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caramel corn- so good its scary!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 12 c popped popcorn (about 4-5 bags, if you are not doing stove top)
  • 1 c brown sugar (can also use half a cup and half a cup of maple syrup)
  • 1/2 c corn syrup
  • 1/2 c butter (one stick)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp cayanne pepper (optional)

Instructions

  • pre-heat oven to 300
  • line 2 sheet pans with a silicon baking mat or parchment paper or foil
  • pop all the popcorn and place in two large heat resistant bowls- make sure you seperate any unpopped kernels and remove them, they are not welcome here.
  • in a really big pot (i'm not making this up, this stuff is going to bubble like the dickens, and you don't want hardened caramel all over your stove.) boil sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt until it reaches 240F (this should take about 5 minutes of constant stirring
  • remove from heat, add baking soda and vanilla (remember i mentioned bubbling like the dickens? yeah, that's going to happen big time now.) the pepper can be added now, if you like things sweet and spicy.
  • coat the popcorn with the caramel and mix and stir until all pieces are coated
  • pour out into the sheet pans and spread into an even layer
  • bake for 30-35 minutes, you can stir it at 15 minutes to check on it, but nothing crazy bad happens if you don't
  • remove from the oven, it cools fairly quickly and can be placed in a large bowl to serve, larger clumps should be easy to break apart
  • add any mix ins you want (like candy corn, pretzels, m&ms...)