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My tremendously supportive husband & I have 3 wonderful children, 1 dog, 12 laying hens, 2 dairy goats, 3 bee hives, and a 2000 sq foot vegetable garden on a small 1/4 acre lot in the city. In the center of it all is our small 1,000 sq foot house purchased in 2008 as a foreclosure that we fully renovated to host our growing family, home school adventures, and small home business (CozyLeaf.com). We have a desire to learn a path to self sufficiency finding ways to be good stewards of the resources God has given us. We want to learn to live with less as we laydown roots to our little homestead.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Homemade Caramel Corn Recipe without corn syrup


We sure love popcorn! Its an inexpensive and easy snack. I prefer to buy popcorn kernels in bulk and a big package of brown paper sacks and make my own microwaveable popcorn. Its so easy! I also love caramel corn...but its quite disturbing to see all the corn syrup and preservatives that are in store bought caramel corn and even a lot of homemade caramel corn recipes. So, I figured there had to be a way to make it without corn syrup! I searched around and combined a few recipes and ended up very delighted with the outcome! Caramel Corn without corn syrup! It is so delicious! I drizzled a little melted chocolate over the top and it added that extra touch of "love". 


Caramel Corn: Makes 1 Yummy Gallon!!
1 gallon of popped popcorn (no need for added butter or oil, just pop the kernels "dry"
1 cup peanuts (optional)
1  cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

Step 1: Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Step 2: Pop a gallon of popcorn
Step 3: Put your popped popcorn and optional 1 cup of peanuts in a large bowl
Step 4: In a saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, water and salt and bring it to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes until it reaches "soft ball stage" (basically just till it starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon).
Step 5: Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda (Do this quick cause it will bubble and puff up).
Step 6: Pour it over your popped popcorn and peanuts and toss it till all the popcorn is coated with the yummy sugar! 
Step 7: Line 1 cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread your caramel corn out onto the sheet.
Step 8: Bake for 45 minutes stirring several times during baking.
Step 9: (While your caramel corn is baking) In a double boiler, melt some chocolate (optional)
Step 10: Pull out your caramel corn and drizzle the melted chocolate generously over your caramel corn. 
Step 11: Let it cool and then watch out cause it will go quickly!!


This would be a great gift idea to package up for any holiday or birthday! It would also work great as little party favors or just a big batch for family movie night! It filled a gallon jar with delicious caramel corn without all the added corn syrup and preservatives. I will definitely make a double batch next time because it was a huge hit and didn't last long!


15 comments:

  1. So happy to find this. I had a very hard time finding a recipe that didn't contain corn syrup! So excited to try this. Thank you!

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  2. This receipe sound so yummy and its very simple to make. Hey you can also check out my blog http://taketimeandsmelltheroses.blogspot.com

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  3. Very cool ...I'm using this for an all saints day party ;)

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    1. Excellent! Let me know how it turns out for ya :)

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  4. This caramel corn is amazing! I am definitely making some to give away this Christmas :) Thanks for the recipe!

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  5. Oh. My. Goodness. Amazing! I think that about sums it up. Yupp.

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  6. This looks like a great recipe but it looks like a lot of salt.
    What is the purpose of so much salt?
    If I cut it down to 1/4 tsp do you know what effect it will have on the recipe?
    Chris

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    1. If you are trying to watch your salt intake then I think 1/4 tsp would be perfectly fine. I haven't ever made it any differently than my recipe, but I say go for it :) Let us know what ya think

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  7. I tried another "no corn syrup" recipe last week and was disappointed that it wasn't crunchy. This recipe has a lot of crunch! I recommend cutting the salt down a bit, but it hasn't slowed me down from snacking on it. Good easy recipe.

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  8. Great recipe, but can I use granulate sugar? I did it with brown sugar. Amazing.

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