9 months ago
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Here’s a copycat look for Australia’s (current) favourite confectionary – Golden Gaytime Popcorn! Caramel popcorn drizzled with cocoa and sprinkled with biscuits crumbs, it’s ridiculously addictive but alternatively expensive. Save a luck by making it yourself!
Golden Gaytime Popcorn
Popcorn and candy lovers alike were successful a tizzy of excitement with Golden Gaytime Popcorn was archetypal released. Yours genuinely included. The chatter betwixt closet popcorn-loving friends, however, rapidly moved from “Far out, this is brainsick good!” to “OMG tin you judge it’s so expensive”??
Named arsenic specified due to the fact that it’s a popcorn mentation of a beloved Australian’s crystal pick called Golden Gaytime, one packet of the Gaytime popcorn is $5.75 for 100g (3.5 oz). A tiny container with conscionable 2 cups of Gaytime popcorn. I can’t spend to provender my addiction!!
Which, of course, pb to what was affectionately dubbed The Gaytime Popcorn Project – a homemade mentation I was assured I could make for 80% cheaper. How’d I do? My study paper is astatine the bottommost of the post!
Store-bought Golden Gaytime popcorn
Store-bought Golden Gaytime popcorn
A speedy inspection of the ingredients statement was each I needed to travel up with a copycat recipe. It’s truly conscionable caramel popcorn with a drizzle of cocoa and sprinkling of biscuit crumbs.
However, my homemade Gaytime Popcorn is acold much generous connected the cocoa drizzling (oh, wherefore not? 😇). And you won’t interruption the bank!
Hmm, I did a “sprinkling of biscuit crumbs”, didn’t I. But it looks much similar I’m assertively throwing biscuit crumbs successful the photograph below. You privation biscuit crumbs? Here’s your biscuit crumbs!!! 😂
Ingredients you need
Here’s what you request to marque this. The archetypal portion covers the caramel popcorn, past the 2nd portion covers the cocoa drizzle and biscuit crumbs.
Caramel popcorn ingredients
Here’s what you request for the caramel popcorn:
Corn syrup – This stabilises the caramel to guarantee sweetener crystallisation doesn’t occur, gives the caramel a bully shiny decorativeness that’s crisp alternatively than sticky. Common market point successful the US and Canada ! It tin beryllium purchased online successful Australia from USAFoods.com.au and Amazon.
Glucose is simply a cleanable substitute for maize syrup which is disposable successful Australian supermarkets (baking aisle, wide heavy syrup with chromatic consistency). Just a small harder to measurement retired due to the fact that it’s truthful thick. However, the popcorn needs to beryllium baked for 15 minutes longer to marque definite the caramel coating dries retired and becomes crisp. This is due to the fact that glucose has somewhat higher h2o content.
Baking soda / bi-carb – This makes the caramel coating go benignant of foamy and summation successful measurement erstwhile you whisk it in. It helps get adjacent sum of caramel connected te popcorn. Without the baking soda, you extremity up with large globs of caramel. It can’t beryllium substituted with baking powder.
Toffee oregon caramel essence – Store-bought Gaytime popcorn has a stronger albeit much artificial caramel flavour than homemade. To replicate this, usage a caramel oregon toffee essence. Otherwise, conscionable instrumentality with vanilla similar mean caramel popcorn. It’s honestly not a large deal, the popcorn inactive has a beauteous caramel-y flavour.
Brown sugar alternatively than achromatic sugar, for amended caramel flavour.
Butter – For flavour. Not margarine oregon different alternatives. I can’t foretell what that volition bash to the crispness of the caramel coating.
Oil – Anything neutral flavoured similar vegetable, canola oregon peanut oil. This is for cooking the popcorn. It doesn’t enactment arsenic good with food (because food is ~15% h2o and dairy, not conscionable fat).
Popping corn! It’s usually sold successful the spot aisle successful market stores present successful Australia.
Chocolate drizzle and biscuit crumbs
For the cocoa drizzle and biscuit crumbs, you conscionable request cocoa suitable for melting and immoderate plain biscuits to crush up past sprinkle connected the popcorn.
Chocolate -You tin usage a operation of acheronian and achromatic chocolate, arsenic I person done (like the store-bought Gaytime popcorn mix), oregon conscionable 1 oregon the other.
Use a cocoa purchased from the baking aisle alternatively than eating chocolate. Baking cocoa is purpose-made for melting and cooking with, whereas eating cocoa is really often designed specifically truthful it doesn’t melt erstwhile warm! I typically usage “melts” for melting and chips
For those of you successful the US, semi-sweet cocoa chips is perfect.
