I don’t know about y’all, but to me sweet and salty is the epitome of perfection in snack foods, as well as crunchy and munchy too (munchy is such a silly word, I love it). This caramel crunch mix embodies all of these delightful things to make one of the most perfect snack mixes I’ve ever had.
This was my first time making a snack mix ever (I know, lamesauce) and to be honest hadn’t attempted one before due to the whole making caramel, not burning it, making a giant mess part. What a relief that this was insanely easy to make (even the caramel part woohoo), and the hardest part was waiting for it to cool before I could eat it.
Honestly, I may or may not have burned my fingers a little don’t judge me due to my impatience to get a taste of this stuff 🙂 Also, if you’re not partial to any of the ingredients, feel free to change them (peanuts might be a good sub for macadamias btw). I am just loving this stuff and am totally planning on making some more for my next cheat day, y’all should too! Happy Monday!!
Alrighty, pretzels into the bowl…
then the popped popcorn…
my sous chef is a huge popcorn fan, and was working hard aka looking adorable to get some (of course I obliged)…
now the cereal…
and then the nuts…
set that stuff aside and put some butter into the pan…
once melted add the brown sugar and corn syrup…
get it boiling…
this is what it looked like right after I took it off the heat then added the baking soda…
then immediately poured it over the pretzel/nut mix and stirred it all in, making sure to coat it all…
while still warm, place onto a parchment lined pan, bake it up for a little bit…
let cool, then enjoy!
- 1 Cup (2 Sticks) of Unsalted Butter.
- 1 Cup of Brown Sugar, Packed.
- 1/3 Cup of Corn Syrup.
- 1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda.
- 1 Bag (9.87 Ounce) of Microwave Popcorn, No Butter.
- 3 Cups of Miniature Pretzels.
- 1 1/2 Cups of Roasted & Salted Macadamia Nuts.
- 2 Cups of Rice & Corn Cereal (I Used Publix Brand Crispix).
- Large Sheet Pan.
- Parchment Paper for Sheet Pan.
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.
- In a large bowl place your popped popcorn, and remember to remove the un-popped kernels (I forgot, and it's not fun biting into one).
- Now add your pretzels, nuts and cereal.
- In a large pot on medium heat, melt your butter, then add your sugar and corn syrup.
- Stir these ingredients together constantly until the mixture starts to boil.
- While still stirring boil for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and add your baking soda.
- Pour your caramel over your popcorn pretzel mixture and stir to coat completely.
- Now spread your popcorn mixture on a sheet pan with parchment paper, and bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Once cool, break into clusters and enjoy.
- In my pictures I may have shown the popcorn going in 2nd, but I recommend placing in the bowl first so you can more easily remove the popcorn kernels which I forgot to do.