Fall Cooking

A Family Tradition

When Fall comes around that means it's time to make the Caramel Corn. I made my first batch Wednesday...and it was gone by Thursday afternoon!! Soooo...I gotta make another batch today :) I KNOW what you are thinkin'....you're thinkin' MAN THOSE PEOPLE CAN EAT! LOL!!! Well...ACTUALLY we shared it. Michaela took a bag to her teacher and I shared some with my class yesterday. So we really didn't eat ALL of it -- only half!!

I'm picky about a couple of the ingredients....

Don't look!!! Naked Popcorn!!

The magic begins...

About an hour later it's time to dig in!

Now THAT'S a BIG bowl of happiness :)


Would you like to make some?

Caramel Corn

6 Quarts of Popped Popcorn

1 Stick Butter

1/2 C Corn Syrup

2 C Brown Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Melt butter in pan. Add Corn Syrup, Brown Sugar & Salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until boils. Boil 5 minutes longer without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in Vanilla & Baking Soda. Pour over popcorn and toss. Pour into 2 shallow pans cook at 200 deg. for 1 hour. While cooking stir about every 15 minutes. Cool and store in airtight containers.

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Lori's tips:

Make sure you don't get ANY unpopped kernels mixed in!! That's a big no no! I pop my popcorn with an air popper. To measure my popped popcorn...I use a 2 quart drink pitcher -- fill it 3 times and you have 6 quarts :) I put the popped popcorn in one of those big throw away aluminum turkey roasting pans. Then I just wash it out and save it for next time. I use light corn syrup and light brown sugar. I cook the caramel in a non-stick pot and stir with a wooden spoon. If it seems like it's taking a long time for the sauce to start boiling...turn up the heat just a little more. Then when it's boiling...make sure it's not a hard boil because it might scorch the sauce. Always keep stirring until it's boiling! I usually turn down the heat to medium for the 5 minute boil time. I use 2 cookie sheets to pour the caramel corn on to cook in the oven. After it's cooked for 1 hour I take a chunk out and let it cool - then eat it to make sure it's crisp enough. It only takes a few minutes for it to cool...so I leave the caramel corn in the oven till I decide. If it's not crispy enough...I just give it another stir and another 15 minutes.