Bacon Flavored Caramel Corn

Friends of mine wanted to give me a food related present for Christmas. But, they didn't want to give me just anything, they wanted it to be the weirdest thing they could find. What they found was Torani Bacon Flavored Syrup. Now, not sure that was all that weird, but it is a bit unusual. (Maybe I should have a poll to name the weirdest thing in my pantry). I was thrilled. One thing that I thought it would be spectacular in was caramel corn. Go for that sweet, salty, crunchy combo.

I looked for the best method for popping corn I could find. I found this recipe on the Simply Recipes  website. I was really pleased with this approach. It leaves very few unpopped kernels. I made four batches, each recipe makes about two quarts. Wipe out the pot carefully with a paper towel between batches.

The caramel corn is adapted from this recipe by Paula Deen. I replace the light corn syrup with the bacon syrup.

Recipes

Perfect Popcorn

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/3 cup popcorn kernels

Heat oil in a three quart sauce pan over medium-high heat. Place 3 or 4 kernels in pot, and cover. When kernels pop, remove pan from heat, add rest of popcorn kernels, cover pan. Let stand 30 seconds. Return to heat. When popcorn just finishes popping, remove from heat, pour into a bowl. Makes about two quarts.

Bacon Flavored Caramel Corn

8 quarts popcorn
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup bacon flavored syrup
1 tsp. baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees
Place popcorn in a large roasting pan.

In a three quart sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, salt, and syrup. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer. Let boil for five minutes. Remove from heat, add baking soda. Caramel will foam up. Pour caramel over popcorn. Stir thoroughly. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread out on wax paper to cool. Store in air tight container. If caramel corn softens, re-heat in 200 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Happy Eating!