Caramel Corn and Olympic Opening Ceremonies

This week, my six year old boys, Abe and Cal, and I are visiting my family in Wooster, Ohio.  Like Wyoming, Wooster has a super fine arts center where Abe and Cal were able to attend “Olympic Camp” this week.  They have been learning lots of great stuff about the Olympics and are eagerly anticipating watching the Opening Ceremonies this Friday, July 27th, at 7:30 P.M. To make the night a little more special, we are planning on making some caramel corn to have for dessert that evening and eat it while we watch the ceremonies together.  I’ve had great luck with the following caramel corn recipe, if you would like to give it a try.  You’ll need about an hour and half to make this recipe.  You can make it the day before, but every time I have tried, we ate it all that same day!

Caramel Corn Recipe

• 1/2 cup of butter
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t vanilla
• 5 quarts of popped popcorn

Preheat your oven to 250.  Line two jelly roll pans, or some kind of pan with edges with non-stick foil.  Pop your popcorn and place evenly in the pans.  Place in the oven to keep warm while you make the topping.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Stir in the brown sugar, the corn syrup, and the salt.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Then, let boil for four minutes without stirring.  Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and the vanilla.  Take the popcorn out of the oven and pour the caramel topping in a “thinish” stream over the popcorn.  Using a silicone scraper, mix the popcorn until coated.  Place back into the oven and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.  You may want to rotate the baking trays, too.  After 45 minutes, let cool, break into pieces and serve!  I’m not really sure how many this will serve; our family tends to eat it all in one sitting. 🙂