Caramel Popcorn

By cwyorkiex3

Wow this Caramel Popcorn is good! I must say, it's hard to keep this treat around because it disappears soon after you make it!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unpopped popcorn kernels
• 1 1/2 sticks salted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed (preferably light brown, although dark brown will work if that’s all you have)
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200° F (93°C). (If your oven doesn’t go this low, simply heat it to the lowest temperature it can maintain and take a few minutes off the total baking time.)

Pop the popcorn in an air popper or the conventional stove-top way (some may refer to this as the “old-fashioned” way. The un-popped kernels should yield about 6 to 8 quarts (24 to 32 cups) of popped corn. Transfer the popcorn to 2 large roasting pans.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and brown sugar until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Add the corn syrup and salt and bring to a boil. Keep at a rolling boil for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and immediately and carefully stir in the baking soda (the mixture may roil and sputter). The caramel will be thick. Quickly pour the caramel over the popcorn, drizzling it back and forth as you stir the popcorn with a wooden spoon. The caramel should be pretty evenly distributed, although it may be impossible to coat every single piece of popcorn. This is okay.

Bake the caramel corn for 1 hour total, stirring it every 15 minutes. (The corn will not darken appreciably. Just trust us on the overall timing.) Remove the pans from the oven and let the popcorn cool for 1 hour, if you can wait. Then stir again. If by chance you have any leftover, you can store it in an airtight container for up to a few days. (We’re guessing on how long it will last because no one we know who tried it could keep any around that long. If you can resist temptation, do let us know how the caramel corn holds up after a couple of days!)