I’M BAAAAAAAAAAACK! We’re mostly moved in to the new house (furniture in place, many boxes unpacked, many more boxes to go…). Most importantly, my new kitchen is unpacked, rendering it possible to do some experimenting again. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to say to the world that I HAVE A DISHWASHER! A decent dishwasher! YAAAAAAAAAAAY! Only those who have also lived without one (and, may I add, lived without one as an experimental baker with a baby) can appreciate how wonderful this is.

Anyway, caramel corn. I love the stuff. I love it oh so much. I have to cut myself off, and it doesn’t always work. Sean’s dad makes really great traditional caramel corn, but of course the usual recipe has massive amounts of corn syrup, which Sean can’t have. So, I have invented a new version. It is delicious, if I do say so myself, and has Sean’s stamp of approval as well. Without further ado, here you go!

Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels

6 TBS butter

2/3 c real maple syrup

2 TBS molasses (these can be a little scant, you don’t really need that much)

1/2 tsp sea salt (if you are using traditional iodized table salt, which is much finer ground, you may want to reduce this)

1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. Pop your popcorn by whatever means you prefer: air popper machine, Whirly-Pop (which is what I do), traditional “shake the pan,” whatever works for you. Use the minimum amount of oil you can get away with to do this (you want naked popcorn to work with, which is why you shouldn’t use any form of microwave popcorn). In a Whirly-Pop it’s a scant tablespoon, in an airpopper it’s none (obviously), I don’t know about other ways.

2. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the maple syrup, molasses and sea salt and heat until bubbling. Stir while it bubbles for about 4 minutes as it thickens up a little.

4. Remove from the heat and whisk in the baking soda. Quickly pour the caramel over the popped corn and mix it around well, until pretty evenly distributed.

5. Pour the gooey caramel corn into two 9×13 glass dishes, so it’s in a shallow layer. You can, of course, use one large cookie sheet or the like, but I like having the high edges so that when I stir it as it’s baking I won’t have to worry so much about keeping it on the tray.

6. Put the caramel corn into the preheated oven. You will be baking it for 1 hour total, but you need to stir the pans every 15 minutes, so I set the timer for 15 minutes. If you neglect to stir you will end up with a caramel corn rock-sheet, which isn’t so easy to eat (and not necessarily evenly dried, either). So, stir it every 15 minutes.

7. Remove from the oven at the end of the bake time and set it to cool. Stir it once a minute or two after you get it out, to keep it from adhering to the pan too much. Once it’s cool it can be stored or eaten. Enjoy!