Maple Popcorn

Jana here with a delicious treat that I made recently!  I found myself wanting to make my family a special snack recently on a Saturday, so I pulled out one of my cookbooks, The Homemade Pantry, and made this Maple Popcorn (with a few modifications). It takes an hour to bake, so keep that in mind when you are thinking of making it. It is SO worth the time though. The results are a popcorn that is sweet, lightly crunchy, and so good! 

Maple Popcorn

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1. Butter a large bowl, and a 9x13 glass dish. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Pop the popcorn (instructions here). Once it has finished popping, pour it into the buttered bowl.

2. In a medium pot over medium high heat, combine the butter, maple syrup, sugar, and salt. Stir until combined. Once it has reached a boil, let it boil for 5 minutes without stirring. When the 5 minutes is done, add the baking soda and vanilla. Remove from the heat.

3. Slowly (a 1/2 cup at a time) drizzle the maple sauce onto the popcorn. Don't pour too much too quickly, or it will cause the popcorn to deflate. After you have poured the first amount of sauce, stir the popcorn to distribute the sauce. Repeat these steps until all sauce is on the popcorn.

4. Pour the popcorn into the 9x13 baking dish, and put into the oven. Bake for 1 hour, taking it out to stir every 15 minutes. Cool before eating.