Caramel Corn
The secret to making melt-in-your-mouth caramel corn is right here! The perfect recipe for a sweet snack or homemade gift.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup popping corn kernels
- 1 cup salted butter
- 2 cups dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a large stock pot over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add popping corn and stir to coat the kernels with the oil. Cover with lid. Gently and carefully move the pan back-and-forth every 30 seconds or so to keep the kernels from sticking and burning. Kernels should begin to pop within a minute or two. Continue moving the pan intermittently until the popping has almost stopped. Turn off heat. When popping has stopped, pour popped corn into a large bowl.
- While popcorn cools, place butter in a sauce pan and melt over low heat. Add brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir to combine. Turn heat up a little and stir frequently as it comes to a slow, low boil. DO NOT RUSH THIS STEP -- bringing the syrup to a boil too quickly results in sticky caramel corn. When a line of bubbles form along the edge of the pan, reduce the heat to low and start a timer set for 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 250°.
- While syrup is heating, transfer 14 cups of the popped corn to a heat-tolerant bowl. Unpopped kernels should stay at the bottom of the first bowl and not end up in your caramel corn.
- Stir syrup slowly and almost constantly, scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid burning. A rubber spatula works great for this. Syrup will come to a rolling boil by the end of the 5 minutes.
- When the time is up, remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla. Syrup will "fizz" in reaction to the vanilla. Make sure you enjoy the aroma as you stir!
- Add the baking soda, stirring to distribute. This will cause the syrup to bubble up and thicken.
- Pour immediately over the popped corn. Fold syrup into the corn to distribute.
- Divide mixture between two rimmed cookie sheets or bar pans. I prefer using stoneware pans. Bake for one hour, stirring the caramel corn every 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Spread out a couple sheets of aluminum foil on the countertop and transfer caramel corn onto foil. Gently break up any large clusters and allow to cool completely.
- Store in resealable bags. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
Air-popped popcorn can replace the oil-popped corn described in the recipe.
Light brown sugar can be used instead of dark brown sugar but it will make a lighter colored caramel and it will not have the same depth of flavor.