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Ann's Oven-Baked Caramel Corn


Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope you have all had a wonderful and relaxing holiday. Here at my house we decided to get the flu for the whole week before Christmas, what fun for mommy! So that is my excuse for not posting any yummy recipes for you to try over the holiday.
Here is one I made for the teachers at school. I used 1 1/2 bags of salted, not buttered microwave popcorn which made it super east and gave it a salty/sweet taste to it, which I really liked. This popcorn has now become one of Mike's favorite treats. He says it tastes just like to caramel corn you get at the mall! I did drizzle the chocolate over the top and it was divine. It is easy to make and stores nicely for a few days after. Enjoy!

Ann's Oven-Baked Carmel Corn

INGREDIENTS

5 to 6 qts. popped corn, from 1 c. unpopped corn (I like to use white popcorn - I think it's prettier!)
1 c. butter
2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 250°.

Spread freshly popped corn in two large, shallow sheet pans. Put in the oven to keep warm and crisp.

Combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Place on medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Continue to boil to the firm ball stage (248°), about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Syrup will foam.

Take popped corn from oven and pour hot caramel mixture over it, in a fine stream. Stir to mix well. Return to oven for 45 to 50 minutes, stirring and scraping up caramel from pan bottom every 15 minutes. Cool and serve or store in an airtight container for up to a week.

My twist on this great recipe...For an extra special treat, try drizzling chocolate over the cooled caramel corn while it is still in the pans. Simply melt 4 ounces of chocolate bark and 6 ounces of dark chocolate chips together and drizzle over the caramel corn. This can be altered to your own chocolate preference, I've just found this ratio to please both the milk chocolate and dark chocolate lovers in our family. Let the chocolate set completely (can refrigerate briefly to speed up the process) and then break the caramel corn into chunks.

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