Yummy Homemade Caramel Corn

Saturday was one of those icky rainy cool fall days. My hubby had a rough week and was looking forward to some Michigan football. (If you are a Notre Dame fan, we do not need you to remind us of the score, we are trying desperately to forget it!)

I went shopping and wanted to get some great snack food. I looked through the trail mix and caramel corn and found nothing that I felt comfortable with Tyler eating. Then it hit me...make something!!

I scoured allrecipes.com and found a recipe for caramel corn. I've never made it since it's so cheap to buy. I tried it and it was WONDERFUL!! I've never tried any caramel corn that was this good. Seriously...try it!!

Here' the recipe from allrecipes:

Caramel Corn

* 1 cup unpopped popcorn (I used lowfat microwave and it worked great)
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 6 tablespoons butter
* 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. In a large pot, heat oil over high heat. Add the unpopped popcorn. Moving the pan constantly, pop the corn. Remove from heat, place in a large baking pan, and keep warm in the preheated oven. (Or, stick a bag in the microwave like my lazy self did.) Discard unpopped kernels.

3. Mix sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt into a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring until mixture starts to boil. Continue cooking for 5 minutes without stirring.

4. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over the popped popcorn. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from pan and put into a large bowl to cool.

I explained to Tyler that this was corn with candy on it. He was so excited to try it and loved it. The only problem was that I ended up eating most of it after he went to bed. I know, I'm a bad PA Mom!! Seriously, I had to do something to get over Michigan's crushing loss!!