Simple Toffee Popcorn Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between caramel and toffee popcorn? ›

Toffee has tiny sugar crystals making it crunchy and easy to break. It is the reason toffee adds that cracking sound when coated on desserts or snacks like popcorn. Conversely, caramel has large crystals making it chewy and soft.

Try sprinkling with some grated Parmesan cheese, smoked paprika, nutritional yeast, cayenne powder, taco seasoning, or even curry powder to give a fun and interesting new flavor to traditional buttered popcorn. You can even make popcorn into delicious clusters or caramel corn.

The secret to stay-crispy popcorn that's really butter is clarified butter, also known as ghee.

instead of spreading the popcorn on a tray. put it in a big paper bag and pour the caramel on top. shake until the popcorn is totally covered.

Toffee vs Caramel

The difference between toffee and caramel is that caramel is made with white granulated sugar and cooked to 340 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas toffee is made with butter and brown sugar and cooked to 295 - 309 degrees Fahrenheit.

Simply put, toffee is an overcooked butterscotch — easy to break and with little to no elasticity. Webstaurant Store calls toffee a "hard-crack" candy, which must be heated to a temperature between 295 and 304 degrees F. This allows even more water to evaporate from the mix, increasing the sugar content to 99%.

The flavor all comes down to one ingredient: Flavacol. You've likely never heard of Flavacol because, really, only movie theaters use it. Essentially, it's butter-flavored salt. It's a really fine, bright orange powder that adds that buttery flavor you crave and the signature yellow color.

Try microwaving a glass of water first to help create a humid environment for your kernels. This will help the kernels remain tender, rather than tough. Then let your microwave work its magic, but make sure not to leave your microwave unattended when popping!

There isn't enough moisture in unpopped kernels to create the pressure, so they fail to burst and open. To make your popcorn pop better, try soaking the kernels in a bowl of water for 10 minutes and then draining them. Then, pop the kernels as usual.

Other theaters cook their kernels in a mix of oil and real butter, helping to maximize that butter flavor and fine salt taste before the actual popcorn kernels are popped. However, many don't know that the main reason for the taste of that movie popcorn is a topping called Flavacol.

What do movie theaters use for popcorn butter? ›

Movie theaters use butter-flavored oil, which has a lower water content than butter so it makes popcorn less soggy. Real clarified butter has the same effect. To make it, melt 2 sticks butter in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. Let sit for a few minutes; the butter will separate into 3 layers.

We liked Orville Redenbacher's the best because of its smooth butter flavor, which was evenly distributed over the popcorn. Jolly Time tasted most closely like movie theater popcorn and came in second place. Act II came in third, Newman's Own came in fourth, and Pop Secret came in last.

In a small saucepan, bring butter, sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons water to a boil, stirring constantly. Working quickly, drizzle popcorn with sugar syrup, and toss. Spread popcorn evenly on prepared baking sheet. Bake, tossing occasionally, until golden and shiny, about 40 minutes.

Caramel corn will taste soft and chewy right out of the oven. Give it some time to cool. If it's still tasting soggy after 1–2 hours of cooling at room temperature, you may have under-baked the caramel corn. 1 hour in the oven is usually plenty.

Add raisins, gummy bears and chocolate pieces to popcorn. Toss together; serve immediately. Store remainder in tightly sealed container up to 3 days.

Caramel corn or caramel popcorn (toffee popcorn in the UK) is a confection made of popcorn coated with a sugar or molasses based caramel candy shell that is normally less than 1mm thick. Typically a sugar solution or syrup is made and heated until it browns and becomes thick, producing a caramelized candy syrup.

Using our secret recipe, our generously covered Toffee popcorn is a taste sensation, a perfect sweet treat to share. Glucose Syrup, Sugar, Popped Maize, Salted Butter (MILK), Rapeseed Oil, Salt, Cane Molasses, Partially Inverted Sugar Syrup, Single Cream (MILK), Emulsifier: Lecithins.

When it comes to butterscotch and toffee you've got a lot of the same ingredients. They also use butter, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream, but it's the sugar that differentiates these two from caramel. While caramel uses white sugar, both butterscotch and toffee use brown sugar.

Toffee offers a rich, indulgent taste experience, characterised by a deep, caramelised sweetness and a buttery richness. The primary flavour profile of toffee is a blend of sweet and slightly burnt sugar, which comes from the caramelisation process during cooking.