Candy Popcorn and Popcorn Balls

Hey All! Hope you had a lovely Friday night. We had a nice night here. And I should add, it was rather tasty too.  : ) Yesterday I took an afternoon break on the couch with a cup of tea and the Food Network. I was watching Ricardo and Friends and he was making all kinds of crunchy snack foods, but the one that really caught my eye and my taste buds was caramel popcorn. So I had to make a trip to Safeway for some popcorn, I'm talking about the kernel kind, not microwave.

After dinner I got to work popping the popcorn. Of course I was soo excited I didn't actually take any pics of the cooking process, so you'll just have to imagine it. Sorry! For the popcorn I used a giant heavy bottomed 8 qt. pot. First I added about 1/4 cup canola oil, 3 kernels, covered with the lid and turned the stove on to just past medium. (On my stove it's on 7.) After all 3 kernels popped then I added 1/2 cup kernels and covered again. Once it started popping I shook the pot back and fourth on the burner, like you would do with Jiffy-Pop. You know it's done when there's hardly any popping sounds. Then I poured the popcorn into a large bowl, making sure the un-popped kernels didn't get in with the rest.

Now came cooking the caramel. The ingredients are:

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 tbs. water

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tbs. butter

I put the first four ingredients into a heave bottomed saucepan over medium high heat. Then I waited for it to get all bubbly. Once it did I gently swished it around in the pot. I let it gently boil for maybe 10 minutes, swishing occasionally, until it started turning a light caramel color. This is where my original idea of caramel popcorn turned into candy popcorn. I was soo worried the sugar would burn I took it off the heat at the first hint of any color and stirred in the butter. Then I poured it over the popcorn and mixed. I made 9 popcorn balls and a just broke up the rest to make candy popcorn. 

So although I intended to make caramel corn there were no complaints when I set these on the coffee table. It was soo good! The girls, Mr. CC and I gobbled it down. I'll be making this again and next time I think I'll add a couple drops of food coloring. Bet the kids would love some pink or purple popcorn.  : )  Today I may try the caramel corn again. If I do I'll definitely be sure to take pictures while I'm making it! 

Give this popcorn a try. It's great for movie night!! Happy Saturday.