the BEST caramel popcorn ever!! recipe here :)

Every time I make this, it reminds me of going to the Lloyd Center Mall in Portland, OR as a kid to get caramel popcorn after ice-skating or getting it to take in to the theater. The entire house smells like a candy kitchen and it is very difficult to wait to eat it! :D I thought I'd share the recipe on this snowy day.


THE BEST CARAMEL POPCORN EVER!!

1 CUP BUTTER
2 CUPS BROWN SUGAR
1/2 CUP CORN SYRUP
1 TSP. SALT
1/2 TSP. BAKING SODA
1 TSP. VANILLA
1 CUP WORTH OF POPCORN KERNELS- POPPED

1) Preheat oven to 250* Place popcorn in a very *large bowl.
2) In saucepan: melt butter; add sugar, syrup and salt. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil withOUT stirring for 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla (this may spatter a bit if you don't take it off the heat) and then the baking soda.
3) Pour in a thin stream over the popped-corn in the bowl and stir it up with a wooden spoon to coat all the corn. The syrup is extremely hot so be careful here!
4) Place the coated popcorn onto shallow baking sheets and bake at 250* for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes while it's baking. Remove from oven and allow it to cool completely before breaking into pieces.


You can store this in an air-tight container (I use the big Cambro container you see in the pics) or ziplock baggies. The amount this makes filled my Cambro plus one gallon ziplock. Plus we ate some. :D

*I use a rather large bowl to mix mine in, but as a tip if you don't have a huge bowl like that, you can put your popped corn into a paper grocery bag and pour the caramel over it in that, then fold the top down and shake it like crazy to coat it before pouring it onto the baking pans.