Buttery Caramel Corn

Hey!  Did you know it's Administrative Professionals Appreciation Week?  I guess they celebrate for a whole week and then there is also a special day assigned to celebrating too!  For our Ladies of the Office, Nick and I whipped up a quick batch of Buttery Caramel Corn; it's a variation of my Halloween Crackerjack - a few tweaks and turned out sooo delish!  Try it for your next kid's party too!

Buttery Caramel Corn
Ingredients:
8-10 cups popped popcorn*
1 cup butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
non-stick cooking spray for cookie sheets

Method:
Preheat ovent to 200 degrees.  In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add brown sugar, syrup and salt.  Bring to a light boil, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Add baking soda and stir.  This will fizz, so don't be alarmed - it's normal.  Add the vanilla and again be prepared for a mini-eruption.  Pour the caramel mixture into the corn/peanut mixture and toss to coat evenly.

Lightly coat 2 cookie sheets with non-stick spray.  Press the popcorn equally between two cookie sheets. Shove in the oven and stir every 10 mins. Do this for about 30 - 40 minutes.

Let cool on racks COMPLETELY before packaging.  I divided mine into clear cello-bags and then put into cute little popcorn containers that I found at Winners.  I stuck old-timey candy sticks in the packages and topped with ribbon - super cute!!

*if you made the Halloween Crackerjack, you'll notice that I'm using LESS popcorn in this recipe - that's because I wanted the corn to be coated with more of the caramel sauce.  This is definitely a recipe for people that like SWEET - tastes exactly like Kernels Double Hit (maybe better!)