Sunday, November 16, 2008

Do You Like Caramel Corn?

Have you noticed there are certain foods that taste especially good at certain times of the year? Caramel corn is a treat that appeals to me come cool, crisp fall weather. Admittedly, this year I've been a little on the pokey side as I just made my first batch this morning. But that's okay because it seems appropriate, at least in our house, to make and eat caramel corn right up through Christmas. There is a certain son-in-law of mine who enjoys finding a bag of it in his Christmas stocking every year.


I start with 16 cups of popped popcorn and put it in my turkey roasting pan.



Once the popcorn is ready, I mix up the caramel syrup in a 3 qt. saucepan. Combine 1-1/2 cups brown sugar, 12 tablespoons butter (1-1/2 sticks), 6 tablespoons light corn syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook and stir over a medium heat until the butter melts and mixture comes to a boil. Then let it cook without stirring (boiling lightly) for 5 minutes more. Turn off the heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.



Pour syrup over popcorn in pan and gently stir to coat popcorn as evenly as you can.



Then put in a 300° oven for 15 minutes. Take it out and stir. Return to oven and bake for 8 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool.

Be sure to stir the caramel corn frequently as it cools or you will end up with one heckuva big caramel corn blob that you'll have to break apart with a small axe. Makes 16 cups and keeps (if you hide it) forever in an air-tight container.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe. As soon as we have a kitchen again (we're remodeling) I'm going to make some with the 35 lb. bag of Orville's that I purchased online, since I couldn't get a deal in the regular store!

Mama Pea said...

Hey, Mart - Your 35# of popcorn reminds me of when you first bought Ed's busines and were poor as the proverbial church mouse and purchased 50# of rice and a gallon of soy sauce to live on!

Hope the remodeling goes smoothly.

RuthieJ said...

That looks delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I like that you put in there that it must be hidden in order for it to last--I'm pretty sure Mr. Johnson could have a pan that size consumed in a weekend! ;-)

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Ruthie - A batch of the stuff did disappear in an afternoon once while a bunch of us were helping move a friend's yarn shop from one location to another. 'Course, we were working hard and needed a lot of energy. Right? Right! :)