Plain biscuits – A signature portion of Golden Gaytime Popcorn is the sprinkling of crushed biscuits connected the popcorn. The ingredients statement specifies that it’s vanilla biscuits. Honestly though, immoderate plain saccharine biscuits volition enactment conscionable fine!
Use immoderate plain saccharine biscuit
How to marque Golden Gaytime Popcorn
Simply marque caramel popcorn past decorativeness with a drizzle of cocoa and sprinkle of biscuit crumbs. It volition enactment crisp and caller for astatine slightest a week – I’m definite it volition past for longer (caramel popcorn lasts for weeks). But each trial batch I made mysteriously disappeared earlier I could decorativeness investigating the support life!!
1. Pop popcorn
Pop your popcorn kernels utilizing your method of prime – stove oregon popcorn maker, if you person 1 (I do, but for immoderate crushed digging it retired of the backmost of the cupboard seems similar much effort than cooking the popcorn connected the stove).
Here’s however to navigator popcorn connected the stove.
Test kernels – Heat lipid successful a ample cookware implicit mean heat. Add a fewer pieces of popcorn and hold until it pops, past rapidly remove.
Add remaining popcorn, elevate disconnected stove to shingle and dispersed maize retired evenly. Cover with a lid.
Shake! Once the popcorn starts popping successful earnest, shingle the cookware mildly once. Remove from vigor erstwhile the popping stops (when you tin number to 3 betwixt pops) and transportation to a (very!) ample bowl.
To marque the caramel melt food successful a saucepaan implicit mean heat. Add sugar, maize syrup and salt. Stir until conscionable combined.
Simmer – When it starts to bubble, simmer for 4 minutes – DO NOT STIR! This whitethorn origin the sweetener to crystallise truthful you won’t extremity up with a creaseless caramel.
Baking soda “foamy” – Remove from vigor past rapidly whisk successful vanilla and baking soda. When you halt whisking, the caramel volition foam and summation successful volume. This is what makes the caramel overgarment the popcorn evenly. Without the baking soda, you extremity up with heavy dense globs of caramel connected the popcorn and it’s intolerable to toss.
Coat popcorn – Quickly determination the foamy caramel consecutive implicit the popcorn and flip to overgarment the popcorn arsenic champion you tin until the caramel cools and starts to harden.
Bake for 45 minutes, tossing each 10 minutes oregon so. The caramel volition remelt for the archetypal 2-3 tosses truthful it coats the popcorn much evenly.
REMINDER: If utilizing glucose alternatively of maize syrup, cook for an other 15 minutes.
Cool – Remove from oven, permission to chill connected the tray for 20 minutes truthful the caramel hardens. Then interruption up the popcorn – nary request to beryllium excessively pedantic, clumps are great!
Gaytime the popcorn!
OK, truthful clip to alteration our caramel popcorn into Gaytime Popcorn! Here’s how:
Bash the biscuits into crumbs either successful a ziplock container oregon utilizing a mortar and pestle.
Melt the cocoa successful the microwave (I usage this) oregon bain-marie (bowl acceptable implicit simmering water).
Transfer the melted cocoa into a piping bag. This makes it easier to get adjacent sum and zig-zag cocoa drizzles similar you get with the store bought Gaytime popcorn. But if you prefer, you tin conscionable usage a spoon for drizzling.
Ready for drizzling!
Drizzle the cocoa each implicit the popcorn successful immoderate signifier you prefer. There are nary rules! Except – purpose for adjacent coverage. Nobody wants to beryllium the unlucky idiosyncratic who gets a fistful of chocolate-less popcorn!
Sprinkle the popcorn with the biscuit crumbs which the cocoa is inactive wet. The biscuits volition instrumentality to the cocoa portion only, and it benignant of sticks successful concentrated (albeit small) patches truthful you tin sensation it a small better. I preferred this method alternatively than sprinkling it connected the caramel popcorn whilst successful the oven (the crumbs benignant of got lost).
Once the cocoa sets – I velocity things up by popping the trays successful the fridge for 15 minutes – it’s acceptable to dive in!!
Storage
In theory, Gaytime Popcorn should enactment caller and crisp arsenic agelong arsenic Caramel Popcorn which has an fantabulous support beingness of respective weeks.
Test batches made it to astir the 1 week people successfully earlier mysteriously disappearing. So I can’t accidental for sure, but I’m assured it should past for astatine slightest 2 weeks. Just marque definite it is stored successful an airtight instrumentality successful a chill and adust place. If moisture gets successful and/or it’s blistery and humid, the caramel coating volition get sticky and chewy truthful it gets stuck successful your teeth.
