Homemade Caramel Corn

     I know that I get very excited about many of these recipes, but honestly, I have two all-time favorite ones. One is a cheesecake that I will post sometime in the near future and the other is this caramel corn. It's a thousand times better than any hard and crunchy caramel corn you can get out of a can. It's warm and sweet and sticky and just wonderful. When I was little, I used to beg my mom to make this all the time, and when I went to college, I finally learned how to make it myself. Trust me, if you take this to a movie night, everyone will love you. I will shamelessly admit that over the years, I have eaten this stuff for every meal of the day, not that I'm advocating that. But it is that good. If you make it late at night, it's really tempting to snack on the leftovers with breakfast the next day. One last thing, I thought long and hard about posting this recipe because it was once my best-kept secret, but I decided that you guys deserve it. So go try it out and make me proud!

INGREDIENTS:
1 bag of microwave popcorn
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
wax paper

DIRECTIONS:
1. Microwave the popcorn. It's even more important than usual to make sure to pop as many kernels as possible but not burn any.
2. Honestly, I'm usually much too impatient to do this, but It's important to remove any unpopped kernels. Do this by slowly emptying the popcorn bag into a bowl and sifting through it.
3. Put the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a fairly large pot, and let it all melt together over medium-low heat.

4. When the color becomes consistent, turn the heat up closer to medium. Keep stirring the caramel throughout the whole process.

5. Keep stirring, and let the caramel get really bubbly. The texture will then change and become fluffier because of the air bubbles. Let the entire surface area bubble rapidly for a minute, then turn off the heat. The entire boiling process probably takes about 7 minutes, give or take. If you make this a few times, you'll develop a feel for it.

6. When the fire is off, add the popcorn to the pot and stir very gently to coat all of the popcorn. You may have extra caramel left at the bottom of the pot, but it's better to leave it than to end up with popcorn that's too wet.
7. I recommend eating it ASAP because it's really best when it's still hot and sticky. So that it doesn't all clump together and dry that way, spread it out to cool on a sheet of wax paper. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

     Just a few final notes: First, this caramel corn is not supposed to be crunchy, so just be aware of that. Also, you can dress it up by adding a little salt and maybe some nuts if you want to. I just don't because I'm a purist. So try it, love it, and come back tomorrow to see the results of my latest culinary experiment!