Sweet and salty crunchy caramel corn drizzled with white and dark chocolate!
I heart popcorn big time. My husband, he doesn’t care for it all that much (weirdo, who doesn’t like popcorn…) which, besides being almost inhuman, I am actually okay with because that means more for me. And popcorn is practically air with incredible flavor so I can down one of those giant XXL movie popcorn buckets in about 7 minutes.
No really, before the previews are finished.
I like it buttered, I love it cheesy, but carameled = my personal heaven. My mum makes fantastic caramel corn in two versions: 1) ooey gooey soft and chewy and 2) crunchy. I prefer the crunchy but I like the other stuff too. The inspiration for this caramel corn recipe I’m sharing today is actually not my mum’s recipe. I have no idea where it comes from, but my mum keeps a good stash of this caramel corn stuff in the cupboard almost constantly. It comes in a big cone wrapped in cellophane that vaguely reminds me of a circus tent. It’s crunchy, and drizzled in white and dark chocolate and it’s called Zebra Caramel Corn.
Oh my gosh it’s so good.
Obviously I don’t live with my mother anymore and don’t have constant access to her snack stash. But it’s okay because I recreated that caramel corn at home and I’ve gotta say I like it better than its namesake. This caramel corn is perfectly sweet and salty and extra rich from the chocolate drizzles. It’s easy to make and if you can manage to spare some (or just make an extra batch) it makes an excellent neighbor gift.
Yeah, just make a second batch. The first one won’t last long enough to make it across the street.
Zebra Caramel Corn
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons tablespoons butter - plus more for baking sheet
- 10 cups plain unsalted popped popcorn - (from ½ cup kernels or a 3.3-ounce bag microwave popcorn)
- ½ cup packed light-brown sugar
- coarse sea salt
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter a large rimmed baking sheet, set aside. Place popcorn in a large bowl and set aside.
- In a small saucepan, bring butter, sugar, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil, stirring constantly. Working quickly, drizzle popcorn with sugar syrup, and toss to coat.
- Spread popcorn evenly on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Bake, tossing occasionally, until golden and shiny, about 40 minutes. Transfer hot popcorn to parchment-paper-lined baking sheet; let cool.
- Once popcorn is cooled, melt the chocolate. Place semi sweet chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on half power for 2 minutes. Stir, then return to microwave and heat for another 20 seconds at a time, stirring between each, until smooth. Drizzle over popcorn. Repeat process with white chocolate. Allow to cool until chocolate is hardened. Store in airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe adapt from Martha Stewart.
This recipe didn’t work out for me. When I put the syrup on the popcorn, the popcorn literally disintegrated. It just melted the popcorn way.
This looks absolutely delicious! Can kosher salt be used instead of course sea salt? Would it effect the flavor?
Kosher salt should work just fine 🙂
I love this recipe! I’ve made it four or five times now. Here are some of my tips I’ve developed: If you want the caramel sauce to coat each and every piece, make sure to make 1.5 times the brown sugar-water-butter mixture. Otherwise, the popcorn comes out about 1/3 kettle corn, 2/3 caramel corn (which is delicious too!!). Make sure to make this a day ahead, as the cooling time of the chocolate at room temperature is very long. I have made this more than once where I intended to drizzle it with chocolate and stopped at the caramel corn because it was too good to improve upon. The only way I’ve messed it up is getting distracted and not de-sticking and stirring the caramel corn in the oven every ten minutes, although it is still okay when a bit burnt. It may be my great downfall that such perfect zebra and caramel corn is within my kitchen cabinets and an hour’s labor at all times .
Made this without the salt and it turned out great! I put it in the fridge after putting the chocolates on it and it hardened quicker. I put it in a zip lock and kept it in the fridge. It’s delicious! I think I will try butterscotch chips instead of white chocolate next time to see how it taste.
I made this and it was problematic. White chocolate did not melt in microwave. Had to do double boiler for the white/semi sweet chocolate chips. Popcorn after putting on sauce was soggy. Put in freezer and seems a little better. Taste ok but not sure I would make again.
Hi Mary- sorry to hear that you were not satisfied with this recipe! I hope that you find another recipe here that you love!