Ooey gooey popcorn
A while back I wanted to make caramel popcorn but I did not have any corn syrup. I googled recipes to no avail. So I created this recipe for sorry people such as myself who do not keep things like corn syrup around for easy consumption. You can eat this popcorn as made, or add chocolate/nut clusters to turn it into moose munch.
Caramel Corn
2-3 quarts popcorn
salt
4 Tbsp butter
1/12 c brown sugar
1/3 c water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp vanilla (if desired, it makes a lovely vanilla caramel flavor)
Pop popcorn and lightly salt. Melt butter in a pan. Add brown sugar and stir until mixed. Add water. Stir until boiling stage and cook for 5-10 minutes until mixture hits soft-ball stage (put a few drops in a glass of icy water until it can form a soft ball).
Remove from heat and add vanilla and soda. Stir while it goes puffy. Drizzle over popcorn and lightly stir. Allow to cool. Serve.
mounds of caramel popcorn
If you want to make your caramel popcorn more decadent, turn it into moose munch! To make moose munch, you take roasted almonds, scrunched up chocolate graham crackers and marshmallows and put them in a bowl. Melt down semi-sweet chocolate chips until completely melted and pour over the nuts/marshmallows, forming little clusters with a spoon and letting them harden on wax paper until completely set. Then you blend these clusters in with the caramel popcorn. Nuts, chocolate, popcorn. Heaven.
Moose Munch
So glad to try a non-corn syrup recipe! Can you clarify if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of brown sugar or 1 1/2 cup brown sugar? I tried with 1/2 cup and the sauce didn’t get very gooey. Not sure if I didn’t add the right amount of brown sugar or if I accidentally added slightly too much water. Thanks!