Ruthie’s Caramel Corn
A soft, buttery, salted caramel popcorn - the ultimate in an easy, luxurious caramel treat!
I suppose I should feel guilty but I didn't intentionally lure one of my closest friends by way of caramel sauce to a deadly sin. My particular dalliance with this intoxicating taste sensation started in my childhood at the feet of my mother, near the largest Tupperware bowl filled with caramel popcorn every Christmas...laughing at the new white fuzz ball of a puppy pulling a popcorn bowl across the floor....with buttered hands shaping the warm, velvety confection into balls. Doing as my mother had done, I tutored my own children in the craft. They took the experience to new literary heights with the creation of a simple rhyme to help them remember the ingredients of the basic caramel recipe, the words to which went: "1/2 Cup, Cup, Cup, Can, Squirt ...I believe there was even a dance that went with it to a Latin Calypso beat.
This recipe not only creates the caramel for popcorn, but is the basis for a sauce for ice cream and cake, and for caramel toffee or pecan turtles. But back to my friend; she recognized in it other, more deadly possibilities. Featured as the sauce for a moist gingerbread cake for refreshments for a theatrical production she took home a pitcher of leftover sauce. Then in a frenzy of creativity, boredom or desperation (perhaps we will never know exactly what drove her to this) she found that the caramel sauce served equally well as a beverage, which did indeed eliminate the nuisance of utensils or cake and ice cream as a conduit. To Trina, I apologize. I should have applied a warning label, "May be injurious to your health if consumed in large quantities." But oh, what a way to go!
Whether served as loose unformed clumps or as balls the popcorn purrs to this soft, creamy and intoxicating caramel...as did Trina.
RUTHIE’S CARAMEL CORN
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white karo syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
(for salted caramel, add 1/2 tsp. coarse salt or fleur de sel)
10 cups popped corn
-In a heavy bottomed, large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in karo syrup, brown sugar and sweetened condensed milk. Over medium-high heat, stir ingredients until sugar is melted and mixture is smooth. Continue stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Lower heat slightly to medium and continue cooking and stirring until sauce reaches 232 degrees on a candy thermometer, just shy of soft-ball stage (it will take 10 - 12 minutes at a boil to reach this stage.). Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt if used.
-Pour caramel sauce over the popped corn in a large bowl. Stir until the sauce is well distributed. Let the caramel corn sit for 5 minutes then pour out onto a sheet of waxed paper. Break clumps apart or with buttered hands, take a baseball size portion of caramel corn and press into a firm, solid ball. Set on paper and allow to cool completely, about 1 hour. Place each popcorn ball in a sandwich bag or wrap each in a square of waxed paper. Tie packaged balls with ribbon.
-Makes about 20 popcorn balls.
A velvety, buttery caramel sauce - a beautiful contrast to the crunch of the popcorn.
Pour prepared caramel sauce slowly over the popped corn.
Pour a generous amount of caramel sauce over popped corn.
Toss together gently until caramel is fairly well distributed.
Once mixed, pour warm caramel onto parchment or waxed paper and allow to cool slightly. Shape into popcorn balls or break apart into chunks and allow to cool completely.
PERSNICKETY NOTES:
***I’ve never met a caramel corn I didn’t like. Most of them are cooked longer for a crispy finish. This is not that - this has a soft, velvety texture that oozes with the taste of butter and toffee. Be sure to cook to the correct temperature for this effect and not higher.
***For sauce for ice cream or for fondue, cook sauce until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
***For caramel candies, cook sauce to 246 degrees, firm ball stage. Stir in nuts and pour into buttered 9x13 inch pan. Allow to set at least 8 hours. Cut into 1 inch squares.
