Mom's Caramel Corn
Let me start of today’s post with a big Happy New Year! I hope this beautiful first day of 2016 has found you well and looking forward to a clean start. I am excited about the possibilities ahead and hopeful. I pray you are too.
I asked my mom earlier this week if she could make caramel corn again for the blog. She is a pro, and everyone who has had her caramel corn has liked it, or loved it, as far as I know. I have made this recipe before, but mom makes it better. And after my flop of an attempt at Jello jigglers, I wanted to have another win.
A few years ago, Mom had to have surgery on her arm for a trapped nerve. That was the year I made my first full turkey dinner. That was the year I started a batch of gingerbread after midnight. That was the year I attempted to make Mom’s caramel corn. It went okay, she was there to supervise and give advice. The popcorn kind of clumped together and the caramel was a little too chewy. Mom makes it better.
The process of making caramel corn starts with making some popcorn. We have a popper that makes 6 quarts, but we need 8 quarts for this recipe. This works out perfect because then there is some extra from the second batch of popcorn for munching. Hansi-dog likes this part because he gets a couple snacks, too.
Mom moves the racks in the oven so there is room for both cookie sheets before she preheats the oven to 250°F. She also makes sure to spray the big bowl with cooking spray and the spatula she is going to use to stir the caramel into the popcorn. I gave mom this big bowl for Christmas several years ago, when I was still in high school. She uses it more often than I thought she would. Also spray two big cookie sheets. Mom Tip: Spray everything.
Combine the following ingredients in a medium sized saucepan:
· 1 cup of butter
· 2 cups of packed brown sugar
· 1 tsp salt
· ½ cup white syrup
· 1 tsp vanilla extract
Mom doesn’t turn the burner on until all of these things are in the pan so the butter doesn’t start cooking before everything else. Timing is very important in this process.
Bring the caramel ingredients to a boil. Once it starts boiling set a timer for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally as it boils. It’s going to become really frothy and exciting. The frothiness is good.
Mom Tip: you may need to bring the temp down a little so it doesn’t boil over, but don’t turn it down so much that it stops boiling.
Once the timer goes off, remove the pan from heat and add ½ tsp of baking soda to the caramel. Stir quickly until the caramel lightens in color.
Pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn. Stir by pulling the popcorn from the bottom of the bowl. This is definitely a good case for folding in ingredients.
Fold the caramel and popcorn together until you think they’re well incorporated. It won’t be perfect, and that’s okay. When it’s in the oven the caramel will move a little.
Spread the caramel popcorn over the two cookie sheets so it’s evenly distributed.
Put the cookie sheets in the oven—the smaller pan on the bottom. Bake for an hour. Stir the caramel corn 2-3 times in that hour. This is a folding action again.
When the hour is up, take both cookie sheets out of the oven. Mom likes to stir it again to break up any big clumps before letting it cool.
We make a lot of caramel corn in the time between Thanksgiving and New Years. It’s easy to put in some Tupperware or Ziploc bags to mail to friends and family.
While Mom was making her final batch for the season and I was documenting it I told her she was the best at caramel corn. She humbly responded that it took a lot of trial and error. I’m glad she stuck with it, and I’m glad she’s willing to pass on her Mom Tips to me.
Mom’s Caramel Corn
Ingredients:
· 8 – 9 qt. popped corn
· 2 cups brown sugar, packed
· 1 cup butter
· 1 tsp. salt
· ½ cup white syrup
· 1 tsp. vanilla extract
· 1 tsp. salt
· ½ tsp. baking soda
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 250°F.
2. Spray big bowl, spatula, and two cookie sheets with cooking spray.
3. Combine sugar, butter, salt, syrup, vanilla, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil.
4. Boil for 5 minutes. Mix well and stir occasionally.
5. Remove from heat and add baking soda.
6. Stir quickly.
7. Pour caramel over popped corn—fold together.
8. Spread over two cookie sheets.
9. Bake for 1 hour. Stir 2-3 times.
10. Stir again after you take it out of the oven. Let cool.
11. Store in tightly closed containers.
12. Enjoy!
