[Guest Post] Caramel Popcorn Recipe by Sarah Thaman

Caramel Popcorn:

I’m no pro when it comes to cooking, but I love experimenting in the kitchen and I’m not afraid to try new things. It took me two tries to get this recipe right, but the second batch turned out really well. I’ll share my mistakes so you can make it right the first time! This is a delicious classic recipe that always brings back good childhood memories for me. I’ve found this treat is especially appropriate for snuggling up in front of a movie during the cold weather months!

Here’s the recipe I used:

5 quarts popped popcorn

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

½ cup corn syrup

1 tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Place popcorn in a very large bowl. I pop my own popcorn, but after trial and error learned it’s best to work with warm popcorn, so I put it in a large deep pan and kept it warm in the oven while I worked on the caramel.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat. *Be careful, the caramel is extremely hot and will give nasty burns!
3. Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.            

   

Tips:

1. It’s important to separate the seeds from the popped popcorn because if you leave them in the batch, the caramel will adhere it to the popcorn and you’ll bite down on an unpleasant kernel!
2. I altered the original recipe a tad, and when it came to the oven temp I found the caramel burnt when the heat was turned up to 250 degrees F. I don’t know if that had to do with my oven, or what, but after some research it seemed to be a fairly common issue.
3. Having an extra set of hands is helpful when pouring the caramel over the popcorn. My pans are pretty heavy and I had my husband pour while I used a large spoon to sift through the popcorn and cover it thoroughly. The caramel hardens/cools pretty quickly so I wanted it to be mixed well.

Author Bio: Sarah Thaman usually writes about handbags in her day job at Handbag Heaven, but her affinity towards anything food related has bred a love for cooking. She says she wouldn’t brag about her amazing abilities in the kitchen, but she certainly knows what tastes good and what’s easy! When she's not cooking with her husband, she spends her time accessorizing with designer inspired handbags and soaking up lots of Giada at Home on the food network!