The snack harbinger of fall

is fiery maple hazelnut caramel corn

When the low temperature dips into the fifties, as it did last night in Brooklyn, fall is (unofficially) here, whether we’re ready for it or not. I’m spiritually readying myself by crunching on the should-be-official snack harbinger of the upcoming season: caramel corn. A fiery maple-hazelnut caramel corn that’s good for the climate, to be exact. 

This spicy-sweet treat’s climate credentials are simple: unlike standard caramel corn, it’s vegan.

It swaps butter—one of its typical key ingredients—for a cultured vegan version, which studies have found to have between five to 27 percent of the carbon footprint of its dairy counterpart. Those carbon savings are a big deal, because dairy butter is about as carbon-intensive as pork. (Say it isn’t so!)

This ‘corn—which I developed for those of us on Team Crunchy Caramel Corn—is the latest addition to my patchwork quilt of Americana treats that are legit-equivalent in flavor and texture when veganized. That’s why it’ll be a centerpiece on the climate-friendly dessert table I’m putting together for Canary Media at Climate Week NYC later this month. On said table, mini cups of caramel corn will be flanked by two other climate-ified classics: a soil-restoring brownie, and a climate-adapted version of a cookie I’ll be writing about here in two weeks.

I decided these desserts should each represent a different aspect of climate-friendly eating, because I wanted my mini-menu to drive home my—ahem—thesis (because what fun is dessert without a thesis?): that there are many different ways into sustainable eating, and we should each pick what works for us.

Caramel plus flaky salt works for me, personally.

For instance: it’d save a lot of carbon if we all simply kept the food that we buy out of the trash, turning bread that’s gone stale into spice-your-way croutons, spare egg yolks into custards, and abandoned half-full tubs of sour cream into lemon loaf cake. The other main lever to reduce the carbon emissions of our diets, of course, is making plant-based swaps when we can.

There are also kitchen climate actions we can take that have important impacts other than carbon savings. For instance, it’d be great for soil health and climate resilience if we grabbed a bag of regeneratively grown flour when the urge to make brownies strikes. And baking with climate-adapted fruits, as we’ll talk about week after next, can help integrate adapted ingredients into our cooking habits, speeding the transition to a climate-proofed food system. 

In other words, climate baking (and cooking) is best understood as an à la carte menu. Sample as you wish!

Plant-based baking isn’t the only option—although it sure is a tasty one when a certain baseball song is ringing through the crisp air and creating a Pavlovian craving for something Cracker-Jack-y.

Vegan butter works like a charm in this spicy-maple riff on the ballgame treat, which isn’t surprising since successful vegan versions of caramel abound. I developed this recipe with Miyoko’s butter, but any cultured vegan butter (which has better butter flavor than non-cultured) should work. Whatever brand you use, be warned: there are good odds you’ll eat all of this off the sheet pan before it ever makes it into a bowl.

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Fiery Maple Hazelnut Caramel Corn

This is caramel corn the spicy-girl-fall way: it’s maple-y, shattery-crisp, and has a kick from cayenne pepper that lingers after each bite. It’s also vegan—and thus a little more planet-friendly—because caramel corn is one of those treats that doesn’t suffer in the slightest if you swap dairy butter for a cultured vegan one such as Miyoko’s. This caramel corn is crunchy rather than sticky because it’s baked in the oven, and has a light, airy texture thanks to a pinch of baking soda. The only tricks to this recipe are that you gotta pop your own popcorn (store-bought has too much oil and salt added), and you’ll need an instant-read or candy thermometer. Beyond that, this is unscary caramel at its finest, in part because I call for a pinch of cream of tartar as an extra insurance policy against crystallization. A hefty dose of maple syrup, along with dark brown sugar, makes this snarf-able snack taste like pure fall; but the optional maple extract turns the maple factor up to 11. The optional molasses is solely included to make the caramel corn darker (a visual preference of mine), so feel free to skip it if you don’t have molasses on hand. The ‘corn will keep for at least a week, tightly sealed at room temperature. 

Yields: 7-8 cups caramel corn | Total time: 1 hour and 30 minutes

• 1 cup hazelnuts (roasted or raw)

• 7 cups air-popped popcorn (from about ⅓ cup kernels)

• 6 tablespoons (85g) Miyoko’s salted vegan butter

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (200g) maple syrup

• ¼ cup (62g) dark brown sugar

• ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar

• ½ tablespoon molasses, optional

• ½ teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt

• ⅛ teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon maple extract, optional

• ½  teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 250F/120C. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 

Make air-popped popcorn the DIY way (unless you have a real air-popper, of course). Add kernels to a paper lunch bag (or a wine bag, if you’re me), and fold the edge over tightly several times to create a decent seal that will trap steam. Microwave the bag for about 2 ½ minutes. Discard any un-popped kernels and place popcorn in a very large bowl. Add hazelnuts to the same bowl. 

In a medium saucepan, combine vegan butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, cream of tartar and if using, molasses. Cook over medium heat, whisking just until ingredients are combined and butter is melted; then remove the whisk and let the caramel cook undisturbed until it reaches a strong simmer across the entire surface. 

Once simmering strongly, continue cooking over medium heat until a candy or instant-read thermometer reads 245F/118C, about 4-5 ½ minutes. (I set a timer for 4 minutes and then check.) Remove the pan from heat, immediately add salt, baking soda, vanilla, cayenne, and if using, maple extract, and stir until combined. The mixture will foam and the color will lighten. Immediately pour the caramel over the popcorn and hazelnuts. 

Using a heat-proof spatula, gently fold the caramel into the popcorn mixture. This will take several turns of the spatula—move gently but quickly, since the caramel will eventually harden.

Transfer the popcorn to the prepared sheet pan and spread it in an even layer. Bake for 50-60 minutes, rotating the pan at the 30-minute mark. You’ll know it’s done when a piece that you’ve let cool for one minute is crisp all the way through when you bite it. 

Allow caramel corn to cool to room temperature. Store in an airtight container.