Salted Caramel Popcorn Sundaes!

So, dessert is kind of my favorite thing ever, and I get very excited when it's my turn to make it for dinner party :) For this dish, I took one of our favorite restaurant desserts (the Cracker Jack sundae from Lapellah) and put my own little twist on it. I love popcorn and have really been into salted caramel corn lately, so this sundae seemed like a winner to me! There are three different parts to this sundae - the blondie, the ice cream, and the caramel corn - and each of the recipes are below:




Salted Caramel Blondies


1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salted caramel sauce (homemade or store-bought)


Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 glass baking dish.


Cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla then salt and flour. Spread into greased pan. Drop dollops of caramel onto batter and swirl together.
Bake 25-30 minutes, or until middle is set. Cool completely and cut into bars (16 small or 12 large).




Salted Caramel Corn


1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp. sea salt


Preheat oven to 300. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone mat or spray with cooking spray. Pop popcorn kernels in an air popper and place in a large bowl. In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a low boil and cook for 4 minutes without stirring. Pour over popcorn and stir to coat. Spread popcorn onto baking sheet and sprinkle with 1/2-1 tsp. sea salt (depending on taste preference). Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Allow to cool on sheet then break into pieces.




Popcorn Ice Cream
(adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home)


2 cups heavy cream
8 cups plain popped popcorn
2 cups milk
4 tsp. cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbs. corn syrup
1/4 tsp. salt


In a saucepan, combine cream and popcorn (it will seem like a lot of popcorn, but it will cook down into the cream). Bring to a low boil, cover, remove from heat, and let sit for 1 hour. Strain the popcorn cream through a fine mesh strainer, pressing to remove as much liquid as possible. The strained mixture should measure to be about a cup; if it is less than that, add cream to make one cup.


In a separate bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of the milk with the cornstarch.


In a saucepan, combine popcorn cream, remaining 1 3/4 cup milk, sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Heat to a low boil and quickly whisk in the cornstarch-milk mixture. Bring back to a boil and whisk until thickened, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour mixture into a gallon zip top bag and place the bag in an ice bath. Chill until completely cooled. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and process until thick (this took about 30-40 minutes in my machine). Scoop ice cream into a freezer-safe container and freeze!