Hot Tamale Candy Popcorn

 

Isn't that such a festive looking treat? I came across this recipe here at Jamie Cooks It Up. She used cinnamon bears and colored her popcorn red. I thought it was such a clever idea, cinnamon bears and popcorn! Maybe it sounds weird to some of you, but trust me it is a match made in heaven. I used hot tamales because I couldn't find one package of cinnamon bears here in Hawaii, can you believe that?! It worked out great though. I gave them to my young women at church and they loved it!

Hot Tamale Candy Popcorn
adapted from Jamie Cooks It Up who got it from Katherine Rose


24 C popped popcorn (1 C unpopped)
Hot tamales *approximately 1 cup, really just however many you like and I cut them in half. You may also use cinnamon bears, red hots, cinnamon gum drops, etc!
1 C butter
1/2 C corn syrup
1 1/2 C sugar
1 t vanilla
4 C mini marshmallows or 16 Large marshmallows
Food coloring of choice!

First, pop up your popcorn. Sprinkle it with just a bit of salt and set it aside. *I used a light microwavable popcorn. Snip your tamales in half with a pair of kitchen scissors. In a medium sized sauce pan combine the butter, corn syrup and sugar. Heat it over medium to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Remove it from the heat and add your vanilla, marshmallows and green food coloring *or whatever color you desire. Mix it all around to get everything  melted in and combined. Stir in the Hot Tamales. They tend to clump together but just keep stirring, they will break apart when you mix them in with the popcorn as well. Add the mixture to your popped popcorn. Stir it all around until well combined.