Old Fashioned Molasses Caramel Corn Food

CORN COB MOLASSES

Steps:

• Boil the corncobs about 45 minutes in 3 pints of water. Take out the cobs, strain, and add 1 pound of brown sugar. Boil this down until you get a nice syrup consistency.
• This makes a nice substitute for maple molasses. Enjoy!

OLD FASHIONED MOLASSES "CARAMEL" CORN

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 250 deg.
• Place butter in a medium pot, on medium heat.
• While the butter's melting, pop the corn and put it in a large roasting pan. I used a disposable aluminum pan and a hot air popper (you won't need to butter the pan).
• Keep an eye on the butter and add the sugar, molasses, and salt to it as soon as its melted.
• Bring the candy to a boil and stir and cook it only till the sugar melts and the butter blends in entirely - just a couple minutes.
• Turn off the heat and stir the vanilla and peanuts into the candy.
• Quickly add the baking soda and stir untill it's well mixed. It foams to make a lighter, more delicate candy.
• Pour the candy over the popcorn and toss untill it's evenly coated.
• Put the popcorn in the oven for 1 hour, tossing every 15 or 20 minutes.
• Let it cool completely before breaking up and putting into an airtight container.
• I developed this recipe by hacking others because I couldn't find another to suit me. I made this for Christmas treats and it was INHALED, you'll find it tastes like Cracker Jack; that candy is made with molasses, not corn syrup, I got a box yersterday to compare.
• You can easily double this, but double the baking time too.

PEANUT BUTTER CARAMEL CORN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
• First make the popcorn: Put a large pot over medium heat, and add the oil and popcorn. Place a lid on the pot, slightly askew, so that steam can escape. Pop the corn until there are a few seconds between pops, and it sounds like they are mostly cooked.
• Pour the popped corn into a large roasting pan (like one you would use to roast a turkey) and sprinkle with kosher salt.
• In the same pot that you made the popcorn, melt the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, peanut butter and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring, for 7 minutes.
• In a tiny bowl, mix the baking soda and vanilla together until the baking soda is mostly dissolved.
• Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in the vanilla and baking soda mixture. The caramel should be very light and frothy. Immediately pour the caramel over the popcorn, and gently fold the caramel into the popcorn to coat it. (At this point, you might think there is not enough caramel for the corn, as there will be globs of caramel, and a lot of the popcorn will not seem well-coated. But don't worry! There will be plenty.).
• Bake the caramel corn for 15 minutes. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and gently stir the popcorn into the melting caramel until the popcorn is better coated. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes, after which the popcorn should be evenly coated with the caramel.
• Return the caramel corn to the oven and bake for a final 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and give the corn one final stir to coat thoroughly. Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.
• When the popcorn is totally cool, it will have a nice, thin, crispy coating. Serve immediately or store in airtight containers for up to 10 days.