This recipe for coyote droppings, or coyote poop, was brought to my attention by anykinesnax on Instagram. A delicious snack, it nicely balances the savoriness of Cheetos with the sweetness of its caramel topping.
And while the name may be off-putting to some, no need to be alarmed: they are called coyote droppings due to their color and shape, NOT because of their taste.
The process to make them is fairly simple and straightforward. We’ll be taking Cheetos — you know the puffy cheese snacks — and we’ll be enrobing them in a sweet caramel. So think caramel popcorn with a little bite, rather than literal coyote droppings.
Since I was only able to find the snack pack size for my YouTube video, I made a half batch, utilizing both regular Cheetos Puffs and Crunchy Cheetos.
I adapted Just a Pinch’s recipe for Coyote Droppings which I found needed more caramel coating, and so I adjusted the recipe accordingly.
And even if you don’t have Cheetos where you live, most countries do have similar cheesy puff snacks that you could use instead.
Coyote Droppings
Equipment
- oven
- saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 bag Cheetos® puffs or crunchy-style 8 oz.
- 1 C. butter 2 sticks
- 4 tbsp. corn syrup
- 2 C. brown sugar packed
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250˚F/120˚C.
Caramel coating
- In a non-stick skillet or saucepan, melt the butter.
- Empty the bag of cheese puffs into a very large bowl or stock pot.
- To the melted butter, add the corn syrup and brown sugar. Stir to combine.
- Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Line a half-sheet rimmed baking pan with parchment paper.
- Remove from heat and sprinkle in the baking soda. Stir to incorporate.
- Pour the caramel over the cheese puffs and quickly toss to coat.
Baking the puffs
- Transfer the coated puffs to the prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 1 hour stirring the puffs every 15 minutes.
- Pour the baked puffs onto a waxed paper covered countertop and allow to cool completely before serving. Store in an air-tight container.