Monday, August 23, 2010

Make It Homemade: "Healtheier" Caramel Corn




Most days I feel like the ONLY thing I do is feed my kids. The two home with me full time are 4 and 1 and they pretty much eat NON-STOP. I often find myself at 2 o'clock in the afternoon trying to find another health snack for them. While caramel corn isn't exactly "healthy", it is lots of fiber and something I can make ahead of time and keep around.

I somewhat "healthified" this recipe by substituting sucanat for brown sugar and honey for corn syrup and it worked!

"Healthier" Caramel Corn
1 cup sucanat (or brown sugar)
1 stick butter
1/4 cup honey (or corn syrup)
pinch of salt
pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
16 cups of popped popcorn

Put popcorn in a very, very large bowl. In a saucepan, bring the sucanat, butter and honey to a boil, stirring constantly. Once boiling, continue to stir for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and add baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Pour mixture over the popcorn and stir well (and quickly). Pour popcorn on to a large baking sheet (I put parchment down in case the honey stuck). Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour. Break apart -- it cools quickly so work fast.

This post is linked to Heavenly Homemaker's Recipe Parade!

4 Thoughts From Others:

Chief Family Officer said...

I hate to sound ignorant, but can you please explain why the sucanat and honey are healthier? To me, they're just different forms of sugar, so what makes them better? Thanks!

Camille said...

Thanks for asking. Yup, still sugar! But they are natural and unprocessed (because I used raw honey) so they are better (in my book) than using processed brown sugar and corn syrup.

Sucanat has less sucrose than white sugar and because it still has the molasses, it still has Vitamin B6 and other minerals in it. Brown sugar in this recipe would also have the molasses, but it is molasses add to refined white suga. I use sucanat in everything.

Honey contains proteins, vitamins, and minerals. I've also read it can help with allergies (as long as the honey is locally raised) and that it can kill bacteria faster than antibiotics.

So while it is still sugar (thus the healthier and not healthy!), I think they are two of the better forms of sugar available.

Chief Family Officer said...

Ah, makes sense. Thanks, Camille!

Unknown said...

This is the same recipe that I use and we love it. I have switched from succanat to coconut sugar because it has a much lower gylcemic index than the sugar products. We love the taste also!! Lost my recipe and so I was glad to find this one where you bake it in the oven. Makes the caramel bake on and be less sticky!! Taking it camping!! Thanks for sharing!!

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