CARAMEL CORN

I have tried multiple caramel corn recipes over the years and this is, by far, the best and easiest. It is great to serve at kids parties and a pretty jar of homemade caramel corn makes a quick office gift or baby shower game prize.

7 quarts plain popped popcorn
2 cups dry roasted peanuts or almonds (opt.)
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Put popped corn into two (shallow) pans (sprayed with cooking spray), add peanuts and set aside. Preheat oven to 250°. Combine brown sugar, syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat and boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla (it will be foamy). Immediately pour over popcorn. Stir to coat but don’t worry about getting EVERY little bit covered at this point. Total baking time is 1 hour, but you have to remove pans from oven every 15 minutes and stir to coat.

After 1 hour, line your counter with waxed paper and dump the caramel corn out. Separate into pieces. Allow to cool completely. Store in airtight containers or Ziploc bags.