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Christmas treats and desserts, Desserts, Snacks
Butter Toffee Popcorn is a family snack favorite and a personal love of mine. You can use microwavable buttery popcorn for that extra buttery flavor and coat in a simple toffee caramel sauce to give the popcorn that sweet and salty flavor combination.
Hey Sugar Babies! I love this Butter Toffee Popcorn recipe! I hope you got everything you wanted for Christmas this year. Lord knows I did. The two biggest things I wanted were a camcorder and an Amazon Kindle Fire. I got them both. YAY ME!
I was going to post one last recipe for you before Christmas if you wanted to make something to share with your friends and family, but I got the stomach flu. I had it for two days. That thing is not fun to have, ya know? Now I am back and feeling better and ready to get back into sharing some awesome recipes and pictures of how my Christmas went. What did I do? My fiancée just lounged around, watched basketball, and cooked dinner. Yea, we stayed in our PJs all day. It was pretty darn awesome.
How I made this Butter Toffee Popcorn
Now, about this popcorn recipe. It is pretty easy to make! I will say that I made this version of the caramel popcorn recipe twice and tried two different ways to make the popcorn. The first way I made the popcorn was the stovetop way. This wasn’t too bad, but I burnt some of the popcorn, so that didn’t work out. Also, there were too many hard kernels in the mix, and it became a serious pain. So, I decided to use a bag of plain microwavable popcorn, and it was much easier to discard the kernels that way. Not only that, it didn’t take that long either. I recommend that method if you’re uncertain. Of course, there is the toffee sauce part, which is just amazing! I will say to be careful and line your baking tray with wax or parchment paper.
This Butter Toffee Popcorn has a special place in my heart. It does. It is the perfect partner for a couch potato like myself sometimes. Not only that, it is an awesome gift idea to give to people for the holidays. Yea, I know I’m kind of late with the gift ideas, but we have Valentine’s Day coming up, and this will serve just as good as a V-Day gift as a Christmas Day gift.
Speaking of Valentine’s Day, you know I went to the grocery store the day after Christmas, and they were already putting up stuff for V-Day?! How absurd! I mean, the Thanksgiving turkey gets no love at all, and there is all this hype about Christmas from September to December, and as soon as it is over, they dump it like a bad habit. I’m sorry. I’m always a little sad when Christmas is over. Not as sad as I was when eating this popcorn was over. So…enjoy!
Recipe partially adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
Commonly Asked Questions
Can I add additional toppings to this toffee popcorn recipe?
Yes! I have added a few times toffee bits, a little drizzle of chocolate by melting some semi-sweet chocolate chips, and/or a sprinkle of sea salt for a sweet and salty combination.
Do I need a candy thermometer for this recipe?
I’m sure a candy thermometer wouldn’t hurt to make this recipe, but I have been fine without using one.
Similar Recipes
If you like recipes like this toffee popcorn recipe, you will like some of the other snack recipes below:
- Peanut Toffee Nut Clusters
- Cashew Clusters
- Salted Dark Chocolate Clusters
- Brownie Crisps
Butter Toffee Popcorn
5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star
4.9 from 8 reviews
- Author: Cupcake from Brown Sugar
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 mins
- Yield: 18 cups 1x
Description
Try Butter Toffee Popcorn as an awesome snack and to give away for gifts. This is the perfect sweet and salty combination for popcorn. Try this Butter Toffee Popcorn today!
Ingredients
Units Scale
- 4– 3 oz. bags microwave popcorn (lightly salted)
- 2 sticks butter
- 2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup dark corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2–3 cups roasted, salted peanuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 Degrees and butter a large rimmed baking sheet and set aside. Pop the popcorn in the microwave.
- Sift the bag of popcorn and remove as many unpopped kernels as possible and place the popped popcorn in a large bowl along with the peanuts. Set the popcorn and peanuts to the side to the side.
- Melt the 2 sticks of butter in a medium saucepan on medium heat, add the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt and constantly stir as it begins to slightly boil. Allow boiling while constantly stirring for 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add the vanilla extract and baking soda. The baking soda will cause the caramel mixture to bubble up a little bit but keep stirring until it completely dissolves. Pour the toffee mixture over the popcorn and the peanuts using a rubber spatula, toss carefully until the popcorn mixture is covered.
- Place popcorn onto the prepared baking sheet or silpat silicon sheet and spread out evenly and bake for 1 hour.
- Once finished baking, allow to cool for 25 minutes, break apart, and store in an airtight container or serve!
Notes
If you have a hot popcorn popper, you can pop 3/4 c. uncooked popcorn kernels instead of the original recipe. I just thought this may be a little easier.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 75 mins
- Category: Snacks
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
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Comments
Amanda says
Oh, wow! Have to try this!
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
Let me know when you do!
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Yuliya says
Hi, Nicole. Love this recipe and made it a few times already but it’s been ages. Now I’m a bit puzzled. The temp in the oven is 250 degrees Fahrenheit right? Not Celsius. Thanks
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
Yes.
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Tammi says
This is the first time I’ve made butter toffee popcorn and OH EM GEE! Phenomenal, stupendous, fantastic, PERFECTION!
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
YAAAAAY!!!!
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ChristopherD says
Ingredients and proportions make delicious popcorn. I like to add a tablespoon of local honey, or orange blossom honey at the end, right before adding the vanilla and baking soda. Also, once mixture begins to boil, I stop stirring. I’ve found that constantly stirring causes crystallization, producing a grainy coating in the end…like, every time. Of course, I stir in the final ingredients, but only then. Also, during the oven phase (as it were), I pull the sheet pans out every 20 minutes and fold everything over and together, replace, and repeat until the hour is up. Furthermore, I flick out a popcorn pop/kernel/whatever to let cool on my counter while awaiting the next 20 minutes, just to test “doneness”. =]
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
Awesome!
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Neda says
This is amazing! I popped the popcorn kernels in a microwave safe bowl covered with a microwave safe plate. Followed the advice of one reviewer and didn’t stir while it was boiling. I ended up with the most delicious caramel mixture.
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
Yay!
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Janice says
I wonder if this same method will work for peanuts and nuts? I need a recipe for toffee crunch nut mix.
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
Hmmm. I don’t see why not. I would try it and let me know how it comes out!
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Annie says
I’ve made this at home several times with no issues and it’s fabulous! I try to make it at work and it almost burnt part of it during the baking process. I’m going to guess it was because these ovens are older than the hills. I want to try again at work so they get a better representation of the heaven that is this popcorn. I want to try in our convection oven. What is your recommendation for time and temp in a convection oven?
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
This is great Annie! I am so glad you have a great experience with this recipe!
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Susan says
My first time ever making Carmel popcorn and this recipe was very easy to follow and very DELICIOUS!!!! Thank Yiu for sharing!
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
No problem! Thanks for trying!
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Jennifer says
Can this be rolled into popcorn balls?
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
I don’t think it will stick together and the caramel may burn your hands.
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Lynn says
I’m excited to try this. One question. How much is 2 sticks of butter in cups? Our sticks here in Canada come in different sizes.
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Nicole Nared-Washington says
2 sticks is one cup, 16 tablespoons.
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