Simple Toffee Popcorn Recipe (2024)

FAQs

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

Ingredient Differences

Toffee is a product of heating sugar or light corn syrup and butter at 300F. Therefore, it tastes like light buttery, and sugary candy. The sweet buttery taste balances well with the saltiness of the popcorn. On the other hand, caramel has dark corn syrup, milk or cream, and water.

Clarified butter or ghee, a type of clarified butter, is the best bet for coating your kernels. Regular butter contains water and milk solids, which lead to a soggy snack. The water and milk solids are removed from clarified butter and ghee.

Baking soda is what makes caramel corn chewy with a bit of crunch and gives it the classic brittle texture. The baking soda also helps the mixture to increase in volume which ensures it covers all of the popcorn. It's an essential ingredient and without it you'll likely find the texture of the caramel corn to be off.

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.

The difference between caramel and toffee is greater, as caramel has a more liquid consistency and is usually pure sugar (it doesn't contain butter or flour). Still, the taste of caramel, fudge, and toffee is relatively similar, as they are all made from mostly sugar (as well as butter in the case of fudge and toffee).

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.

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.

Instead, these two key ingredients give movie theater popcorn its signature taste and smell: popcorn popping oil and popcorn seasoning. Yup, it's that simple. Popcorn popping oils come in a few varieties, including pure coconut oil or a blend of canola oil.

Why use baking soda in toffee? ›

You might wonder why the toffee recipe includes baking soda. It is added at the end of the boiling stage and creates lots and lots of bubbles. These bubbles help to lighten the texture of the finished toffee, resulting in an easier-to-bite candy.

Overheating the mixture. Be very careful as you heat your caramel. Follow the recipe carefully, and never melt your caramel on your stove's highest setting—it will cause the caramel to scorch and taste burnt. Once it gets a burnt or bitter flavor, it can't be saved.

Cream of tartar is a white powder sold in the baking aisle that's commonly used to stabilize whipped egg whites in meringues and cakes, prevent sugar crystallization in candies and caramel, and act as the activating ingredient in baking powder.

First taste fresh buttery caramel, followed by sweet toffee increasing in intensity as you finish.

While both caramel corn and kettle corn are sweet, caramel corn is richer in flavor and texture. Historically sweetened with molasses, caramel corn is most-often candy-coated. The thin, crunchy, sweet coating is derived from melted sugar. The coating is applied after popping.

While they share a golden-brown colour and a sugary base, toffee and caramel are distinct in ingredients, preparation, and texture. Toffee, known for its hard and brittle nature, contrasts with caramel's soft, chewy consistency. Join us as we uncover these two beloved confections' subtle yet significant differences.

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.