My grandma used to make this long ago, usually around Halloween, and we would roll it into balls.
Ingredients
- quarts popped popcorn: 5 piece
- unsalted cashews: 2 cups
- packed brown sugar: 2 cups
- light corn syrup: 0.5 cup
- unsalted butter: 1 cup
- salt: 1 tsp
- cream of tartar: 0.25 tsp
- baking soda: 1 tsp
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C).
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Mix popcorn and cashews together in a large roasting pan.
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Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt, and cream of tartar in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until a candy thermometer inserted into the middle of the syrup, not touching the bottom, reads 260 degrees F (127 degrees C), 6 to 8 minutes.
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Remove syrup from heat; stir in baking soda. Pour over popcorn and cashews; stir to coat.
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Bake in the preheated oven, stirring every 20 minutes, until sugar mixture has baked and caramelized onto popcorn and cashews, about 1 hour. Spread cashew caramel corn onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet to cool. If desired, form into balls while still warm.