Homemade Caramel Corn with chocolate is truly addicting!!!!

I have a serious thing for Caramel Corn and I never really let myself eat it because after the first bite, I literally lose all will power and can’t stop eating until the whole bag is gone.  Since it is October, I have been seeing recipes everywhere for the stuff and I have been considering making it homemade.  I bought all the ingredients a week ago and Trinity and I have been talking about making it but I knew once I made it, I would eat it all, so I have been contemplating whether I should do it or not.  Yesterday, while procrastinating my blog post we decided to finally whip up a batch.  We combined a Martha Stewart recipe with another one we found online to form our own version.

Let’s just say at 10:00 last night, Lou looked over at me and said “That’s it, I am taking the bag away from you, you are going to be sick and up all night from the sugar.!”  “No, Louie, I know I will suffer tomorrow, but I have to finish, please don’t take it!”  He shook his head and let me finish the whole huge Ziploc full of the stuff.

Today I woke up exhausted, 3 pounds heavier with a huge sugar hangover and  a piece of popcorn stuck on the back of my bottom teeth wedged into the gums.  It is literally driving me crazy and I can’t get it out with my electric toothbrush or the floss.  I guess it is another punishment for my excessive overeating of Caramel Corn. I have been tonguing it all morning and now I am causing the whole area to be inflamed.  Last time this happened I finally went to the dentist and asked for him to help me.  He said I needed to buy a Waterpik.  Whatever, I didn’t and now it has happened again.

Back to the Caramel Corn…..

When I opened the fridge to get out the milk for my coffee this morning, there staring at me was the last bag of the Caramel Corn.  I was about to throw it away to save myself, but Trinity begged to bring it to her play date instead,  so I decided I had enough will power to keep it until 10:00am.  (Her school had the day off for Columbus Day)  Yes, I survived not eating it for 3 hours and I am seriously detoxing today. 

So I bet you are dying for this recipe, which is super easy and clearly extremely yummy and addicting.  Here it goes, make with caution….

 

 

CARAMEL CORN WITH CHOCOLATE

12 cups of popped popcorn (1/2 cup of kernels)

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons of butter

1/3 cup of light corn syrup

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon of vanilla

8 ounces of dark or semi-sweet chocolate

1/4 cup of Canola oil

Pam or spray oil

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Heat the oil in a really large pot with a fitted lid.  Pour in the kernels and put on the lid.  Once you hear the kernels start to pop, shake the pot from side to side randomly so none of the kernels burn.  Once all the kernels are popped, you won’t hear them anymore, pour the popcorn in a huge bowl.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium.  Stir in corn syrup, sugar and vanilla and cook until sugar dissolves, stirring once or twice.  Raise heat to high, and bring to a boil

(do not stir).  Boil, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 248 degrees.  Since I don’t have a candy thermometer, I just boiled for 3 minutes and it was perfect.  Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. 

Pour the caramel over popcorn, stirring to coat thoroughly..  Transfer to 2 rimmed baking sheets, lined with foil and sprayed with PAM.  Lay out in a single layer.  Bake for 40 minutes, stirring twice.  Remove from oven and drizzle with melted chocolate.  I used semi sweet chips that I just microwaved and kept stirring until the chocolate was smooth and then drizzled with a spoon.  I tried to also add white chocolate but it wasn’t working so well but you can use any kind of chocolate you want.  After you add the chocolate put the baking sheets in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to set the chocolate.  Break up the caramel corn and store in the refrigerator.  The other recipes say to store on the counter, but in our family we think it tastes way better cold so we like to keep it in the refrigerator.

Enjoy

xoxo tiffani