This Reminds Me

Archive for December 15th, 2007

To me – homemade crunchy, buttery, semi-salty caramel corn means Christmas.  I’ve been making this recipe for more than 25 years.  It’s easy but….I take no shortcuts.  The ingredients are too expensive and my time is too valuable to waste on half-hearted Fiddle Faddle’ness.  Start to finish – about four hours.  And oh-so-worth-it.

The 25+-year old recipe, copied from a package of popcorn, scribed in my own clear hand on one of my mom’s recipe cards.  Deciphered:  1 c. (2 sticks) butter      2 c. brown sugar    1/2 c. corn syrup   1. tsp. salt      Boil for 5 minutes.  Stir in after (boiling):  1/2 tsp. baking soda & 1 tsp. vanilla.  Pour over 6 qts. popped corn.  Bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Now that’s real butter – not any weirdness like “light margarine.”  And air popped corn, not microwave popcorn or (shudder) pre-popped corn or any of those obscenities.  Light Karo and light brown sugar  - I used dark Karo and dark brown sugar once and the corn just wasn’t as good.  Premium nuts – I use pecans, walnuts, filberts (my faves), cashews and macademia nuts – none of them salted.  Though if you must buy them salted, rinse them quickly in a colander and bake at 250 until completely, thoroughly dry.  One of the few grocery items to which I am brand loyal is Imperial Sugar – but if it’s not available, a lesser brand will probably do fine (sigh.)  Just don’t tell me.

My wonderful husband bought me this gynormous bowl when we were still in Houston.  It’s used once a year - for caramel corn.  It won’t fit in the sink for washing, so I sort of stand back and spray it with the wand, and then hit it hard with dish towels.  Air pop (no oil!) all your corn before mixing in nuts, so you can remove all the unpopped kernels easily.  A good shake sends them to the bottom of the bowl.  Have your popcorn ready before starting your caramel.  And don’t let your popcorn sit out longer than necessary – it’s absorbing water, doncha know, and growing stale.

A designated Caramel Assistant is quite handy.  Stirring constantly means no scorching.  I always make 4x, 5x or 6x the recipe.  For every x after 3, I add one minute of boiling.  Last night, we made a 5x recipe, so, instead of boiling 5 minutes, we boiled the caramel 7 minutes.  Perhaps not scientific, but, it works.  Boil in a pot bigger than you think you need, because when you add the baking soda and vanilla, it’s going to froth.  The caramel should be a few shades of brown, and smell rich and sugary.  Resist the urge to taste – your finger and/or tongue will sizzle.

Pour the caramel over the corn – not all in the middle, but around in a target’ish shape.  Then stir from the bottom up, breaking as few kernels as possible.  Taste-testers (especially seven-year-old ones) typically begin appearing at this point.

Spread the corn on cookie sheets and bake at 250 – that’s two five oh!  I know everything else in the world is baked at higher temperatures, but trust me – 250 is right for caramel corn.  Remove from the oven and stir every 15 minutes.  For every recipe quantity I make above 3X, I add 10 minutes.  So, for the 5X batch last night, we baked it 80 minutes instead of 60 – and stirred every 20 minutes instead of 15.

Here’s the tricky part – packaging.  You can’t package it hot.  As it cools, the steam will condense and run back onto the corn, ruining it.  And you can’t just let it sit out for hours either, because it should be crisp, and it’ll go stale in a hurry.  So….what you do is package it in stages.  Use your hands and get the top layer of corn scooped off the cookie sheet and into a colander, which allows for quicker cooling.  Line containers with plastic wrap (be generous with it!) and as the corn cools, put a bit in each container.  Keep doing that – basically layering –  checking frequently to ensure there’s no residual heat in the containers.  When your container if filled with corn that you’re sure is room temp (or really close to it), bring up the plastic sides of the plastic wrap – layer neatly – and seal.

By now, your family will have taste-tested multiple handfuls and – sensing that clean-up will soon begin - will scurry away.  Which means you get the last bits of still-soft’ish caramel clinging to the sides of the boiling pot.  Ummmm – Merry Christmas!