Last night, I popped up some gourmet multi-color kernels for my teenage daughter and her friends to stash in their bags when they went to the movies (so much better and SO much cheaper!). They didn't take it all, though, so I'm taking advantage of this opportunity to try out this recipe with the leftover popcorn.
Caramel is, hands down, my favorite confection.
Caramel corn is probably one of the more dangerous treats to put in front of me. I have my first test batch in the oven now, and already I'm wary of my ability to transport any significant portion of it to tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast for the kids to snack on.
The recipe is really super simple: put all the ingredients except soda into a pot, bring to a boil, then set the timer for five minutes. It doesn't even need to be stirred once it starts boiling - just watch to make sure it doesn't boil over. Stirring in the baking soda at the end of the cooking time smooths it into a creamy caramel that pours easily over the popcorn.
My one deviation was that I used butter instead of "oleo" (margarine).
I used two wooden spatulas to gently stir the popcorn until it was as evenly coated as possible before the caramel became too cool. The final step is simply to bake it on a cookie sheet for an hour. Of course, I had to try a bite before putting it in the oven, and found that the caramel was much too sticky. I do not recommend a sneak tasting at this point for anyone wearing braces or dentures.
The entire preparation took less than fifteen minutes - that scores major points in my book. On the other hand, cleaning the sticky caramel from the pot, pan, and spatulas took almost as long as the preparation. Negative points for that, but worth it if the final product is as delicious as I'm hoping.
After half an hour in the oven, I stirred the caramel corn around a bit, spreading apart the clumps that had stuck together initially. Fifteen more minutes to go....
* * * * * * *
Um.... yep. This one's dangerous. There's kind of already a lot missing from this photo. Superyum.
_______________________________
Caramel Corn
Boil together - 5 minutes:
1 stick oleo [or butter] (melted)
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla
Then add ¼ tsp baking soda and stir well.
Pour this over 4 quarts unsalted popped corn.
Mix well.
Spread on cookie sheet and bake at 250° for 1 hour.
(Will not stick to teeth)
_______________________________
