Buttery Good

Have you ever met someone who always seems to know the exact gift to give no matter the occasion or recipient? Well, that’s Pam! Pam and I met during my research days, and soon became colleagues with the same institution. We worked closely for five years. It has been well over ten years since we worked together but we still communicate through the social media. She talks (writes) about my German Chocolate Cake and I, her Caramel Corn.

Pam made this wonderful recipe and shared with us during the holidays … One of her many wonderful gifts. I recently asked if I could post her recipe and she without hesitation said yes. i asked if she knew the origin of this recipe, and she said she didn’t. So, I did a little computer research, and there are many variations of this recipe. It seems to be a generic. The closest reviewed recipe is posted on foodnetwork.com by Paula Dean. Pam made a major change to the original recipe by adding almonds. And I have reduced the amount of popcorn. The almonds just make this!

Recipe

Preheat over to 250 degrees F
Makes 7-8 quarts
1 Cup salted butter
2 Cups brown sugar
1 Teaspoon salt
1-2 Teaspoons vanilla
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Cup light corn syrup
3 Large bags of microwave popcorn, each containing approximately 10 cups of popped corn (minimal to no added salt or butter)
1 Cup of roasted, lightly salted almonds (I like raw almonds but totally a different taste. Almonds can be omitted.)

Melt the butter with sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring this to a boil stirring constantly. Set heat to low and continue to boil for 5 minutes without stirring.

Put popped corn into a roasting pan and keep warm in oven until ready for caramel.

After 5 minutes of boiling add the soda. I suggest sprinkling over the cooked mixture to facilitate dissolving. The mixture will become more foamy with the soda addition. Add vanilla.

Pour cooked mixture over warm popcorn. And stir to mix.

Add almonds on top and do not mix yet. Place in oven for the first 15 minutes.

Mix everything together after the first 15 minutes. Place back into the oven and stir every 15 minutes. Total oven time is one hour. After one hour remove from the oven and let cool. You can remove to parchment paper for cooling. The popcorn and almonds will be chewy at this point. After total cooling the texture of the popcorn and nuts will be crunchy.

Let me hear if you love this Buttery Caramel Popcorn as much as I. Can’t eat just one!