Salted Caramel Corn

I stole this recipe from a friend's blog.  Miss P and I made it for a tea party she was invited to.  Great treat for little kids and BIG kids too!

Pop 6 cups popcorn, can be air popped or microwavable {if it is microwaveable popcorn, should be consumed within 12 hours...I'm sure this won't be an issue!}

Combine in microwaveable bowl for 3 minutes on high {until bubbling}
1/2 cup butter {1 cube}
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup {or honey would do fine too}

Add below ingredients to above ingredients once boiled -- let that bubble away and DO NOT try and taste it, you'll be sorry ;)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda

Ensure your popcorn is in a HUGE bowl and pour caramel over popcorn, mix well then once it's almost set I take my sea salt {aprox. 1 tsp}and sprinkle a light dusting...this turns a relatively sweet snack into the perfect combination of salty&sweet!

if you would like it to be less chewy put on a cookie sheet and place in oven @ 200 F for 1 hour.

Caramel Popcorn Surprise

Adapted from Heather Cristo Cooks

Ingredients:

8-10 cups of air popped popcorn (or 1 bag of microwaved popcorn)

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

½ cup corn syrup

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup M&Ms

1 cup white chocolate chips

sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Spread the popcorn out on a sheet pan fitted with parchment paper.

Combine the vanilla and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a medium pot, add the butter, sugar, corn syrup and salt and heat them over medium heat. Cook and stir until everything is melted and bubbling. After mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring and let cook for another 4 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat, add the vanilla and stir until well combined. Immediately pour the caramel onto the popcorn. Stir well with a heatproof spatula.

Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.

When you remove the pan from the oven, immediately sprinkle the M&Ms over the popcorn.

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave and use a fork to drizzle it over the popcorn and M&Ms.

While the chocolate is soft, sprinkle everything with pastel sprinkles.

Let the popcorn and chocolate set up and cool. Break the popcorn into chunks and serve.