Caramel Corn

Do you love caramel corn but always thought it was too tricky to make? Are you one of those folks who buys gigantic tins of multi-flavored corns just to get your caramel corn fix? Or do you stress over what to bring the host/hostess at holiday parties? Well, even if none of these apply so much as that fact that you just plain love caramel corn...then I’ve got the recipe for you!

This takes about 1 1/2 hours to make, most of it is baking time, and it’s a pretty basic, but delicious process! Long ago, a good friend gave me this recipe and I have changed it very little from the original, and believe me, that doesn’t happen often. It’s great as a hostess gift, works well in a college care-package (it’s practically a packing material!), and during the holidays you can fill a bowl with caramel corn and pretty much count on having an empty bowl by the end of the day. Yes, it’s that good!

Tips:

*You really need a Hot Air Popper for this recipe. You don’t want popcorn that’s already been through a process that adds oil or salt. If you don’t have one, many grocery stores sell ‘healthy’ popcorn that is unsalted and air popped. Buy enough to equal the 8 cups required for the recipe and you should be okay.

*You can use light or dark brown sugar, but I’m on the record that, given a choice, I always use dark. Still...if you have the light stuff, go for it!

* This recipe calls for ‘butter’. Can you use butter substitutes? Well, I can’t speak for all options, but I can tell you it’s just as yummy with ‘I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter’, as with the real stuff straight from the cow/churn. Oh, but if you use salted butter, don’t go so heavy on the salt.

Okay, that’s about it, and I really had to think to come up with tips important enough to include. Really, it’s that simple, so let’s go!

Caramel Corn (YF)

Ingredients:

1 bag un-popped White Popcorn

1 cup Butter

2 cups Brown Sugar

1/2 cup White Karo Syrup

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Soda

Equipment: Heavy 4-5 qt. pan. Two large pans for baking (minimum 9X13 but if you have larger, that’s better. The roaster you cook your turkey in is good for this, and a 9X15 is great!). Two large bowls for mixing (a Dutch Oven, or very large mixing bowl is the size we’re looking for. Punch bowls work too! These don’t go in the oven, so Tupperware type stuff is okay). Oven Mitts and a couple of spatulas.

Pop the popcorn in a hot air popper until you have 8 quarts. Divide the popped corn between two large bowls.

Set out the two large baking pans so they will be there when you need them.

Melt in the pan: butter, brown sugar, White Karo Syrup, salt. Heat on medium until the mixture comes to a boil, then turn the heat down a little so you won’t burn it and boil for 5 minutes. Start counting the time when the syrup mixture boils fast. You can scrape down the side while it’s melting and heating up, but once it’s boiling, just stir the bottom gently with a spatula now and then, you know, to be sure you aren’t burning it, but really, it’s not likely to burn so don’t stress out.

While this is cooking, heat the oven to 250 degrees.

Remove the syrup mixture from the heat, add the soda and stir. The mixture will foam up a bit, but that’s what it should do. No worries, you’re ready to mix now.

CAUTION: This stuff is HOT! Be sure to use your spatula and mitts and don’t be tempted to use your fingers just yet.

Pour half the mixture into one of the bowls of popcorn, then mix it around. Don’t worry, it’s not gonna spread evenly; just do the best you can. Then pour the remainder in the second bowl and stir it up, too.

Tip: If this is taking you a while to do the stirring in the first bowl, you can set the pan back on the turned-off burner. It’s still warm enough to keep the mixture thin, which makes it easy to pour, but not so hot as to make it come even close to boiling.

Pour the coated popcorn into the two large baking pans (you can mix popcorn from each bowl, it doesn’t matter, it’s all going to end up together eventually!)

Bake both pans in the oven for 15 minutes, then pull the pans out and mix up the popcorn to spread the coating some more, and put the pans back in. You can do this one pan at a time, and you might want to set out a towel on your counter or set it on the stove. You WILL end up with the occasional popcorn escapee falling out. Nibbling, after cool, it permissible!

Repeat this process of baking for 15 minutes and stirring 3 more times, so that you cook the caramel corn for a total of 1 hour.

While baking, wash out your bowls, you are going to need them! Once you are done baking, pour the popcorn into the dried bowls and allow it to cool; you’ll be surprised how quickly it does! Once cooled, you can put it in tins, Tupperware, plastic bags, or directly into bowls for munching! Your Caramel Corn will last about a week...if it makes it that long! Congrats, you did it!