Nutty Caramel Popcorn

Sometimes you want something that's sweet and crunchy at the same time. Sometimes you want a sweet with a hint of umami in the background. Sometimes you want a big bowl of snack-y stuff that you can nibble on while watching a movie. This recipe is all of that.

The caramel corn part of this recipe isn't mine.  It comes from Paula Deen via Gluesticks blog. I just changed the quanities a bit and added in lots of nuts.  

I used peanuts and cashews because that's what I had on hand and the combination proved surprisingly good.  You can, of course, add whichever nuts you prefer.  If you want your mixture to be more salty, you could even add a commercially made mixture of salted mixed nuts.

To make this recipe, you'll need

• About 5 quarts of popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup unpopped kernels, popped)
• 2 cups each raw, unsalted peanuts and cashews
• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups golden sugar (light coloured brown sugar)
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Pop the popcorn kernels in an air popper and pour them into a large roasting pan. I use the bottom half of the roaster I cook my turkey in.

Add the nuts to the popcorn in the roasting pan.

Combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in a medium saucepan.  Heat the mixture over medium-high heat. When it comes to a full boil, set a kitchen timer for 5 minutes and continue to boil the mixture, stirring constantly.

At 5 minutes, remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the baking soda.

Pour the caramel over the popped corn and nuts. Stir it gently to coat them evenly.

Bake the caramel corn at 200F for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Turn the entire batch out onto a sheet of kitchen parchment and let it cool.

Snack away!

If you don't eat the whole lot at once, store the leftovers in an airtight container and use it up within a couple of days.