Caramel Corn

It has been almost a decade since I tasted caramel corn for the first time. I thought I was in heaven. I fell in love with it. Little did I know they are loaded with calories and they are so easy to make. This batch makes it enough to give as a gift for about 5 - 6 people and will cost you less than 2 dollars plus some time.

One year back - Gingerbread Biscotti
Two years back - Chocolate Chip Cookies, Coconut Macaroons, Ginger Spice Cookies
Ingredients:
Popping corn kernels - 1/2 cup (See Notes)
Canola oil - 1 TBSP to pop the corn
Light Brown Sugar - 1 cup packed
Corn syrup - 1/4 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup or 1 stick
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla - 1 tsp

Method:
Pop the corn using stove top method. Heat 1 TBSP oil and add the kernels. Use large enough pot so that the kernels are sitting in one layer. Cover and when it starts popping, shake frequently until the popping sounds subside. If there are any unpopped kernels, remove them. Line a shallow large baking dish/sheet with aluminum foil. Spray vegetable oil spray really well or butter the whole foil. Place the popcorn in that. Preheat the oven to 250 F. When it is preheating, start making the caramel.

Melt butter, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup in a saucepan. Stir till the sugar is dissolved and it starts boiling. Keep it at medium heat and boil it for 4 - 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add vanilla and baking soda. It will bubble, so be careful. Remove the tray with popcorn from the oven and pour this evenly on the entire popcorn. Mix gently with the spatula. Don't worry if all are not coated. Caramel will get thin in the oven and eventually coat all the popcorn. Bake for one hour stirring every 15 minutes. If you like it chewy, you can remove at 45 minutes and if you like it crisp, bake for a total 1 hour. Break the lumps if any and cool in the pan. Store in an air tight container when completely cool. This if stored properly can stay for at least a month if not used up by then.

Notes:
You can use the microwave popcorn. But, they have a lot more fat than what I used to pop them using stove top method. You need to measure about 14 - 15 cups of popped corn for this recipe. You can add about 1 cup of peanuts or your favorite nuts to the popcorn mixture and then pour the caramel and bake.

Day 19 of the Bake-A-Thon and we are still going strong. Check out these blogs too -  Preethi, Veena, Priya. Linking it up to Kid's delight - Vegan and egg less bakes hosted by Priya, started by Srivalli.

Enjoy.