Baked Caramel Popcorn

I love this recipe so much. But I rarely make it, because I can’t stop eating it. I have zero self control when it comes to caramel-y, butter-y desserts. Throw in some brown sugar, and all hope is lost.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending how you look at it), the last time I made this, I didn’t get to enjoy it, because the pan exploded when I took it out of the oven (see pic below)! And while I had made 2 pans, and only one exploded, the un-exploded (is that a word?) one was sitting right next to it. Truth be told, I did have a few handfuls, until hubby told me that I should be careful. And then I was paranoid and couldn’t sleep all night because I was sure I was going to be brought to the ER in the middle of the night with a bleeding stomach from eating ground glass (it happened on a TV show I watched once, so it must be true right?).

In any case, this stuff is to die for, even if it is a little time-consuming. Adjust cooking time depending on how gooey you like your caramel popcorn. If you cook it the full time, it will be melt in your mouth crunchy. Mmmm…

The not so fortunate dish :(:

Recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com.

Print Recipe

Baked Caramel Popcorn

Author: The Gourmet Housewife

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 20 cups popped popcorn

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 250°F. Place popcorn in a very large bowl. Grease two large, shallow baking dishes and set aside.
• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.
• Place in prepared baking dishes. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.