Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to heat until the butter browns and begins smell fragrant and nutty. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the cooled butter, sugar, egg, yogurt, milk, and vanilla. Beat well to combine.
Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until there are no more lumps - do not over mix.
Evenly distribute the batter among the cupcake liners and bake for 20 - 22 minutes, or until they are golden brown and spring back when you touch them. Set aside to cool
In a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth, slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add in the caramel, and then the salt to taste. We want a lightly salted taste, but do not need it to be too salty since we are adding the popcorn on top.
Pipe, or use an offset spatula to frost the cupcakes. Top with the popcorn. I found it was actually easiest to place the popcorn on by hand instead of dunking the cupcake into the bowl of popcorn.
Notes
*Please remove any unpopped kernels from the popcorn before adding to the cupcakes. Only add the popcorn when ready to serve otherwise they will get soft and mushy.
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