Caramel Corn

Note: The original recipe called for 16 cups of popped popcorn. I used 30 or 32 cups because the popcorn looked way too sugary when I started to make it. If you like your popcorn super drenched in syrup, then cut the popcorn back to the original 16 cups. It will be amazing either way.

Other note: Fisher's popcorn has the corn syrup listed higher in the ingredient list than the butter. I am guessing they use more corn syrup and bring the sugar mixture to a hard ball stage. This would eliminate the need to bake it. However, I like how the baking step of this recipe dries the popcorn out further and gives it an extra crunch.

Ingredients:

30 cups popped popcorn (1-1/2 cups unpopped corn)

1 c. butter (2 sticks)

1-2/3 cups brown sugar, packed (is there ever a recipe that calls for unpacked brown sugar?)

½ cup corn syrup

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. Vanilla

peanuts (optional)

* Pop popcorn. I have an old air popper that my parents were going to throw away that I saved for my children to enjoy someday (I remember being so amazed as a child watching the popcorn pop). Martin wasn't quite as excited as I had hoped, but he still has some time to appreciate how cool it is.

* Grease two rimmed baking sheets (13x9 baking pans would work in a pinch and might be easier to stir). I used fake PAM, but you could easily use butter or fake crisco.

* Melt butter in pan. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to boil over medium-high heat (this is for an electric over, for gas I would cook at a lower temperature). Stop stirring when it comes to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes. I boiled mine a bit longer because I was testing to see what stage the sugar was. It seemed to be about soft ball or a bit before.

* Take off the heat and add in the baking soda and vanilla.

* I had a super large bowl that held all the popped popcorn and a regular large bowl that I stirred small batches of the popcorn around in. I poured in about 5 cups of popcorn and 1/6^th of the sugary mixture into the bowl. I stired it until it was well coated and then dumped it onto the cookie sheets.

* Bake at 250 degrees F for 60 minutes. Stir at the 30, 45, and 60 minute marks. I left my batches on the trays to cool on wire racks. The original recipe says to pour on parchment paper and let cool. As my brother says, “whatever is clever”.

Last note: If you want to add peanuts, I found that dumping the sugary mixture directly on top of them helped stick them to the popcorn a little bit better. However, still most of the peanuts fell to the bottom. I haven't solved this problem yet. If any of you have suggestions or find a way to make them stick better, let me know!!