Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets ... or Bucky's Badger Bits?

I realize that a post on Beaver Nuggets probably requires a fair amount of background information. So here's the story: In October, I made a trip to Houston for my good friend Taryn's wedding. The wedding was actually in Wharton, Texas, a very small town ... at least by my standards. The biggest attraction in Wharton, however, is a pretty big deal. It's Buc-ee's! I suppose Buc-ee's is what you'd call a convenience store, but it's unlike any convenience store you've ever been in. They've got everything at Buc-ee's: dozens of varieties of jerky, any snack food you could ever imagine, a huge deli, an amazing bakery, country home decor (on display in the restrooms, no less), clothes, pet supplies ... and Beaver Nuggets.

If you've never experienced a Beaver Nugget, you don't know what you're missing. The best way I can describe them is as caramel-coated corn pops. And it turns out that's pretty accurate!

I came back from Houston raving about Buc-ee's and Beaver Nuggets. My co-workers couldn't believe I hadn't brought a bag back for them, but we ended up solving that problem fairly quickly. Turns out one of my co-workers has a brother who lives in Texas. And after a series of texts with his wife, she produced a recipe! Behold ... the beloved Beaver Nuggets:

Beaver Nuggets

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 bag Chesters (Yeah, I didn't know what Chester's were either. Turns out they're corn puffs found in the chip aisle ... and they're available from brands other than Chesters. I ended up using Jay's. I saw them in both butter and cheese varieties and ended up using butter, but if you can find plain that would be even better.)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two baking sheets. Place corn puffs in a large bowl.

In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir until sugar as dissolved. Bring to a boil, and boil for 4 minutes without stirring.

Remove from heat and add baking soda. Mixture will foam. Pour half of mixture over corn puffs and gently stir. Add remaining mixture and stir to coat. Spread corn puffs on baking sheets. (The corn puffs are somewhat fragile, so I had a tough time coating them with the sugar-syrup mixture. But it turns out that the mixture will continue to foam as it cooks in the oven, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to get them completely coated.)

Bake for 45 minutes total, stirring every 15 minutes and rotating sheets halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven, use a spatula to loosen nuggets from sheets, and allow to cool completely.

I think you need to have a Beaver Nugget to truly appreciate them. They're airy, but crunchy. Sweet, but a little bit salty. Yum!

My genius co-worker Jen (and with a name like that you should understand why she's a genius) suggested an alternate name for Beaver Nuggets, which I think we have a huge opportunity to capitalize on. Seeing as how we're in Wisconsin, where our mascot is Bucky the Badger, she's calling them Badger Bits. Brilliant! Different Bucky, same delicious snacks. I can see them being big ... and when they are, just remember that Badger Bits were born here!