IT'S REVEAL DAY! I'm SO excited it's not even funny!!
Okay...confession. I'm not a HUGE beer drinker, so when I read about "craft" beers I was a little intimidated. I wasn't really sure what "craft" beer meant and had to do a little research on my own to see what was around me that I could create with.
Well, there's Capital City Brewing and there's Dogfish Head Brewery...and...um... yeah. That's as far as I got. When I told J, my co-worker about the challenge that I needed to head to Cap City Brewing, she suggested I go to Gordon Biersch for some beer. Um...where's that? A few blocks? Sure! I need to get out of the office for a bit before I strangle someone!
Well, it was a little more than a few blocks, but it was all good. She really just wanted to get the garlic fries. Now I know why. O M G they are fab-ulous!
Oh so...beer. I wanted to find a summer brew or a light beer to use in my creations. I have Guiness in the fridge and had been cooking with stouts for a bit, so I wanted to change it up a bit. Summerbrau. That's what I bought. A gallon. Of beer. And now I have this gallon bottle that I can use to get MORE beer to cook with. LOL
It was rather funny as I was toting this gallon bottle of beer into work. "See? This is what you all have done to me...caused me to drink at work!"
Heh. I was more worried about forgetting it and leaving it at work.
So...what to do with beer. Sometime sweet, interesting, with bacon. DUH! I had already whipped up a batch of beer cheese for work. I mean, I had to do SOMETHING with the rest of the beer. My recipes would only use 24 of the 64 ounces. Um...what's left? BEER CHEESE!
I hadn't made it in a while and it's OH SO good! And I made it low fat. And could use up one of the 80 million boxes of Triscuits that Dad gave me.
Oh wait...I got distracted again. Sorry.
I thought about beer dulce de leche for ice cream. Then thought beer ice cream. Nah. If I went to Cap City and got the Peceh Belge yes. But not this summerbrau. Hm...dulce de leche. Now I'm onto something. Bacon. Caramel. Bacon Caramel Corn! BINGO!
Having never made caramel or caramel corn this was going to be interesting. And of course I wasn't going to use the standard caramel making method. I had three cans of evaporated fat free caramel in the pantry. S would want me to use those instead of making different caramel.
So...yup! I made it uber low fat and tasty. There's fat in the pretzels, but it's nominal and there's healthy fat in the walnuts but the bacon is turkey bacon. Yeah...I know. Doesn't quite have the same salty bacony taste, but it does it's job without pounding on the weight. And that's just what you want with this. You WILL.NOT be able to stop eating it.
This is the caramel corn that S was all sad puppy dog face when I took the bag to work. This is the ONE recipe that I DID NOT share with the rest of the class and decided to bring it all home for him and I to munch on. And munch he did! He was off Thursday and Friday. The bag was crumbs by Friday night.
This is the caramel corn that S was all sad puppy dog face when I took the bag to work. This is the ONE recipe that I DID NOT share with the rest of the class and decided to bring it all home for him and I to munch on. And munch he did! He was off Thursday and Friday. The bag was crumbs by Friday night.
Remove the label from the can of sweetened condensed milk. Place it in a pot of water to cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 hours, turning once halfway through. Remove from water and allow to cool completely.
Preheat oven to 200. Place the beer in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer until reduced by a quarter. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the coconut oil in a large pot with lid over high heat (We have one of those stove top popcorn poppers. I HIGHLY recommend those if you like popcorn as much as we do). Once melted, add the popcorn and cook until popping slows to 3 to 4 seconds between pops. Pour the popcorn out onto a baking sheet covered in foil and coated with cooking spray. Keep warm in oven.
Combine the beer reduction and 1 cup of the sweetened condensed milk caramel in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil then add the vanilla. When you add the baking soda, it will bubble up very high. Please make sure you use a large saucepan.
Remove the popcorn from the oven and toss with the bacon bits, pretzel pieces, and pecans.
Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and toss to coat. Bake in the oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, until the caramel is no longer sticky. Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and toss to coat. Bake in the oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, until the caramel is no longer sticky. Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Enjoy!
Beer Bacon Caramel Corn
- 12 ounces beer (Gordon Biersch Summerbrau)
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup popcorn
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup turkey bacon bits
- 1/2 cup pretzel pieces (Pepperidge Farm Goldfish pretzels)
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Remove the label from the can of sweetened condensed milk. Place it in a pot of water to cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 hours, turning once halfway through. Remove from water and allow to cool completely.
- Preheat oven to 200.
- Place the beer in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer until reduced by a quarter. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Place the coconut oil in a large pot with lid over high heat. Once melted, add the popcorn and cook until popping slows to 3 to 4 seconds between pops. Pour the popcorn out onto a baking sheet covered in foil and coated with cooking spray. Keep warm in oven.
- Combine the beer reduction and 1 cup of the sweetened condensed milk caramel in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a low boil then add the vanilla. When you add the baking soda, it will bubble up very high. Please make sure you use a large saucepan.
- Remove the popcorn from the oven and toss with the bacon bits, pretzel pieces, and pecans.
- Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and toss to coat. Bake in the oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, until the caramel is no longer sticky. Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
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