Caramel Popcorn

Caramel Popcorn drizzled w/Chocolate
1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Karo/Corn Syrup
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla
5-6 quarts of Popcorn

Note:
With a lot of my recipes you can be flexible with the ingredients. With this recipe, however, it needs to be exact or the caramel won't turn out. Try to follow it as closely as possible. This recipe was adapted from AllRecipes.com

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees. Spray the inside of a brown paper grocery bag with cooking spray. Make sure it's well coated on the sides & bottom so the caramel doesn't stick to the inside of the bag. Pop the popcorn, remove any unpopped kernals & place popcorn inside the of the brown bag. In a medium sautee pan (or sauce pan) melt the butter. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup & salt. Bring to a boil, stiring constantly. ****This is the crucial part of the recipe. As soon as this mixture starts to boil, step away from the pan. Boil without stiring for 4 minutes.  (Not a second more, not a second less). While it's boiling, get the baking soda & vanilla ready. As soon as it's done boiling, remove from heat and add the baking soda &  vanilla. Stir well. Pour over the popcorn in the paper bag. Fold over the top of the bag and shake like crazy, turning upside-down and side to side. This is the best way I've learned to evenly get popcorn coated (Thank you Kimberly Taylor for teaching me this VERY cool trick!). Once coated, divide the mixutre evenly and place onto 2 cookie sheets and bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes. This is what makes the caramel corn crunchy. It you don't want it too crunchy, bake for less time. I seem to find that 45 minutes works perfectly. Once cooked, allow to cool completely. Melt 1-2 cups of chocolate and drizzle onto the popcorn (still on the cookie cheets). The popcorn needs to be completely cooled or the chocolate won't harden. Once the chocolate is drizzled, you can always place the pan into the freezer for 10-15 minutes  or in the fridge for 30 minutes, otherwise it will need to harden overnight if  left out. Once cooled, break into pieces and eat your heart out!! You can add candy corn at this point if you  are into that kinda thing (which I am!)

Comments

[Carla B.]

WOW!!! My boyfriend is super hard to buy for so for Father's Day we whipped up a batch of this super easy caramel popcorn. We added pecans, whole cashews and almonds (roasted w/ no salt-found in bulk, personalized quantities at our local Martin's) and talk about sha-bang! That's for the paper bag tip...how awesome was that? Thanks so much. He'll love it!!! Fresh ingredients and following the instructions to a T made it perfect. I so appreciate this recipe. No more Christmas cookies...this year this is what we're gonna make to give out!

[Megs]

If any of your readers get adventurous and make ANY of your recipes - this is one simply cannot be missed! It is so easy and so good! You will discover friends you didn't even know you had! Everyone loves this sweet goodness and eats it right up. The best caramel popcorn ever! Do yourself a favor and make a batch. Caramel + popcorn = pure love.

[Mandy]

This caramely-chocolatey popcorn is heavenly!! Thanks for reminding me of this fabulous treat!

[connie]

i love caramel popcorn. i have many good memories of chowing down on this stuff, but i never made it. thanks for the recipe!