Baked Caramel Corn

This stuff is amazing! You bake it so the caramel coats the popcorn in a crunchy candy-ish shell. I can't even tell you all how delicious this is, you just have to try it for yourself. Regular caramel corn is sticky and gets stuck in my teeth when I eat it which I greatly dislike, so I actually prefer this. It tastes the same (possibly better) and doesn't get stuck to everything. Genius!

Here it is! If you want regular caramel popcorn just don't bake it, this recipe is good both ways.

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup Karo syrup
4 bags popped popcorn (I prefer air popping my own so there is no fake butter on it. This way it takes two cups of the cup on top of the popper used to measure if that makes sense)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Bring butter, sugar, & syrup to a full boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes stirring constantly.
2. Remove from heat. Stir in soda & vanilla. Pour over popcorn in a large bowl and stir to coat all the popcorn.
3. Place the caramel popcorn onto 2 cookie sheets/jelly roll pans lined with parchment or wax paper.
   
4. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.

Note: You can also use this same recipe to make candied nuts. Simply substitute 10 cups of nuts for the popcorn. I have eaten this before and it is incredibly good.

Good luck, Merry Christmas, and Happy munchings!!!