Save a fortune by making it yourself!
The chatter between closet popcorn-loving friends, however, quickly moved from Far out, this is crazy good!
to OMG can you believe itsso expensive??
Store-bought Golden Gaytime popcorn
A small bag with just 2 cups of Gaytime popcorn.I cant afford to feed my addiction!!
My report card is at the bottom of the post!
A quick inspection of the ingredients label was all I needed to come up with a copycat recipe.
Its really justcaramel popcornwith a drizzle of chocolate and sprinkling of biscuit crumbs.
However, my homemade Gaytime Popcorn is far more generous on the chocolate drizzling (oh, why not?
And you wont break the bank!
Store-bought Golden Gaytime popcorn
Hmm, I did a sprinkling of biscuit crumbs, didnt I.
But it looks more like Im assertively throwing biscuit crumbs in the photo below.You want biscuit crumbs?
Heres your biscuit crumbs!!!
Ingredients you need
Heres what it’s crucial that you make this.
The first part covers the caramel popcorn, then the second part covers the chocolate drizzle and biscuit crumbs.
Common grocery item in the US and Canada !
It can be purchased online in Australia fromUSAFoods.com.auandAmazon.
Just a little harder to measure out because its so thick.
This is because glucose has slightly higher water content.
It helps get even coverage of caramel on the popcorn.
Without the baking soda, you end up with big globs of caramel.
It cant be substituted with baking powder.
Toffee, caramel or vanilla essence Store-bought Gaytime popcorn has a stronger albeit more artificial caramel flavour than homemade.
To replicate this, use a caramel or toffee essence.
Otherwise, just stick with vanilla like normal caramel popcorn.
Its honestly not a big deal, the popcorn still has a lovely caramel-y flavour.
Brown sugarrather than white sugar, for better caramel flavour.
Not margarine or other alternatives.
I cant predict what that will do to the crispness of the caramel coating.
Oil Anything neutral flavoured like vegetable, canola or peanut oil.
This is for cooking the popcorn.
Use any plain sweet biscuit
Its usually sold in the potato crisps aisle in grocery stores here in Australia.
Use a chocolate purchased from the baking aisle rather than eating chocolate.
For those of you in the US, semi-sweet chocolate chips is perfect.
Plain biscuits A signature part of Golden Gaytime Popcorn is the sprinkling of crushed biscuits on the popcorn.
The ingredients label specifies that its vanilla biscuits.
Honestly though, any plain sweet biscuits will work just fine!
But every test batch I made mysteriously disappeared before I could finish testing the shelf life!!
Heres how to cook popcorn on the stove.
Test kernels Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.
Add a few pieces of popcorn and wait until it pops, then quickly remove.
Add remaining popcorn, elevate off stove to shake and spread corn out evenly.
Cover with a lid.
Shake!Once the popcorn starts popping in earnest, shake the pot gently once.
To make the caramelmelt butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add sugar, corn syrup and salt.
Stir until just combined.
Simmer When it starts to bubble, simmer for 4 minutes DO NOT STIR!
This may cause the sugar to crystallise so you wont end up with a smooth caramel.
Baking soda foamy Remove from heat then quickly whisk in caramel (toffee or vanilla) and baking soda.
When you stop whisking, the caramel will foam and increase in volume.
This is what makes the caramel coat the popcorn evenly.
Bake for 45 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes or so.
The caramel will remelt for the first 2-3 tosses so it coats the popcorn more evenly.
REMINDER: If using glucose instead of corn syrup, bake for an extra 15 minutes.
Prevent screen from sleeping
Cool Remove from oven, leave to cool on the tray for 20 minutes so the caramel hardens.
Then break up the popcorn no need to be too pedantic, clumps are great!
Gaytime the popcorn!
OK, so time to transform our caramel popcorn into Gaytime Popcorn!
Heres how:
Bashthe biscuits into crumbs either in a ziplock bag or using a mortar and pestle.
Meltthe chocolate in the microwave (I use this) or bain-marie (bowl set over simmering water).
Transferthe melted chocolate into a piping bag.
But if you prefer, you could just use a spoon for drizzling.
Drizzlethe chocolate all over the popcorn in whatever pattern you prefer.
There are no rules!
Except aim for even coverage.
Nobody wants to be the unlucky person who gets a handful of chocolate-less popcorn!
Sprinklethe popcorn with the biscuit crumbs while the chocolate is still wet.
Test batches made it to around the 1 week mark successfully before mysteriously disappearing.
So I cant say for sure, but Im confident it should last for at least 2 weeks.
Just verify it is stored in an airtight container in a cool and dry place.
This was a jar intended for gifting.
It never got gifted.
REPORT CARD: Homemade is 68% cheaper!!
Weve spin up the numbers and the results are in.
So, I was 12% off.
I would never spend $28.75 for 5 packets of Gaytime.
