Caramel Corn

We had planned a dinner and a movie date night, but we ended up taking our friend for a pretty big (and delicious) pizza lunch. We decided to make it a movie and dessert night. I decided popcorn might be a yummy snack. Now a few months ago, I bought the Orville Redenbaucher 100 calorie kettle corn snack bags. They have absolutley NO taste. Bleh....so I decided I wanted to use them up some how....I saw a few recipes for caramel corn and was inspired to make this. I decided to trust the amazing Mrs. Paula Deen and was not disappointed. So easy and so tasty! I made only 1/4 recipe and am super glad because it is addicting! (I used 3 snack bags and I think it was a little too much popcorn, so I suggest if you make 1/4 of the recipe, use 2 snack bags) I am going to post the whole recipe in case you want to make a big batch.

Caramel Corn
Courtesy of Paula Deen

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp salt (oops I left this out and it was still great)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp baking powder
8 qts of popped plain popcorn
Melted chocolate (optional- unless you are a chocoholic like I am, then it is mandatory)

1. Preheat oven to 200F. Put popcorn in baking dish
2. Over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Boil for 5 minutes. (Watch that it doesn't get too brown, it burns quickly....don't leave the stove!) Remove from heat and add baking powder.
3. Pour caramel over popped corn. Stir to coat.
4. Bake at 200F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes....I only baked mine 25 minutes because I slightly overcooked the sugar, and it was still great.
5. Drizzle melted chocolate over caramel corn...then enjoy when it has cooled!

Popcorn treats

For the 4th of July festivities, we went to my parent's house for a bbq and some fireworks. We were going to do all of the cooking for the family because my parents had some plans during the day. I tore through my pantry (did I forget to mention it was a last minute party) and decided that I would try to make things with stuff I need to get rid of. I came across a box of popcorn and decided to throw it in the cooler. Next I found a half used jar of marshmallow fluff, a half bag of marshmallows, so I threw them in too. Then I found 1 bag of 100 calorie pack cookies and an almost empty bag of pretzels. When I got to my mom's she had a bag of chocolate chips and a half jar of peanut butter, I decided to put all these together and viola! Popcorn treats.

Popcorn treats

1 normal sized bag of popcorn (I used light butter)
1 bag of marshmallows (I used a half bag and half jar of fluff)
1 Tbsp of butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup pretzels
Whatever other creative yummy toppings you like (peanuts, more chocolate, M&Ms, cookie crumbs, etc)

1. Pop bag of popcorn according to directions on bag
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in saucepan over medium high heat. When melted, add in marshmallows and stir frequently while they all melt into a sauce.
3. Put popcorn in large bowl (REMEMBER to remove unpopped kernels), pour marshmallow sauce over. Add in desire toppings and stir all together.
4. Lay out mixture on greased baking sheet.
5. Melt peanut butter over medium heat. When melted, drizzle over popcorn mixture.
6. Melt chocolate (I melt mine in the microwave), and drizzle over popcorn mixture.
7. Break into pieces, enjoy!