Caramel Corn

caramel corn (gluten free)

As promised, here is my caramel corn recipe. It's nothing particularly special since caramel corn is naturally gluten free, but it's one of my favourites so I'm going to share it anyway. I tend to associate caramel corn with Christmas time, but it's a great treat any time of year. This Christmas I tied little bags of caramel corn to some homemade cards I gave to friends and family. Yes, I have too much time on my hands:) I probably ate half the caramel corn while making the cards... oops.

This recipe takes time, but it's really easy to make and fairly inexpensive too. Just be careful with the hot caramel, it burns like a mother. You can fancy up the corn by mixing in some peanuts or other nuts. Just add them to the corn when you pour in the caramel.

(makes about 24 cups of caramel corn)
Ingredients

24 cups popped corn (6 quarts)
1 cup Margarine (or butter)
2 cups Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Corn Syrup
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1-1 1/2 cups Nuts - optional

Directions

Pop corn and place in two large shallow pans (I use the lid and the base of a roaster). Remove any unpopped kernels.

pop corn

place in two pans

Mix margarine, sugar, salt and corn syrup in large pot.
Stir mixture occasionally until it boils.
Boil without stirring for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and add baking soda and vanilla.
Stir until mixture is fluffy.
Pour caramel over 2 pans of popped corn (add nuts here if desired) and stir until evenly mixed.
Bake at 250 for 1 hour. Stirring every 15 minutes until caramel has evenly coated the corn and starts to harden a bit.
Let cool, stirring occasionally so the corn stays separate.
Enjoy!

mix in large sauce pan

boil for 5 mins without stirring

add baking soda and vanilla and stir until fluffy

pour caramel over corn

stir caramel in to corn

bake at 250 for 1 hr, stirring every 15 mins

store in large airtight bucket or in bags

This stuff should keep for at least a month.