Halloween Snack Mix
Sweet, salty, and spooky—this Halloween Snack Mix with peanut butter caramel coating is perfect for parties and movie nights.PLEASE NOTE: After feedback from readers, we have reworked this recipe and rewritten it to be more consistently successful in your kitchen. The following is the updated recipe.
Servings: 24 servings (about 15 cups)
Calories: 247kcal
Ingredients
- 12 cups air-popped popcorn
- 3 cups mini-twist pretzels
- 1 cup roasted salted peanuts
- 1 cup candy corn
- 1 cup Reese’s Pieces
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ¼ cup honey
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- Orange candy melts and sprinkles optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Mix the popcorn, pretzels, peanuts, candy corn, and Reese’s Pieces in a very large bowl and spread out onto two large rimmed baking pans.
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the honey and sugar and stir until smooth. Stop stirring, allow the mixture to come to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, tilting the pan occasionally to make sure there are no signs of burning. The mixture should smell caramelized and be a bit darkened in color. Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the peanut butter, salt, and heavy cream.
- Quickly drizzle the peanut butter caramel over the party mix on the sheet pans, then toss to coat with two large spoons. Drizzle with melted orange candy melts and sprinkle with sprinkles, if using. Let the party mix cool on the sheet pans, then transfer to bowls for serving, breaking up any large pieces if needed.
Video
Notes
- It is important not to stir the caramel as it boils and bubbles. Stirring can introduce sugar crystals, giving you a grainy caramel.
- As written, this recipe cooks the peanut butter caramel to the soft crack stage (280°F)—the coating stays a little creamy, and provides a nice texture contrast to the crunchy peanuts, pretzels, and candy.
- For a crunchier snack mix (more like traditional caramel corn), cook the caramel coating for a bit longer before adding the peanut butter, cream, and salt. You want to let the caramel get to the hard crack stage, which is when a candy thermometer reads 300°F (or when it forms brittle threads when a bit of caramel is dropped in a glass of cold water). The crunchier mix is a little easier to pack into cute baggies and distribute as gifts, but both ways work. Whatever bakes your cookie. Or caramels your corn.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving (About ⅔ cup) | Calories: 247kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 7mg | Sodium: 208mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 23g
