Last Updated on October 24, 2024 by Michelle
The best thing to do with popcorn? Air pop it and cover it with your family’s favorite topping, of course. For our family, that means homemade Carmel Popcorn. We made a batch yesterday, and it’s all gone today.
This popcorn recipe has been a staple in our family since my daughters were little. I remember I would have to mix it up when they were napping. I couldn’t handle any distractions, or it would be a complete fail. Of course today having their multiple sets of teen hands available for stirring comes in extra handy when it’s time to coat the popcorn in the warm caramel.
As we dove into making one of our favorite decadent snacks yesterday, I realized I should share the recipe with my readers… scroll below the recipe if you’d like to see the new excitements on the farm.
Would you like to know what items I couldn’t live without in our farmhouse kitchen? There are bound to be a few items that will transform your own kitchen!
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This week
We’ve been enjoying some busy weeks around the homestead, filled with first-cut hay gathering, hanging a new (very old) door for our laundry room, tending to the garden, and counting down the weeks until Scout’s calf is due. (She’s due to calf in exactly a month.)
Lilac syrup and other blooms
While our lilac blooms were all spent a few weeks ago (read here for how I make amazingly easy and oh-so-yummy lilac syrup from a a handful of lilac blooms), this week the irises are at the height of their beauty, as are the dandelions. And yes, you read that right. Read here if you’d like to know why I happen to think dandelions are beautiful. Then you might wanna check out these 12 amazing facts you should know about the beautiful iris flower.
Ruffled feathers
The baby chicks no longer look like babies and have learned to fend for themselves around the farm. I took this video of them around the water bowl this morning when a duck decided she wanted an early bath. Eagle, our broody hen whom we successfully convinced to adopt chicks last month, taught her babies well. The chicks are “on their own” now, free ranging around the homestead, which of course means I do need to watch out for any dangers our rooster might pose to them. (I explained in a post last summer all about the huge mistake I made with our rooster and how my mistake devastatingly posed a huge danger to our young hens.) By the way, Eagle shows up about half way through this video, then walks away at the end. You’ll see that she totally let her babies fend for themselves with the boisterous bathing duck.
A barn cat in training
We added a new barn cat to the farm this week too, whom we have christened Theodore Lawrence (aka “Teddy”). He is quickly learning to reign supreme over the fields and woodlands. Yet he had no idea what to do with the first mouse he met. We hope that he soon learns what his job description as “barn cat” entails.
I hope things are beautiful in your neck of the woods today. And if you’re in the mood for the best popcorn ever, definitely whip up a batch of this decadent Caramel Popcorn.
Homemade caramel popcorn
Ingredients
- 12 quarts plain popcorn we fill a 8 liter bowl with air-popped popcorn
- 2 cups butter
- 2 pounds packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup corn syrup we use both light and dark depending on what hint of flavors we're in the mood for (or what we have on hand)
- 1/2 cup molasses
Instructions
- If you use an air-popped popcorn popper, keep filling it with kernels until you have a large, almost-8-liter bowl filled.
- Divide the popcorn into about 4 or 5 large bowls and have 4 or 5 sets of willing, stirring hands on call, if possible
- Bring the other ingredients to a boil over medium heat and keep the pan at a medium boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Quickly pour the caramel evenly over the 4 or 5 bowls of waiting popcorn, and ask eager, waiting helpers to quickly stir each bowl, being sure to evenly coat all the popcorn as best as possible with the caramel.
- After spreading coated popcorn onto 2 roasting pans, bake it at 250 for 1 hour.
- Break it apart when it's still warm, right out of the oven.
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Too bad I’m cutting back on the sugar. I love caramel corn! Looks like it makes a nice big batch too. My family loves it, but can’t eat too much because it’s so sweet…that, however, never deterred me from eating an entire batch!
I totally get cutting back on sugar, Danielle… and I should be better at it… but over the years I’ve done a lot of “replacing” of the bad, processed sugar with the all-natural options of honey and maple sugar. Still need to use even all-natural sugars in moderation though… I’ve never been so good at the moderation. My saving grace with sugar too is that 10 years ago I cut out all sugar in all drinks. (Well, I have to confess, I do LOVE my teaspoon full of maple sugar in my morning cup of tea some mornings.) Thanks for stopping by, Danielle! (I promise, most posts aren’t quite so decadent.)
That sounds like a wonderful treat! I’ve never tried to make caramel corn before. I may have to try this soon.
Oh you definitely should, Michelle. Your family will thank me. 🙂
Oh my!! That sounds so delicious! Can’t wait to try it.
Wow – I’ve never tried it with molasses! I will share on my hospitality fb page – your photos are lovely!
Nice to “meet” you Sue! And please, share away…this caramel popcorn is to amazingly yummy (and easy to make) to not share the recipe from the rooftops! 🙂
We love making popcorn although we haven’t done it for a while. My favorite recipe is just garam masala and some seasoning salt. Maybe we’ll have to make it as a treat this weekend. Thanks for sharing on the #WasteLessWednesday blog hop!