Caramel Corn

Last year for Christmas Jace and Andrea bought us a Whirly Pop from Crate and Barell. I use it all of the time. Soooo much better for you than the microwave stuff. Its a lot of fun to create custom seasonings and flavors and it tasted a million times better. Last night I thought I would try a sweet version so I decided to make caramel corn. I started by popping 2 cups of kernels. I always save my large paper brown Trader Joes bags, so when I was done I emptied the Whirly Pop into a bag. On the stove I brought to a boil: 2 sticks of butter, 2 cups of brown sugar, and a 1/2 C light corn syrup. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1t of vanilla and 1/2t of baking soda. Pour mixture over popped popcorn. Then shake, shake, shake! Pour onto a couple of pans and throw in the oven at 225 for 1 hour. You should take it out and stir once every 15 minutes. Trust me- it is totally worth it. Once you remove from the oven spread it out on wax paper to dry.