This recipe dates all the way back to when I owned my cooking school. Every event we made a batch of this caramel popcorn. It became so popular that we got wind that someone was selling it around town. Flattered! I’m taking some liberties by calling this a snack, but I polled my kids and that’s where they thought this should go. This sinful caramel popcorn is coated in a homemade caramel, which is so easy to make. This yummy snack can be made and eaten all week long, if it lasts.

Tips:

• The caramel is sooooo hot. Please be careful while cooking this and mixing the popcorn. This goes for snack! It will burn your tongue. Not a good recipe for little kids to try.

• Feel free to half the recipe if you just need a small batch.

• Peanuts can be added, like in Cracker Jack, if you like.

Caramel Popcorn

Serves a lot

PREP 15 minutes

COOK 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 quarts popped popcorn

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

2. Place your popped corn in a very large bowl.

3. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter.

4. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, while stirring. Once it boil, don’t touch it and cook for 4 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and add the baking soda and vanilla. Stir together and be careful of the caramel bubbling.

6. Pour a thin stream of caramel on the popcorn as you stir the popcorn to distrubute the caramel everywhere. It’s helpful to have a second set of hands for this.

7. Place the caramel popcorn on two baking sheets, lined in parchment. Bake the popcorn for 1 hour, stirring the popcorn every 15 minutes to distrubute the caramel.

8. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before breaking it into pieces. Enjoy!