caramel popcorn

I was watching an episode of NCIS the other day that involved caramel popcorn, and I found myself craving it. So, I made it. Source recipe is here; this is halved because the original makes way more popcorn than I needed.

Caramel Popcorn
~1/3 cup popcorn kernels
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 250F. Pop the popcorn.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Add sugar, syrup, and salt. Stir constantly until it boils. Let it boil four minutes without stirring. Remove from heat, stir in soda and vanilla. Pour over your popcorn, mixing said popcorn to coat evenly.

Pro tip #1: Do not, at this stage, sample the caramel. Your teeth thank you.

Put the popcorn in a baking dish. Put in oven. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Pro tip #2: If, at this stage, you decide to leave the burner you used to make the caramel on medium heat because, like me, you are an idiot, do not rest the baking pan on the burner when you are stirring the popcorn, as you will end up with a sticky burned mess stuck to the bottom of your pan, although the popcorn will probably survive if you manage to figure out what's happening within a reasonable period of time.

After the hour, serve. Enjoy.