The other weekend I sort of out of the blue decided I needed to make some caramel popcorn I hadn’t made in years. Not just any caramel corn, but an extra indulgent kind with pretzels, marshmallows, and cashews in it. Since I usually have all the ingredients in my pantry, I didn’t even bother double checking. I finally got around to making it late in the day, and as I was popping the popcorn, I discovered I was out of pretzels. And cashews.
By then though, I was already set on having some sweet and salty goodness but I was not wanting to take a trip to the store, so I started to look around for some substitutes. I saw some kettle chips and one thing led to another and pretty soon we were eating some of the best caramel corn we had ever had. I am not sure why I haven’t thought of covering potato chips in caramel before (maybe my subconscious desire to keep my arteries open?), but I am pretty sure there is no turning back now.
- 8-9 cups popped popcorn
- 2 cups kettle potato chips, slightly crushed up
- 1½ cups walnuts, roughly chopped
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cups packed brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups mini marshmallows
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl, combine popcorn, chips, and walnuts.
- In a large sauce pan, combine the butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. Add in baking soda, stirring well. Mixture will bubble up quite a bit. Pour over the popcorn mixture and stir to evenly coat. Dump onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice while it cooks. Remove from oven. Let cool slightly, then gently stir in marshmallows. Let cool completely, then serve.
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