This was a jar intended for gifting. It ne'er got gifted. 🤭
REPORT CARD: Homemade is 68% cheaper!!
I boldly stated erstwhile I started connected the Gaytime Popcorn Project that I believed I could marque it for 80% little than store-bought.
We’ve tally the numbers and the results are in.
One batch costs $8.96 to marque which equates to 5 packets of store bought Gaytime Popcorn which costs $28.75 ($5.75 per packet). That’s a 68% saving!
So, I was 12% off. But still. I would ne'er walk $28.75 for 5 packets of Gaytime. But I would walk $8.96 to marque a batch of this immoderate time of the week – and doubly for movie night! – Nagi x
Watch however to marque it
Golden Gaytime Popcorn – copycat recipe!
Ingredients
For the popcorn
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (not required if aerial popping with a popcorn maker)
- 1/2 cup popping corn
For the caramel
- 100g / 7 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar , tightly packed cup
- 1/2 cup light maize syrup (sub glucose, Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp cooking/ kosher salt
- 2 tsp toffee oregon caramel essence OR 1 tsp vanilla (substitute) (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda (bi-carb) (Note 3)
Golden Gaytime Finishes
- 1 1/4 cups dark oregon achromatic cocoa melts oregon chips (US: semi-sweet chips), I utilized ~25% achromatic and 75% acheronian (Note 4)
- 4 plain saccharine biscuits (like Marie Crackers) (Note 5)
Instructions
Popcorn
- Test lipid – Heat lipid successful a ample cookware implicit mean heat. Add a fewer pieces of popcorn and hold until it pops, past rapidly remove.
- Pop – Add remaining popcorn, elevate disconnected stove to shingle and dispersed maize retired evenly. Cover with a lid. Once the popcorn starts popping successful earnest, shingle the cookware mildly once. Then ace the lid a tiny spot – let's steam flight for crisper popcorn.
- Remove from vigor erstwhile the popping stops (when you tin number to 3 betwixt pops) and transportation to a (very!) ample bowl.
Caramel:
- Preheat oven to 110°C/230°F (both instrumentality and modular ovens).
- Combine – Melt food successful a saucepaan implicit mean heat. Add sugar, maize syrup and salt. Stir until conscionable combined.
- Simmer – When it starts to bubble, simmer for 4 minutes – DO NOT STIR!
- Baking soda "foamy" – Remove from vigor past rapidly whisk successful vanilla and baking soda. When you halt whisking, the caramel volition foam and summation successful volume.
- Coat popcorn – Quickly determination consecutive implicit popcorn, flip until caramel cools and starts to harden.
Baking to crisp caramel coating:
- Spread popcorn connected 2 ample insubstantial lined baking trays.
- Bake for 45 minutes, tossing each 10 minutes oregon so. Caramel volition remelt for the archetypal 2-3 tosses – tossing coats popcorn much evenly with caramel. (If utilizing glucose, cook further 15 minutes).
- Cool – Remove from oven, permission to chill connected the tray for 20 minutes. Then interruption up the popcorn – nary request to beryllium excessively pedantic, clumps are great!
Drizzle and crumbs
- Crumbs – Place biscuits successful a ziplock container and bash into crumbs.
- Melt cocoa – Place cocoa successful a heatproof vessel and microwave successful 30 2nd increments connected high, stirring successful between, until melted and creaseless – astir 1 1/2 minutes. (If doing a tiny magnitude of achromatic chocolate, trim to 20 2nd increments).
- Chocolate piping bags – Transfer cocoa into a piping bag. Use scissors to snip a tiny opening astatine the tip.
- Drizzle & crumb – Push the popcorn unneurotic but successful a azygous layer. Drizzle criss-cross (or immoderate pattern!) each implicit the popcorn. Sprinkle with biscuits crumbs portion the cocoa is bedewed truthful it sticks.
- Fridge – Refrigerate for 15 minutes until the cocoa is form. Gently interruption popcorn into pieces. EAT!
- Store in an airtight instrumentality successful a chill place. Stays crisp for astatine slightest a week. Our trial batches ne'er lasted immoderate longer!
Notes
Nutrition
Life of Dozer
I committedness Dozer, determination is thing going connected successful present that would beryllium of involvement to you…..😂
The station Golden Gaytime popcorn (copycat) appeared archetypal connected RecipeTin Eats.
English (US)