Salted Caramel Corn
This year, my husband and I were both separately “suckered” into buying some Boy Scout popcorn, not knowing of the other’s purchase. (I couldn’t help it, the Scout came to the door and he had a lisp. “Of course, I’ll thupport the Boy Thcouth,” I thought. It was just too cute.) So, we have lots of high-quality popcorn.
What to do with all of it?
Well, one of my favorite taste trends is salted caramel anything, like the salted caramel mocha at Starbucks. I’ve even tried salted caramel ice cream. It’s such an awakening–the sweet and salty mix. I wanted to incorporate that into classic caramel corn.
This Karo® version of caramel corn can be made regular caramel corn or you can try my bigger-batch salted caramel corn version below. I used salted, instead of unsalted butter, increased the salt to 2 teaspoons, and sprinkled the caramel-coated corn with kosher salt before baking. The result is a sweet and salty snack fit for a crowd.
Merry Christmas!
Salted Caramel Corn
Ingredients
Cooking Spray
6 quarts popped popcorn (picked over to remove un-popped kernels)
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup Karo® Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) salted butter
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Kosher salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Spray a large shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Add popcorn and place in preheated 250°F oven while preparing caramel.
Mix brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat.
Boil for 5 minutes WITHOUT STIRRING. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla.
Pour syrup mixture over warm popcorn, stirring to coat evenly.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and spread on foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
Cool; break apart. Store in tightly covered container.
