Caramel Corn Recipe

image via here because I was too lazy to take my own.

So for treats to give out at the baby shower tonight, I made caramel corn! It is absolutely delicious. I thought I'd share the recipe here because my brother already asked for it. And if my brother is excited about it, I thought you all would be too. :)

I used my mom's recipe (which I think she got from church a few years ago). It is the best I have found so far. Feel free to add peanuts or pumpkin seeds to it. I, however, like it plain.

Caramel Corn

12 cups popped popcorn*

 1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup karo/corn syrup

1/2 t. salt

1/2 cup butter

1 t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla*

Pop roughly 12 cups of popcorn. Melt the brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, and butter in the microwave. Add baking soda and vanilla, and stir with a whisk until it becomes a light, caramel color. Pour over the popcorn and mix. You now have several options: a) spread the popcorn on wax paper or greased cookie sheets to cool, b) dump it all in a huge bowl and cover, or c) spread onto greased cookie pans and "bake" in the oven until crispy like cracker jacks.

My notes:

*I made two batches, and on the first popped about 12 cups of popcorn. The second batch I popped more, and it still came out just fine. There is plenty of caramel coating to coat a large amount of popcorn. My sister Logan told me because I used a stove-top popper, to forgo the olive oil and use canola oil. Also, use as little oil as possible. You don't want to taste the oil in your popcorn. Better yet, use an airpopper if you have one.

*The second batch I cut down to about 3/4 t. of vanilla. Tyler mentioned that the first batch was very "vanilla-y". After tasting both batches, cutting down did make a difference. I liked both ways - it just depends on how strong you want the flavor to be.

I also made it yesterday, on a very rainy day. I think this had something to do with my popcorn not "drying out" completely. I just let it sit overnight and bagged it this morning. I think it was perfectly sticky this way. My mom just throws the entire batch into a giant tupperware bowl and we all snack from it. (Which reminds me: I would love to get one of these bowls, but have a hard time justifying $27 for a bowl. But then again, my mom has had the same ones for years and years and years....)