Oven Caramel Corn

So the cheep movie house in Boise has some yummy caramel popcorn, you know the hard crunchy kind. I almost love going there more for the popcorn than the discounted movie. I love it so much that on one of my birthdays Kendra went to there and bought it for me. Well when I was in New Jersey, Lori took me to the boardwalk and yes Johnson's popcorn caught my attention. Lori bought some and we all gobbled it up. We went back and bought more. Well needless to say I have been thinking about it since. I decided that I needed to figure out how to make it. I found a great recipe from Paula Deen on the second try. Here it is:

7 to 8 quarts popped popcorn

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp. maple-flavored pancake syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spray rimmed cookie sheets with cooking spray.

Place the popcorn and your choice of nuts or seeds into a very large bowl. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, salt, syrups and vanilla. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and add the baking soda. The mixture will bubble up. Stir vigorously until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the hot syrup over the popcorn mix. Stir until the popcorn is coated.

Spread the coated popcorn in the prepared pans. Bake for 1 hour, stirring several times.

Remove the popcorn from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Store in large, airtight plastic containers.

Warning: It's highly addictive.

Love you all and hope you are having a great holiday season!