Monday, May 20, 2013

Homemade Carmel Corn

Well, I'm sorry.

It's been a long time since I posted a recipe, but life has been in such a whirlwind lately that I've been cooking basics. Nothin' exciting or fun.

Until now, that is.

On Saturday the fam and I went to a rodeo. It was so much fun and my son now is fixed on becoming a bull rider. If you knew him, you'd realize how serious he is. Next year we'll sign him up to do the muttin' busting and he can get a taste for sand. Hopefully that will rid him of his desire to die on the back of a bull. I mean really, what mama gets excited when her son tells her he wants to ride bulls? Not this one.

Moooooving on.

Rodeo Collage

Sorry, I can't help myself.

Knowing that we were going to a rodeo filled with all sorts of junk food, I decided that I wanted to bring some snacks that could rival anything the concession stands could fry our way. I mean come on, who doesn't love a corn dog?

I didn't make corn dogs, but I did make something even better. I give you...homemade carmel corn!

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It tastes every bit as good as it looks and it's full of good stuff. You won't find any hydrogenated oils or corn syrups here. No way. Just goodness the way God intended. I will not make you wait any longer, here ya go!


Homemade Carmel Corn


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First things first, pop your self some popcorn. Put 1/2 cup of unpopped popcorn in your air popper (if you don't have one use a heavy pot over medium low heat). I really like air popped popcorn because it's lighter than popcorn popped in a pan.


Wow, this is a lot of popping. Let's just say I'm trying to make sure I'm doubling the p's and not the o's. If you know what I'm sayin'.


Popcorn Collage 1


Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and butter two 9 x 13 casserole dishes. Once buttered, split the (popped) popcorn between the two dishes.


Next you want to make the carmel for the popcorn.


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In your pan add 1/2 cup molasses, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup butter, and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly. Once it's boiling, let the carmel mixture boil for 5 minutes without stirring.


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Remove from heat (very important).


Add 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp baking soda.


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Make sure you are stirring carefully when you add these because the carmel is going to want to foam and will rise quite a bit.


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As soon as these are mixed well pour equal parts over your two dishes of popcorn. Mix quickly and carefully. You want to make sure you coat all the popcorn with the carmel before it starts to cool and you don't want to break all your popcorn to bits. I suggest you fold the carmel into the popcorn like you would fold whipped egg whites into batter.


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Bake in your preheated oven for 1 hour. Stir/fold the carmel corn one more time and then pour it out on parchment paper and let cool.


If you are going to be eating this carmel corn right away you don't have to bake it if you don't want to. It is sooo good and gooey and soft. If you are going to be eating this later then I suggest you bake it and make it wonderfully crispy. It doesn't save well unbaked.


This is some of the best carmel corn you'll ever eat! I'm serious. We ate this in about 10 minutes at the rodeo and I was lamenting that I didn't make more.


Next time, I will be FULLY prepared.


I can't wait for you to try this and it's really so easy to make.


Oh, and I dare you to not lick the pan when your done.


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*Shared on the Thank Your Body blog carnival.




Homemade Carmel Corn


Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Noël McNeil

Prep time:

Cook time:

Total time:

Serves: 4-6


Ingredients


  • 1/2 cup Molasses

  • 1/2 cup Honey

  • 1/2 cup Butter

  • 1 tsp Salt

  • 1 tsp Vanilla

  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda




Instructions



  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

  2. Butter two 9 x 13 casserole dishes.

  3. Pop 1/2 dry popcorn.

  4. Split the popped popcorn between the two casserole dishes.

  5. Combine in saucepan the molasses, honey, butter, and salt. Stir while bringing mixture to a boil over medium high heat.

  6. Once mixture is boiling, let sit for 5 minutes without stirring.

  7. Remove from heat. (VERY IMPORTANT)

  8. Once mixture has been moved away from the heat source, add the vanilla and baking soda and stir constantly until fully mixed.

  9. Split the carmel mixture between the two dishes of popcorn.

  10. Stir carefully and quickly, covering all the popcorn as well as you can. (Remember to fold in the carmel like you would whipped egg whites into batter.)

