Candy Bar Caramel Corn

I know I've said before how I love homemade caramel corn. This time around it's been taken to a whole new level! Caramel corn with candy bar chunks then drizzled with white and semi sweet chocolate...addicting! My dad can atest to that, he LOVED it!

Crunchy Candy Bar Caramel Corn www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com Time: 30 minutes + 15 minutes to set up Yield: One large jelly roll pan full Recipe adapted from Your Homebased Mom 16 C popped popcorn (1/2 C unpopped) 1 C brown sugar 1/4 C corn syrup 1/2 C butter 1/2 t baking soda 1 t vanilla 15 fun sized candy bars (I used twix, milky way and 1000 Grands) 1 C white chocolate chips 1/2 C semi sweet chocolate chips 1 t shortening 1. Pop 6 cups of popcorn. 2. In a medium sized glass bowl, or large glass measuring cup, place the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Heat it in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Repeat this step four more times. Heat and stir... Heat and stir... Heat and stir... and a final "heat and stir". It should be very bubbly and hot at this point. 3. Add the baking soda, vanilla and a dash of salt. 4. Pour the popcorn into a large brown paper grocery sack. 5. Pour the caramel right into the bag on top of the popcorn. Stir it around with a wooden spoon. 6. Fold the bag over and place it in the microwave, heat for 1 minute. Take the bag out of the microwave and shake it....shake it.....shake it. 7. Return the bag to the microwave and heat it for an additional 30 second, then shake it again. 8. Pour the caramel corn out onto a large jelly roll pan, lined with parchment paper. 9. Chop up the candy bars and lay them out over the caramel corn. 10. Heat the white chocolate chips in the microwave, for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating interval. Don't let the chocolate get too hot. Add 1/2 t shortening to the melted chocolate and stir to combine. 11. Drizzle the white chocolate over the top of the caramel corn and candy bars. 12. Melt the semi sweet chocolate just like you melted the white chocolate. Drizzle it over the caramel corn. 13. Let the chocolate set up (you can pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes to hurry along the process). Break it up into chunks and serve. Store any leftovers in an air tight container. Enjoy! Comments _displayNameOrEmail_ - _time_ - Remove _text_

Rocky Road Popcorn

I'm a bit behind on a few new posts that have been patiently waiting for me to finally finish them from all the craziness these last two weeks.....time to play catch up ;)

I'm a huge fan of popcorn. Caramel corn. Cheddar Cheese. White cheddar. Loaded with butter. Or just plain stove top with salt.  Should I go on? I am obsessed with the homemade caramel corn I made last winter, found here. I've been looking forward to trying something new that you can't go buy at the store. Plus homemade is always better! This Rocky Road popcorn is the best of both worlds, salty 'n sweet and it's just as addicting at the caramel corn is.    

 Rocky road popcorn

Adapted from recipes by “Mouse Potato” and foodchannel.com

• 1 cup popping corn, popped
• 1 to 2 cups almonds (I used peanuts)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter
• ¼ cup light corn syrup
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2½ cups miniature marshmallows, divided
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 250˚F. Spread popped popcorn on a greased baking sheet, and sprinkle with the almonds.
2. In a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt, and stir constantly until the mixture begins to boil.
3. Stop stirring and let the mixture boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. Add 1½ cups of the marshmallows and stir until melted. Stir in vanilla. Pour marshmallow mixture over popcorn mixture; stir until well coated.
5. Bake popcorn and nuts for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove popcorn from oven and let cool.
6. Put chocolate chips into a large heatproof bowl set over, but not touching, a pot of simmering water, and stir until melted.
7. Add a few scoops of popcorn and nuts to the bowl of melted chocolate, and stir until coated. Then add a couple more scoops, and stir some more. Repeat until about half the batch of popcorn is coated in chocolate.
8. Pluck the popcorn pieces from the chocolate with tongs and spread them out on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of marshmallows over the chocolate-coated popcorn, and let cool.
9. When the chocolate has hardened, mix the chocolate-marshmallow-coated popcorn with the rest of the candied popcorn in a large bowl for serving. Store in an airtight container.

Caramel Corn Time

It's been many many years since I've made caramel corn and I'm 98% sure this was my first time making it all by myself. Every year my father-in-law plants sweat corn in our enormous garden. This past year along with the sweat corn, he planted popcorn! I've actually had a few people quite surprised by the fact that we actually plant and grow popcorn, I had "I didn't know you actually grow popcorn like regular corn" (it just doesn't appear in bags at the grocery store people! haha). It takes extra time and care to get it from the field to popcorn kernels. Luckily I have an awesome father-in-law who did all the dirty work for me and gave me the end product, a huge bag of popcorn kernels AND an old fashion popcorn popper...


Get a load of this beauty!! A hand crank (yes you actually have to do some manual labor). As a child anytime we made our own popcorn on the stove it was usually just in a pot on the stove which easily burned if you weren't careful. This was my first time using this baby. I was told to just throw a handful of kernels in there, apparently my first idea of a handful was extremely overdone. Take One: I put a cup of kernels (a cups a handful right?!) and as popcorn started popping through the top, it was still popping! Only about half actually got a chance to pop before I had to start dumping it out. Take Two: Let's try a 1/2 cup....success! Hardly any left over kernels! Yeah me!


For those of you who are completely oblivious to making popcorn other than opening a box and throwing a bag in the microwave, it's really quite simple. All you have to do is add a little oil to the pan to coat the bottom, add the kernels but not to much, and heat on med-low until the oil starts boiling and the kernels begin to pop. But remember to constantly move the pot so it doesn't stick to the bottom and burn and DO NOT open the lid to that a peek!! You will no doubt get splattered by hot oil or get hit my a flying popcorn kernel, trust me :) Then pour the popped corn into a bowl and all I do is sprinkle with kosher salt, that's really all it needs and it is amazingly good! You should try it!


Now on to this sweet snack food called caramel corn...

My Amish Friend's Caramel Corn
Source: Allrecipes.com

• 7 quarts plain popped popcorn
• 2 cups dry roasted peanuts, optional
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Place the popped popcorn into two shallow grease baking pans. You can use roasting pans, jelly roll pans, or disposable roasting pans. Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly
3. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans ans stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting the corn coated.
4. Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans from the oven and giving each a good stir every 15 minutes. Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, the store in airtight containers or resealable bags.
   

This stuff is good ad definitely lives up to it's over 600 reviews!