Crunchy Caramel Popcorn

    Last weekend I attended the cutest baby shower for my friend Amanda! We had a lovely day celebrating with her! She sent us home with so many goodies! My favorite was the homemade caramel popcorn, I knew I had to attempt recreating it! I set out with my dad's popcorn maker and a vision. It starts of similar to making my peanut brittle recipe! The only difference is you're going to be baking and mixing a lot. You're going to love how crisp and buttery this recipe comes out!

Crunchy Caramel Popcorn

Ingredients:

- 4 quarts (16 cups) of popped popcorn

- 1 cup of salted peanuts

- 1 cup of packed brown sugar

- 1/2 cup of light corn syrup

- 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

    Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Spread the popcorn and peanuts out on prepared baking sheet and place in the oven. In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt. Stir and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once rapid boil begins, stop stirring and time 5 minutes. Remove the popcorn from the oven. Once timer goes off, quickly stir in the baking soda and vanilla to the sugar mixture. Once thoroughly combined, pour the mixture evenly over the popcorn and peanuts. Stir and then place into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, removing from the oven every 15 minutes to gently stir. Once finished, remove from the oven, stir one last time, and let cool. Break apart and enjoy!

Celebrating with the beautiful mommy to-be!