  11. Place both dishes in the preheated oven and cook for 1 hour.

  12. Remove the carmel corn from the oven, stir/fold again, and let cool on parchment paper.

  13. Enjoy!






32 comments:

  1. I LOVE carmel popcorn! I'll have to try making this. I love that there is only a handful of ingredients!! I usually don't even attempt anything that involves a grocery list of ingredients.

    I'll go share this on my Facebook page, too.

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  2. Ah, thanks Holly! Please let me know how you like it. :)

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  3. Wow this looks good - can't wait to try it! My husband is a HUGE carmel corn lover so I'm sure he'll be excited to see me cooking this one. (Pinned to Pinterest) Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Oh yum!! I'll have to try this soon. What a wonderful treat!

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  5. I hope you like it. :)

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  6. I hope your hubby enjoys it as much as mine does. :)

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  7. Thank you for the great recipe! And, how nice of you to arrange such a great print-out for us!

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  8. You are welcome! I like to be able to print out recipe's that I find, so I figured I'd do the same for my readers. :)

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  9. Looks sticky and tasty, just the way my little ones like it. We never actually made Carmel popcorn, but you've peeked my interest. I'm going to give it a go this weekend. Bumped in to you at Amy's Welcome Home Wednesday link-up. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. I'm sure your kids will love it! :)

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  11. Oh, this sounds so yummy and what a wonderful idea to take it with you to avoid the junk. :)

    Lynn

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  12. You bet! I wish I would have made a triple batch... ;)

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  13. [...] Homemade Caramel Corn by The Shepherd’s Farm. Who doesn’t love caramel corn? Especially when it’s made with real food? [...]

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  14. This caramel popcorn looks wonderful! My mom makes really good caramel popcorn too, I'll have to have her try it with molasses. Yum!

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  15. For steps 6 and 7, do you let it sit for 5 minutes boiling, or remove from heat and let boil? Thank you - the recipe looks amazing!

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  16. You let it boil unstirred for 5 minutes. Keep it on the heat while boiling and then remove from heat before you add the last of the ingredients. Hope this helps!

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  17. How much popcorn would you say this makes ...wondering if 1/2c. Popcorn would make the same amount (volume)when I do it in my cast iron Dutch oven.

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  18. Probably. I think it makes a little over 2 quarts? I think.

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  19. This looks like a nice recipe -- we look forward to trying it. I did just want to let you know that it is actually spelled "caramel" not "carmel" (that's a place in California).

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  20. Oh my how embarrassing! I knew it looked wonky, but couldn't figure it out. It will be changed soon! Thanks for telling me!

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  21. Hi there! I was wondering if I could use maple syrup instead of molasses?

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  22. Honestly, I'm not sure if you could. I would encourage you to try it out and see if it does...that's the only way to know I guess. I do think that you could do all honey or even do 3/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup molasses if you think the molasses would be too strong. If you do try to use honey and maple syrup I'd love to know how it turns out!

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  23. That is beautiful! I can smell it! MMMMMMMMmmmmmm...

    May I offer a bit of safety advice? That pan is barely tall enough for this project. I suggest a much taller pan or pot; I have a permanent scar on one hand, the result of this lovely bubbly "popping" out of a pot not tall enough to contain it and leaving a third[-degree burn where it landed. Do be careful, folks; this is VERY hot and can be dangerous - but, oh, is it worth the (careful) effort!

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  24. Hello and thank you for the recipe! We made it a couple of weeks ago and my kiddos loved it but burned out on the molasses flavor after a couple times eating it. I just made it again with half the molasses and the kids loved it more!

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  25. Thanks for telling me! My family loves molasses, but I know it can be a strong flavor. So glad it worked out!

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  26. That looks delicious. I printed the recipe. Thanks!

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  27. [...] Homemade Caramel Corn (yum!) from The Shepherd’s Farm [...]

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  28. [...] homemade caramel corn will be a hit with my kids, for [...]

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  29. [...] The Sheperd’s Farm has an oh-my-goodness recipe for homemade Caramel Popcorn – dang, it looks [...]

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  30. [...] chips, nuts, and dried fruit for a variation of a trail mix, or make some sweet treats like caramel corn or marshmallow popcorn [...]

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