A Last Minute Holiday Treat Idea

Today I have a last minute holiday treat idea to share.  I re-purposed some cleaned out peanut butter jars and turned them into festive containers for some caramel corn my daughter made for the neighbors as Christmas gifts.  Love that my twelve year old is enjoying baking this year!  :)

To decorate the jars I used "The 12 Days of Christmas" collection by My Mind's Eye.  :)

 

For the caramel corn, my daughter used one of my favorite recipes from www.food.com using the recipe found at the link found here.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 8 cups popped popcorn (1/3 cup unpopped)

Directions:

1. When I make this recipe, use 1/3 cup popcorn to achieve the 8 cups of popped corn.
2. Preheat oven to 275F; have ready a jelly roll pan.
3. Place popped corn in a very large bowl.
4. In a large, heavy saucepan over high heat, combine the sugar, butter and corn syrup and bring to a boil; let boil for two minutes, stirring continuously.
5. Remove from heat.
6. Note that it is IMPORTANT to use a large saucepan, as this mixture will bubble up.
7. Add baking soda and vanilla to sugar mixture and combine well.
8. Pour this mixture over popped corn and combine, then spread mixture out onto jelly roll pan.
9. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, stirring well every 10 minutes (I sometimes reduce this to 30 minutes instead of 40 minutes).
10. Let cool before eating or before placing into containers.

Thanks so much for peeking!  I have one last holiday post tomorrow before I take a bit of a Christmas break.  ;)