Inspired by
@maxfalkowitz's tweet a while back about buttered popcorn caramels, I investigated some possibilities.
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| Huge Chewy Caramel Popcorn Ball with Coffee Dust |
We all know and love caramel popcorn. Aside from the obvious flavor charm, the butterfly and mushroom shaped puffs have awesome texture. The crispy crunchy thin candy coating over all the nooks and crannies is what makes us come back for more. So why mess with a good thing? Because that's what we do here.
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| Chewy Butterscotch Popcorn with Sumac |
The first attempt was a chewy butterscotch coated popcorn. I took the final candy temperature to the soft-ball stage. It tasted fine, but the candy drowned out the delicate popcorn. The bite was too compliant so hard-ball stage needed to happen. Also enrobing was clearly not the way to go. Then I began to think about how to change the ratio.
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| Popcorn on a Thin Sheet of Caramel |
The answer was simple. Create a thin layer of caramel for the popcorn to rest on. It only made sense to form a roulade. I was imagining a pinwheel slice lollipop or even squeezed onto a scoop coffee ice cream. I put it into the freezer to harden it up a bit to make it easier to cut.
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| Chewy Caramel Popcorn Roulade |
The balance of
caramel to popcorn worked nicely. The candy was still cold when I tasted it and the brittle to chewy transformation was a bonus. The only issue was the roulade not holding together when it was cut. Next time...
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| Sticky Caramel Popcorn Spirals |
Sometimes experiments take a lot more iterations than you'd like. Fret not! There are always discoveries along the way that will be more interesting than what you originally intended and expected. That's the beauty of the creative process.
As always, please share your investigations to keep the ideas bouncing.