Caramel Popcorn Recipe

This caramel popcorn recipe is now at least on it’s third generation.  My Auntie Rose (my Grandma’s sister-in-law) gave it to my Grandma over the telephone.  Grandma wrote it on the back of a newspaper advertisement that was dated 1988.  I have this piece of paper tucked safely in my collection.  This is the third year Phil and I have made it, and it proves to be popular with everyone who tries it.

Homemade caramel popcorn

We made a batch of it on Thursday, and I had hoped to use half of it to take with us to the Japan Society of Northern Ireland’s Christmas party, and use the other half as gifts…but it looks like we’ll have to make another batch to use as gifts as there now isn’t enough to use even for an ‘after” photo!

This recipe isn’t difficult, but it does take some time to make…but it is worth every minute!  Just be careful with the caramel sauce and the oven trays as they will obviously become very hot.  So for this recipe the children didn’t participate as much as usual, but they did enjoy watching from the kitchen table and of course, they enjoyed having a taste of it when it had cooled down!

Caramel Popcorn Ingredients

• 1 C popcorn kernels, popped (you can safely use at least twice this amount)
• 1 C butter or margarine
• 2 C brown sugar
• ½ C Corn syrup (golden syrup)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp baking soda

How To Make Caramel Popcorn

1)       Have popcorn popped and ready in large pan/cookie sheets, etc

 2)       Mix the next 4 ingredients in a heavy saucepan  

3)       Heat and stir until boiling  4)       Boil without stirring for 5 mins  

5)       Stir in vanilla and soda, the mixture will rise up quite a bit at this point  

6)       Pour over popcorn  

7)      Mix well with wooden spoons until all pieces are coated  9)       Bake in 250F/130C oven for 1 hour (stirring every 15 minutes), taking care it doesn’t get too dark.

 10)    Take out and cool completely  

11)    Break apart and put in plastic bags and freeze, if it lasts that long!  It will also keep well for a week or longer in an air-tight container.Tristan liked this so much he didn’t want me to give any of it away to share!  He said it was too good, we should have it all! Phil also ‘complained’ when he saw me bagging it up for gifts.  What is your opinion? You could also use nuts or honeycomb in this recipe, which I’m sure would be amazing, but at the moment we are still nut-free in our home, but this tastes great just as it is, so why mess with a good thing?

If you’re in the mood for some delicious treats, try our ginger cookies, macaroons or thimble cookies.  You’ll love them!