Caramel Corn

For family night my brother’s daughter Breigh asked if they could make caramel corn. This their family’s story.

“We did not have vanilla, but our corn syrup had vanilla in it. The original recipe called for a cup of popcorn and oil. Instead I used two normal sized bags of buttered Microwave popcorn. It was so much easier and faster.

I took two 13×9 glass baking pans and emptied the first bag into one. I sprinkled some almonds into the popcorn, then poured half the caramel over the popcorn and nuts then stirred it together. By then the second bag was finished. I repeated the steps into the second glass pan. It almost seemed like there was too much popcorn as I mixed, but the end result turned out great. You could use 1.5 bags of popcorn for a thicker caramel coating, but I thought what we did was perfect. Everyone else loved it too

We baked the corn for 15 minutes. The recipe says you need to stir every 5 minutes, I didn’t do that. Once the 15 minutes were over, we took the pans out of the oven to let things cool. After a few minutes you can break away the top layer and place it into a large bowl. The bottom layer will still be really hot. I did this to speed up the cooling process, It only took a few more minutes to cool off the bottom layer. Be careful, hot caramel on your skin really hurts. You want the corn going into the bowl completely cool or else everything will stick together again.

We only had a spoon, sauce pan and the two glass baking pans to clean up, which was easy with some warm water.
I may try this again tomorrow.”

Source: Allrecipes
2 bags buttered microwave popcorn
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tbsp butter
3 tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.

Mix sugar, butter, corn syrup into a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture starts to boil. Continue cooking for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla.

Meanwhile, start popping the popcorn during the last 5 minutes. Keep warm until ready to use.

Empty the popcorn into two 13X9 inch baking pans. Pour caramel over the popped popcorn and stir. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from pan and put into a large bowl to cool.