Karmel Korn, or Darlene's Most Luxuriant Caramel Popcorn Ever

I did have a bit of a hard time deciding which of my recipes to publish this morning. Dick and I are trying very hard to actually lose some of the weight we had put on before the family came. Unfortunately, we didn't do too well, so instead of losing the three pounds I had threatened everyone they must do, we put on three pounds on top of the ten pounds we should have lost since the first of the year. Darn, now we have to lose 13! The amazing thing is that we weigh exactly 100 pounds apart. We gained the exact same amount and he is still just 100 pounds heavier. We decided we really must get on the stick and just DO IT. So, with that in mind, I decided to post the most fattening of the three things left to post. I will say though, that this carmel corn isn't quite as fattening as other recipes for the same thing is. One I have, which I don't really think is that much better calls for cream which you cook slowly with the sugar to carmelize. It also has butter, and lots more than this one, so it could be worse. At any rate, the other two I still have to do are the white bread, an old recipe I tried to recreate from the bread my mom made when I was growing up. Of course she never had a recipe so I just learned from the "feel" method. You know, the one that if it didn't feel quite right, you add more flour or liquid until it felt right. When others began asking me for the recipe, I decided I had to write down approximate measurements, and then I just measured every addition before I put it in. That is why you will see some Tablespoons listed in the bread recipes that will be forthcoming. Maybe I can do one a day for the next two days. Anyway, here is the Carmel Corn one:

3 quarts freshly popped popcorn
1 cup unsalted roasted cashews (I have used salted ones when I was out of the unsalted)
1 cup salted roasted macademia nuts
1 cup pecan halves (you can use almonds, if you prefer)
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
l teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (be sure there are no lumps in it or they wont dissolve well)

Preheat oven to 225 degreees. Butter a large roasting pan. (I use a large lasagna pan which I line with foil---not so messy a clean up.) Combine the corn and nuts in the prepared pan, mixing well. Place in heating oven while preparing the glaze.

In a large heavy saucepan, over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Boil for 4 minutes without stirring. Remove from the heat and mix in the vanilla and baking soda. Stir well and gradually pour the glaze over the popped
corn mixure, stirring to coat well.

Put pan in the oven for about 15 minutes. Remove and stir really well, making sure syrup on bottom covers drier corn on top. Do this two more times and then put back in oven for the final 15 minutes. It should bake about an hour total. Remove from oven and pour onto a large clean surface. You can spread waxed paper down if you want. I have a large table in the middle of my kitchen that I use and I don't need any waxed paper. Try to spread the corn as thin as you can breaking up any clumps that are overly large and just let it dry thoroughly. Store in an airtight container.

I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does. The only problem is that if you start to eat it, it is very hard to stop.