Saturday, October 9, 2010

Caramel Corn

I have known my favorite brother-in-law Shane for 13 years now, and allegedly he's been making caramel corn for his entire life. But he's never made it for us before tonight! And it is soooo good; nobody could stay out of it! You could leave out the pecans and use an extra bag of microwave popcorn.

This is a great party snack for fall and winter, and it would make an excellent Christmas gift in a cellophane bag, tied with a festive ribbon. I hope you like it as much as we did!

Caramel Corn

2 bags of microwave popcorn, popped
1 1/2 cups pecans (can sub another bag of microwave popcorn)
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup Karo syrup
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking soda

Mix popcorn with pecans in a large heat-proof bowl. Remove the unpopped kernels.

Cook brown sugar, butter, salt, and Karo syrup over medium heat until it boils, stirring frequently. Let caramel boil for four minutes without stirring. Remove from heat.

Add vanilla and baking soda to the brown sugar mixture and stir. The baking soda will make the caramel bubble up. Pour over popcorn and nuts and toss to coat.

Put caramel corn in a large roasting pan or jelly roll pan. Bake at 250 for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and turn out onto waxed paper in a single layer; cool.