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Pop Pop Pop

Caramel Popcorn - devil's food, I'm sure.  I am addicted to this stuff.  Once in a while, I buy that awful stuff from the supermarket and binge on it.  Sadly (or thankfully  - I don't know!!), I seem to be the only one in the family to love this stuff.  I thought I would try to make some at home.  So... 


 I made a batch on Tuesday night - one jar full plus 4 and a 1/2  brown bags full.  I gave away one bag to a neighbour.  I gave the 1/2 bag to my husband for work.  And I "shared" (as in I think I ate the lion's share of it) one bag with some friends who came over on Wednesday.   I was surfing Pinterest last night.  And on Thursday morning, I wake up and this is what I'm left with...

Before the photo shoot...


After the photo shoot (I took about 3 photos!!)...


And that's it - no more after this jar is emptied!!

On another note, I had a go at creating "art".  Art, as in something to hang and display.  What do you think?  The inspiration came from here.  I think I need to practice a bit more on painting the canvas and balancing out the proportions.  Hmm.. looking at this photo... I'm going to give it another go, I think.


Caramel popcorn

How to make the perfect popcorn  (adapted from here)...
1.  You will need a saucepan with a fitted lid; about 1/2 cup popcorn; and enough oil to coat the bottom of your saucepan.
2.  Heat the oil in the saucepan (lid on) with 2 or 3 corn kernels.
3.  When the kernels start to pop, take the saucepan off the heat, pour in the remaining corn kernels, shake around to coat the corn in oil and count off 20 seconds.
4.  Put the saucepan (with lid on) back onto the heat and wait for the popping to start.
5.  Smile joyously and shake occasionally with the lid slightly ajar as you hear the popping.
6.  When the popping slows down significantly, take it off the heat and immediately pour the popcorn into a big wide bowl.  Add your butter and/or salt at this point if eating oh-naturelle.  Otherwise continue on to the caramel part below.  

I was a popcorn virgin before.  And, I promise you, in the two times I have made it this way, there were no burnt bits of popcorn and only about 10 kernels unpopped.

Caramel popcorn
Adapted from allrecipes.com

125g butter
2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
popcorn from above.

1.  Preheat oven to about 100C.  Place popcorn in a large baking tray (largest you can get to achieve a flat layer of popcorn.  Mine was not very large so there ended up with huge chunks of caramel popcorn rather than an even spread).  Place the popcorn in the oven to keep it warm.
2.  Over medium heat, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter.  And then add the sugar, syrup, and salt.  Bring to the boil while stirring constantly.  (Please be VERY careful with hot sugar.)
3.  Let it boil without stirring for 4 minutes.
4.  Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
5.  Pour the caramel mixture in a thin stream over the warmed popcorn and return the baking tray to oven.
6.  Bake the popcorn in the oven for 1 hour, stirring the popcorn every 15 minutes.
7.  Remove from oven and let it COOL COMPLETELY before breaking it into small pieces and storing...  or shoving it into your mouth by the handful.

Seriously, keep your tongue away and your children away from the caramel until it has cooled completely.  You can get seriously burnt from heated sugar/caramel.

Edited to note (shamefully), as I finish writing up this short post, this is what is left in the jar.


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