Popcorn poppin"




I don't think there's ever a time that popcorn isn't the right choice for a snack!!  I love popcorn in every form...plain, with butter, Italian style, cheesy, caramel, spicy, hot from the popper or cold the next morning....you name it and I love it!!

 January 19th was National Popcorn Day (if anyone's interested).  I personally don't need a special day to entice me to make a batch of fluffy kernels and chow down.  But, since it was a special holiday set aside to celebrate this most wonderful of treats, I decided that I absolutely couldn't be left out of the celebration!


 I make a Caramel Corn that is so addictive....well, you think of the most addictive thing you've ever come across and then, multiply it by 1,000 and you'll come up with this yummy snack!  In fact, it's so sweet and so addictive that I've started only using 1/2 of the amount of caramel topping that I used to use because it was just too much!!

 So, here's the recipe in it's full form...

 Karen's Caramel Corn

 10-12 cups popped popcorn, plain
2 cups nuts (I like cashews!)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

 Place popped corn into a large bowl   Add nuts and combine.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

 In a saucepan, combine sugar, syrup, butter, and salt.  Bring to a boil; boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  (Make sure you use a timer for this because 5 minutes lasts a WHOLE lot longer than you think it does)  After 5 minutes of boiling and stirring, remove from the heat and add the baking soda and vanilla.  Stir quickly to combine.  Pour immediately over popcorn and nut mixture and stir to coat.  Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.  Drop onto parchment paper.  Cool completely; break apart and serve.  (I rarely get to that last step unless I make this when there's no one else in the house!!)

 Now, the picture you see above was made using only half of the topping ingredients.  I like to make it just a bit less sweet and allow for some "pure" popcorn flavor to come through.  Of course, the down side to that is that my husband likes to go through the bowl and just pick out the pieces that are fully coated, leaving the other for me.  So, there definitely is an advantage to making it "full strength:)"

 You choose however you'd like to make it, but MAKE SOME!!  You'll be sorry and thrilled at the same time (only sorry if you're worried about adding another addiction to your list of addicted to foods :)


Happy popping!!

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