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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Day 7: 12 Days of Christmas Sharing




Today I am sharing our homemade treat of the year!
In previous years I have done chocolate covered pretzels and a huge variety of home baked cookies.
This year we are going with something completely different....and something I would have NEVER attempted to make before someone shared a recipe and told me it wasn't *that* difficult.
CARMEL POPCORN!
We developed a slight love of caramel corn on our recent trip to Chicago.
We tried a local place that Corey like okay but there is nothing like having it 100% freshly made.
Last Friday night Corey made some homemade caramel corn.  Not only did it make the house smell wonderful but it was just about as close as I think we can possibly get to the really good stuff we had in Chicago.  And it didn't take long to make...and didn't make a disaster area of the kitchen!
So...all my friend and family....the treat of the year is homemade Caramel popcorn! Be prepared!

Here is the recipe:
7-8 quarts popped popcorn
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 c. light corn syrup yes, I had to get over this ingredient. :(
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1 t. maple flavoring
1 t. butter flavoring
1 t. baking soda

In a saucepan, combine sugars, butter, syrup, and salt.
Heat to boiling and boil for 5 minutes.
 Remove from heat and mix in rest of the flavors and ingredients.
Quickly pour over the popcorn and mix.
Spread on baking pan and bake at 250 degrees for 1 hr stirring every 15 minutes. 
Store in airtight container.
We actually baked ours too long...it didn't need the full hour...probably half an hour at a little bit lower temp would be perfect.  It may depend on your oven and the pans you use, etc.

Enjoy! :)

3 comments:

Karen said...

I can't WAIT for my portion! I have never made homemade caramel corn....

Here is my link for today...

Anonymous said...

Sounds yummy! Can't wait to have some. I love caramel corn

Jocelyn said...

Looks oh so good!! My sweet tooth wants to grab some right off the screen, haha. Awesome treat - thank you for the recipe. =)