Crunchy Caramel Corn w/ Leaf Tags

Caramel Corn was a must-have for Bryce’s Harvest Party.  The following recipe is so easy you will be making this over and over again.  I bagged this Caramel Corn up in individual bags, and added a decorative leaf tag.  These yummy treats were sent home with the guests in case they got hungry on the road.  (Reece took the responsibility of handing these out as guests were leaving and he did a really fantastic job.)

I heard nothing but rave reviews and I expect anyone who tastes this treat will feel the same.  My suggestion?  Don’t wait for a party to make this – this is perfect for a family movie night or just a snack.  Store in an airtight container and it’s good for at least a week. Let’s get started…

5 quarts of popped popcorn (plain)
1/2 c butter
1/2 c corn syrup
2 c light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Pop your popcorn – plain popcorn is best.  No salt or butter. Pick through your popcorn and make sure your remove all unpopped kernels.  An easy way to get rid of the kernels is to put in a gallon size bag and shake lightly – all the kernels will fall to the bottom of the bag. If you don’t have a popcorn popper, see my simple solution for popping popcorn in the microwave at the end of this post.

Keep your popcorn warm by placing it into two 9X13 baking dishes or a deep roasting pan and placing it in the oven.  The caramel corn turns out a lot better with warm popcorn so don’t skip this step!

Melt butter in a medium, heavy, saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup and salt and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Once the mixture is at a boil, stop stirring and just let ‘er go for 4 minutes.  (This is the easy part!)

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.  You will notice the caramel increases in volume – it gets very “fluffy”.  The consistency is thicker.

Pour the mixture in a thin steam over the popcorn.  Use tongs to mix the popcorn and caramel making sure to thoroughly coat.

The caramel corn should look like this going in to the oven.  Put the baking dishes into the oven and let bake for 45 minutes.  Every 15 minutes, pull the dishes out and break up the caramel corn using tongs to turn the popcorn over and mixing it up.  After 45 minutes, let the caramel corn cool completely before breaking into small pieces.  DO NOT POP THESE BEAUTIES INTO YOUR MOUTH OR YOU WILL GET BURNED.  Don’t ask me how I know this – just trust me.  That’s it!  It’s really very easy because there is so much down time.

Leaves
Contact Paper
Scissors

Directions:

Pick some multi-colored fall leaves and make sure they are clean.

Cut a piece of contact paper twice the length you will need for the leaves.
Place the leaves on the paper.

Fold the contact paper over and smooth making sure there are no air bubbles.
Cut out leaves and use as desired.

I used them to decorate my Caramel Corn bags:

What you need:
Paper bag – lunch size
1/3 c popcorn kernels
tape

Directions:

• Put the popcorn into the bag, fold the top over and seal with tape.
• Place in the microwave and use your popcorn setting or heat on high heat until there is 5 seconds between pops.
• Take the bag out of the microwave and being careful of the steam, pour into a bowl.  If you pour the popcorn directly into plastic bags, the hot popcorn will melt the plastic.