CARAMEL CORN

CARAMEL CORN
by: Anna McElligott

3 bags of PLAIN microwave popcorn (popped)

2 cups packed brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter or margarine
1/2 cup white corn syrup
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda

pecans (optional)

Put popped popcorn in large enough container to mix it up in. Spray pan with Pam.
Combine in saucepan the brown sugar, butter/margarine, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for no longer than 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir in the 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. baking soda. It will foam up when you do that.
Pour over popcorn and stir it up to blend. You can add your nuts here.
Bake in a preheated oven at 250F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. (This is important to get the caramel coating over all the popcorn).
When you remove it from the oven, you will need to stir it up every minute until it's cool (it only takes about 5 minutes or so to cool). This will keep the popcorn separated and independent of each other.
Store in airtight container. It lasts for a couple of weeks (unless it's eaten, of course).