Sweet N' Salty Caramel Corn

Sweet sweet caramel corn. Add in a perfect amount of saltiness and you’ve got yourself some damn good corn.  I finally whipped up a couple of batches of caramel corn this weekend after buying all of the ingredients over a month ago. I had planned on giving some for little Christmas gifts... this plan obviously never amounted to much. 

 Now not only was it super easy but this stuff was like crack. Sweet, salty, fresh and crunchy crack.  I brought a tin over to my man’s place and by the end of the night it had been devoured. Every last crumb and grain of salt had been taken. I may even have caught a friend in the corner licking her fingers clean.  Once you start with this stuff you just can’t stop.

WARNING: this caramel corn is highly addictive.

Sweet N' Salty Caramel Corn

 

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup corn syrup

2 teaspoons kosher salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

12 cups popped corn

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick spray.

2. Melt butter in a 1 gallon pot over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer undisturbed for 4 minutes. Stir. Continue to cook for an additional 4 to 6 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until the mixture is a deep golden color. Turn off the heat and whisk in salt, baking soda and vanilla. Set the whisk aside and stir in the popcorn. Scoop up the syrup from the bottom and over the top. Keep stirring and scooping the syrup over the popcorn until it is evenly covered and there is no syrup left on the bottom of the pan.

3. Spread the mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the caramel corn has turned a deep amber color. Remove the caramel corn from the oven and spoon it onto a waxed paper-lined surface to cool. When completely cooled, store caramel corn in a covered container- it should stay fresh for up to a week.

I added chopped almonds to one batch, it was delicious!

Poppa the Corn! No Microwave saw this stuff

The 3 main ingredients for the caramel

Melt that butter...MMM...then add the corn syrup and brown sugar. Let it all boil.

Let it simmer, whisk it, and watch it turn into beautiful caramel sauce. Then add kosher salt and vanilla extract for some added Salt N' sweetness.

Bake. Let cool. Eat. Eat. Repeat (the eat).