Today’s recipe that I’m bringing to the table is the perfect marriage of salty and sweet with a boozy kick. Y’all know I love my boozy bites and this Bacon Bourbon Caramel Popcorn is epic. The spicy black pepper bacon candies in the amber bourbon caramel and it’s like an adult version of cracker jack – sans the peanuts.
I found this recipe in my favorite bacon cookbook of all time, Southern Living Bourbon & Bacon Cookbook, and can I tell you the recipes I have made from that cookbook are epic. Bourbon and bacon are two musts in my household – I love the smoky flavor that each imparts and if you are going to add caramel to the mix – count me in.
I tested this recipe until it came out just right. I decided to make homemade popcorn for this using my 8 qt. pasta pot and if I told you how easy it was, you might never reach for that whatever pop or a micro version again. Just 1 1/2 cups of popcorn kernels filled that huge pot to the top – so good and fluffy! One tip I have to stress – have your ingredients pre-measured and ready to go so that things move smoothly – especially with the caramel. Also – while the bacon was baking, I was making the popcorn so multi-tasking on some of the steps is possible.
When it came to making the caramel, the light corn syrup I used kept the mixture a pale gold, not the rich amber like I thought it would be. Perhaps it was from the milk solids in the butter and I kept second guessing myself. When it went from a pale white to the pale gold, instinct told me it was time to take it off the heat and add the bourbon, vanilla, etc. to the bubbling molten caramel and *boom* there it was – rich amber caramel. A slow bake in the oven and patience while it cooled resulted in the BEST caramel popcorn I have ever had. I had so much of this that The Junior Sous Pug delivered some to his favorite girls at the vet hospital and it went like wildfire. Friends and family have already asked for it on repeat – I’m just wondering if I can use it as a negotiating tactic – hmmmmmm.
When you want to make a salty sweet treat with a boozy kick – make this Bacon Bourbon Caramel Popcorn and watch it disappear like magic!
On to the recipe:
Gather your ingredients
Coat thick cut bacon with black pepper and bake until it’s just about crisp
Just a little bit of popcorn pops into a large pot of fluffy popcorn
Off to the oven
This Bacon Bourbon Caramel Popcorn is perfection
[mpprecipe-recipe:75]
