Baking a Difference and Caramel Apple Pie Popcorn
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This year, Fleischmann’s® Yeast, Simply Homemade® Baking Mixes, and Karo® Syrup—trusted for over 100 years—are joining forces to launch the Baking A Difference campaign. Their goal: support Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry® mission to end childhood hunger through the power of baking.
It is hard to believe that one in five children in the U.S. struggle with hunger. They cannot rely on having access to the daily nutritious food they need to grow and thrive. Now, these three companies are uniting bakers everywhere for the Baking A Difference campaign. The campaign is helping the No Kid Hungry campaign end childhood hunger in America.
Fleischmann’s® Yeast, Fleischmann’s® Simply Homemade® Baking Mixes, and Karo® Syrup are calling all bakers to bake for a cause.
Love baking? Join the challenge to bake for someone you care about and help make a difference. Rally your community to support the Baking A Difference and No Kid Hungry campaigns—together, we can fight child hunger one recipe at a time.
To inspire people to make a difference for No Kid Hungry when they participate in the Baking A Difference campaign, Fleischmann’s® Yeast, Fleischmann’s® Simply Homemade® Baking Mixes, and Karo® Syrup have partnered with America’s Test Kitchen and Joy Wilson of Joy the Baker blog. They teamed up to create baking tips and unique twists on classic recipes to encourage more bakers to bake a difference.
I was asked to participate by making a twist on their classic caramel corn just in time for tailgating season.
I took my inspiration from my favorite caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. for this Caramel Apple Pie Popcorn. The apple gets a nice dip in the traditional caramel. Last is a coating of white chocolate along a dusting of cinnamon sugar. They are divine.
So I took the traditional Karo® Syrup caramel corn recipe. I added some dry apple cider mix and cinnamon to the caramel to give it that nice apple pie flavor. Then, the caramel coats some popcorn along with some dried apples. Once the caramel popcorn cooks and cools, it gets a drizzle of melted white chocolate and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar! I took my inspiration from my favorite caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. for this Caramel Apple Pie Popcorn. It tastes just like the caramel apple treat I love.
Ingredients for Caramel Apple Pie Popcorn
- COOKING SPRAY
- POPCORN
- DRIED APPLES
- BROWN SUGAR
- APPLE CIDER DRINK MIX
- CINNAMON
- KARO SYRUP
- BUTTER OR MAGARINE
- SALT
- BAKING SODA
- VANILLA EXTRACT
- SUGAR
- CINNAMON
- WHITE CHOCOLATE
Instructions for Caramel Apple Pie Popcorn
Preheat your oven to 250°F and lightly coat a large, shallow roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add 4 quarts of popped popcorn and 1 cup of dried apple pieces to the pan, then place it in the oven to stay warm while you prepare the caramel.
In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, combine 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 packet of apple cider drink mix, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ cup light corn syrup, ½ cup butter, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a gentle boil.
Once it reaches a boil, stop stirring and let it bubble away for 5 minutes—this helps create that rich, glossy caramel texture. Remove the pan from heat and stir in ¼ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. The mixture will foam slightly—this is normal and helps the caramel coat the popcorn evenly.
Carefully pour the hot caramel over the warm popcorn and apples, stirring gently to coat everything well. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to ensure even coating.
When done, spread the caramel popcorn onto a large sheet of foil sprayed with cooking spray. Let it cool completely, then break into clusters.
In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Drizzle the cooled popcorn with melted white chocolate and immediately sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Allow the chocolate to set, then store the popcorn in a tightly sealed container.
Makes about 4 quarts—perfect for sharing (or gifting, if you can part with it!).
Baking A Difference
The Baking A Difference campaign will culminate in spring 2014 with a unique e-cookbook full of delicious, classic Fleischmann’s® Yeast and Karo® Syrup recipes. It includes contemporary twists on classic recipes from Joy the Baker. It also includes recipe images from bakers across the country showing how they bake a difference in their kitchens and local communities. The e-cookbook will be available for free download at Breadworld.com, Karosyrup.com, Facebook.com/FleischmannsYeast, Facebook.com/SimplyHomemadeMix and Facebook.com/KaroSyrup.
Caramel Apple Pie Popcorn
Real Mom Kitchen
Ingredients
- Mazola Cooking Spray
- 4 quarts popped popcorn
- ½ dried apples chopped
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp dry apple cider drink mix
- ¾ tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup Karo® Light or Dark Syrup
- ½ cup butter or margarine
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp Spice Islands® pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup melted white chocolate
Instructions
- Spray a large shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Add popcorn and dried apples and place in a preheated 250 degree oven while preparing caramel.
- Mix brown sugar, apple cider drink mix, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, corn syrup, butter, and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Boil for 5 minutes WITHOUT STIRRING. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla.
- Pour syrup over warm popcorn and apples, stirring to coat evenly.
- Bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and spread over foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cool.
- Once cooled break into pieces. In a small bowl, combine the 1 Tbsp sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon.
- Drizzle melted white chocolate over the popcorn and immediately sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Allow chocolate to harden. Store popcorn in tightly covered container. Makes 4 quarts.
