Handmade Holidays: Caramel Nut Popcorn

by guest contributor Kaye Prince

Since the holidays can be expensive and many people appreciate some handmade love, why not bake a little something for holiday gifts this year? This Caramel Nut Popcorn is easy, relatively inexpensive, and can be doubled in a snap for multiple holiday gifts! Package your popcorn up prettily in a mason jar and get creative with some fabric, ribbon, cute labels, and other trims to make a gift that is as unique as it is tasty! One batch of this Caramel Nut Popcorn will make three to four tasty gifts depending on the size of your mason jars.

Caramel Nut Popcorn

Ingredients:

­6 cups popped popcorn (this is about ½ cup unpopped depending on the brand you’re using)
1 cup mixed nuts
1/3 cup salted butter
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250̊ F
2. Pop your popcorn on the stove according to the manufacturer’s directions. Mix in the nuts and set aside.
3. In a medium, heavy bottomed sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, stir in sugar and corn syrup; continue stirring constantly and bring mixture to a boil. Once it begins to boil, stop stirring and allow to boil untouched for 5 minutes.
4. Remove mixture from heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.
5. Pour over the popcorn and nuts in the pot and toss to coat. Don’t worry if you can’t coat everything completely at this stage, as the sugars are beginning to cool and harden, because you’ll have a chance to do it again later.
6. Pour mixture onto a large, low-rimmed baking sheet and bake in oven for 30 minutes. Stir the mixture in the oven every 5-10 minutes – because the sugars are hot again, this will give you a chance to evenly coat everything. Be sure to mix in any of the caramel mixture that has seeped to the bottom of the pan.
7. Once baked, turn the popcorn out onto a large piece of waxed paper and allow to cool. Break apart and store in an airtight container.

About the contributor: Kaye Prince is a graduate student, library assistant, quilt designer, and President of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild. She lives in Toronto, Ontario Canada with her partner-in-crime, Alex, and an extensive fabric collection. You can read her blog miss-print.blogspot.com & keep up with her on Twitter.