How To Make Grandma Bassler’s Caramel Popcorn

Today’s caramel corn treat comes from Mary. Let’s all say “Hi” to Mary.

Hi, Mary!

Awesome, thanks.

Now over to Mary for …

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My Grandma Bassler’s Caramel Popcorn

Everyone that has had it loves it!

Ingredients

5 to 6 quarts of popped corn
Cup of nuts – pecans, peanuts, almonds, whatever you like, or it’s optional
2 sticks of butter
2 cups brown sugar
½Â cup white Karo (corn) syrup, you could use Agave if you want
¼ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 Teaspoon baking soda

Directions

Put butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and cream of tarter in a medium to large sauce pan and bring to a boil on medium heat.  Boil for 5 minutes.

Pour the popped corn and nuts (if using) in a large pan, I used a large aluminum roasting pan.

After the 5 minutes of boiling, remove the caramel from the heat and add 1 teaspoon of baking soda. It is very important to remove it from the heat before adding the baking soda, because it will foam up out of the pan if you don’t!  Stir the soda into the caramel.

Pour over the popped corn and stir to coat.

Bake at  225 degrees for 1 hour, stirring twice.  Remove from oven and turn out onto a large dish towel.  Cover with another towel to cool.  Break into pieces and enjoy!

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Drew again. Regular readers will know I generally avoid corn syrup whenever I can. But this is candy, and candy is a sometimes treat. The corn syrup isn’t just a filler, it’s actually a major part of the texture.

I’ve seen a few recipes for caramel corn that didn’t have corn syrup, but everyone I’ve talked to who made it says it’s a bit more chewy than the corn syrup recipe.

How about you? Has anyone made caramel corn without corn syrup, and the texture was the same as with corn syrup?


Coming up this week, I’ve got two versions of scones for you. Stay tuned, they’re easier than you think.