Bold, rich flavors are served up in this Maple Caramel Corn, where maple syrup is used instead of sugar.

I’ve been on a maple flavored kick lately. I was inspired by the fact that I was putting together an Elf family movie night post. And when started thinking about Elf inspired food, I kept coming back to maple syrup, since Buddy the elf puts it on everything!

While we didn’t really want to have spaghetti with maple syrup (yuck!), I did end up making this fabulous Maple Caramel Corn, along with Caramelized Maple Pecan Fudge, and Maple Steamers.

Maple syrup is a great natural sweetener to use in place of refined sugars. It is lower on the glycemic index, meaning that it causes less of a spike in blood sugar. It also contains potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and zinc, and is full of antioxidants, making it a much better choice than white sugar.

If you have a Costco near you, I found their maple syrup was $3-7 cheaper than anywhere else in town. That may be different for you, depending on your location.

Yield: 10 Servings

Maple Caramel Corn

Name: Maple Caramel Corn
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 2 h 35 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 1 package of microwave popcorn; 2 cups maple syrup; 1 cup heavy cream; 3 oz. candy corn

Bold, rich flavors are served up in this Maple Caramel Corn, where maple syrup is used instead of sugar.

Cook Time 35 minutes

Cool Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 package of microwave popcorn
2 cups maple syrup
1 cup heavy cream
3 oz. candy corn

Instructions

Pop popcorn. Rub butter on the inside of a large bowl. Add the popcorn and set aside.
Measure maple syrup into a heavy duty saucepan with a candy thermometer on the side, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Lower temperature and simmer 5 minutes. If syrup starts to rise, lift pan and swirl contents to prevent scorching.
Add heavy cream without stirring, and raise heat again to medium-high, and bring back to a boil.
Simmer until temperature reaches 248 degrees, or firm ball stage.
Remove from heat, and pour over the popcorn.
Stir to cover all the popcorn.
Stir in candy corn.
Allow to cool, then enjoy!