I've been looking for a Caramel Popcorn recipe and finally asked Aunt Becky for hers. She gave me some great tips too. Most recipes recommend baking for 1 hour. Aunt Becky suggested 45 minutes so the sugar doesn't have a burned taste. She bakes hers in a couple of blue roasters. I found this less messy than using cookie sheets. However, I used parchment paper on the cookie sheets with no sticking. I didn't treat the roasters and ended up with caramel stuck all over the pan.
Ingredients:
2 gallons prepared popcorn in large bowl
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup Karo syrup
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups peanuts or almonds, optional
a pinch of love
Preheat oven at 250. In a large saucepan heat the brown sugar, butter and Karo, stirring constantly. Bring to a full boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda, (soda will cause caramel to foam up slightly) vanilla and nuts (optional). Drizzle over popcorn while mixing gently until all popcorn is coated.
Place in 2 blue roasters sprayed with Pam or 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and break up popcorn quickly before in cools into a large chunk!