Caramel Corn

Y'all, I can't even tell you how many bags of quarantine popcorn I've eaten in this long, six week lockdown.

It's kind of a running joke now with my "hunkered down" hubby because my habit has been to pop a bag late in the evening right after he's brushed his teeth! Haha..oopsie!

So after I managed to finish off the first box, my sweet hubby brought home two more. Only he got the wrong kind. My favorite is, Orville Redenbacher's Naturals Simply Salted. Well, by the time he came home with the correct flavor, we had accumulated quite a lot of popcorn. If you could see my haul you might think we were- bum bum bum...hoarders!!

Now what can I do with all this extra popcorn? 

💡 Make Caramel Corn, that's what!!

I have made a few batches and given some away and this is my favorite recipe 

from ➤ Jenny Can Cook! 

The only thing I changed was to double the recipe and I used my microwave popcorn. I do love home popped corn as that is what I grew up with, but this is quicker and I simply needed to whittle down my stash. Plus, this is still really delicious!

Let's get poppin'!

For my own caramel corn, I have tried several different varieties including, butter, salted, and light. I say use your favorite!

These are the ingredients needed although not necessarily the correct measurements as I experimented with a few variations.

Microwave popcorn bags, peanuts, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, baking soda, and vanilla.

 Pop two bags (to equal 16 cups) of microwave popcorn. Remove unpopped kernels. Pour 1.5 cups of peanuts (or your fave nuts) over the top. Set aside while you make the caramel.

 To make the caramel coating, add butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt to a medium sized heavy bottomed saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Set your timer and cook 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda to incorporate well. It's fun to see the chemical reaction with the baking soda. It will spit and sputter and change to a light and lovely caramel color.

Pour mixture over the popcorn and peanuts and gently fold to coat well.

 Mmmmmmm....

 Spoon mixture onto a parchment lined pan and bake in a 250 degree F. for one hour. Remove pan from oven at each 15 minute interval to stir.

Pour finished caramel corn onto clean parchment paper to cool completely.

 Caramel Corn Recipe

2 bags (to equal 16 cups) microwave popcorn

1 1/2 cups peanuts

10 tablespoons butter (I use salted in all my recipes)

1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pop 2 bags of popcorn and remove unpopped kernels. Place popcorn in a large container and pour nuts over the top. Set aside.

In a medium sized, heavy bottomed saucepan, add butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. 

Continue cooking without stirring for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla stirring well to incorporate. 

Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and fold in to coat well.

Place onto a parchment lined pan and bake in 250 degree F. oven to bake for one hour. Remove from oven at each 15 minute interval to stir.

Pour finished caramel corn onto clean parchment paper to cool completely.

This is good, y'all! Jenny knows her stuff!

If there's any left, you can store your caramel corn in an airtight container for several days! Lol!

Stay safe. Stay healthy.

'til we sweet again, Karen 💗