels (mushroom corn if you can find it)
2c sugar
3T butter
1T salt
1 1/2t baking soda
1/2t cayenne pepper
1t cinnamon
1/2t freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups salted cashews

To Pop the Corn

Use an air popper OR if you are like me, do it on the stovetop

1. Heat the 3T of oil in a large heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat, drop a few un popped kernels in there while the oil is heating. When the kernels pop, the oil is ready to go.
2. When the oil is hot, toss in the 1/2c of popcorn kernels, put on the lid and shake the pan back and forth a few times to coat all of the kernels with hot oil. As the popcorn pops, shake the pan every 30 seconds or so to prevent the bottom kernels from scorching. Once the time between "pops" slows down to a few seconds, it's done. Immediately turn the popcorn out into a large bowl.
3. When the pop corn is cool, carefully go through and remove all of the un-popped kernels then pour the cashews on top of the popcorn, without stirring them in.

For the Caramel

1. Lightly oil 2 wooden spoons or spatulas (these will be used to stir the caramel into the popcorn) and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or lightly oil it (this will be used to cool the caramel covered corn).
2. In a large heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat add the sugar, butter, salt and 1/2c water. Bring the mixture to a boil (without stirring) and let it boil vigorously until it turns a light golden caramel, 10-14min.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the spices and baking soda. The baking soda will make the mixture foam and expand so make sure you are using a large pot. The spices will cause the caramel to darken in color.
4. Immediately and carefully pour the caramel over the popcorn and cashews, grab your oiled spatulas and start gently tossing the mixture together. Keep stirring until the corn and cashews are evenly coated, then turn the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and gently separate the kernels. You don't need to go crazy here, but try to get it in an even layer.

To give as gifts

Package a few cups of the corn in a mason jar, weck jar, or pretty glassine bag tied with a ribbon and a label.

Notes

- To wash all of your caramel covered bowls, spoons, and pots just soak them in really hot water and all of the sugar will just melt off.
-You can buy your own mushroom popcorn kernels here. I've ordered from JustPoppin.com quite a few times and their customer service is great, plus I really like their name.

BAKED Sweet and Salty Brownies

I made these brownies a few weeks for a group of dudes headed to the woods for a Bucks Party (a bachelor party, for all you non Aussies). In contrast to the mini wedding cake I made for the other half of the lovely couple these brownies were dark, rich, and their only delicate quality was the perfect amount of saltiness that ran through the caramel. From what I hear, they were a very worthy accompaniment to a whole roast pig, lots of beer, and an impressive assortment of Scotch and Bourbon. Don't worry, I took them out of that pretty pink Pyrex before sending them on their way.

Sweet and Salty Brownies
adapted from BAKED: Explorations

For the Caramel

1c sugar
2T light corn syrup
1/2c heavy cream
1t fleur de sel
1/2c sour cream

1. In a medium saucepan combine the sugar, corn syrup, 1/4c water and stir together carefully. Cook this mixture over high heat until an instant read thermometer reads 350F OR until the mixture is dark amber in color (6-8min). Be careful guys, I almost burnt my caramel because my candy thermometer is a POS and I wasn't paying close enough attention.
2. Remove from heat and slowly add the cream, then the salt, then the sour cream. Set aside to cool.

Note: This recipe makes more than enough caramel for the brownie assembly. Use the extra to serve with the brownies or to make awesome brownie ice-cream sundaes.

For the Brownies

1 1/4c flour
2T unsweetened cocoa powder
1t fleur de sel
11oz dark chocolate, chopped (I used valrhona)
1c unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 1/2c sugar
1/2c packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, room temp
2t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350, line a 9x13 baking dish with buttered parchment or aluminum foil

1. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, salt and cocoa powder
2. Put the chocolate and butter in the bowl of a double boiler set over simmering water and stir occasionally until chocolate and butter are melted. Take the bowl from the heat, add both sugars and whisk until thoroughly combined.
2. Add three eggs to the mixture and whisk until just combined, add the remaining eggs and vanilla.
3. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and fold to combine, do not overbeat or your brownies will be cakey instead of fudgy.

To finish
1 1/2t fleur de sel
1t coarse sugar (demerara and turbinado sugar would work great for this)

To assemble

Pour half of the brownie mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Drizzle about 1/2c of the caramel over top while being careful to make sure the caramel doesn't come into contact with the edge of the pan. Gently spread the caramel into an even layer. Finish by topping the caramel layer with big dollops of the remaining brownie batter and gently smooth the top.

Bake the brownies for 30min, rotating the pan halfway through. The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Directly after removing the brownies from the oven, sprinkle with the fleur de sel and coarse sugar.

Cool completely before cutting and serving.