Caramel Corn

I got a craving for caramel corn a few days ago. Maybe it's because it's fall. This time of the year I start daydreaming about devilry with sugar and butter. Well, all right, I daydream about that 12 months a year. Just more now.



Now imagine that little section expanded to fill an entire commercial restaurant baking pan. Those of you who know us will not be surprised that we own a couple of these.

The recipe comes out of my Land o' Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes:

20 cups (5 L) popped popcorn
2 cups (500 ml) firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup (250 ml) butter
1/2 cup (125 ml) dark corn syrup
1/2 tsp (2ml) salt
1/2 tsp (2ml) baking soda
1 cup (250 ml) mixed salted nuts

Heat oven to 200 F (93 C). In roasting pan place popcorn; set aside. In 2-quart (2 L) saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil (12-14 minutes). Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until candy thermometer reaches 238 F (114 C) or a small amount of mixture dropped in ice water forms a soft ball (4-6 minutes). Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Pour over popcorn; sprinkle nuts over caramel mixture. Stir until all popcorn is coated. Bake for 20 minutes; stir. Continue baking for 25 minutes. Remove from oven; immediately place caramel corn on waxed paper. Cool completely. Break into pieces. Store in a tighly covered container.

Note the recipe does not call for dark chocolate. I had enough ingredients to make one and a half times everything in the recipe. Then I melted an entire Trader Joe's Pound Plus dark chocolate bar and drizzled it over the pan half at a time, letting it set and flipping the mixture.

This stuff just HAS to be good for you. It's got fiber, nuts and dark chocolate...