At 22 years old, I am the youngest of the "cousin" generation by about seven years. Buying Christmas presents for a sprawling group of adults with diverse interests and negligible certainty of being present at our big Christmas Eve Seven Fishes Feast is always a challenge. Lottery tickets are the usual answer but this year, we went... edible. Sure, my cousins have no chance of winning money with this gift, but with a bag full of this all-grown-up candy corn, who cares?
8 cups of popped plain (unbuttered) popcorn
4 cups pecans
2 cups sugar (brown or white - your call. I like one cup of each.)
1/2 cup corn syrup (or honey or agave if you're not fans of Big Corn.)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margerine
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 bag of red and green M&Ms
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Grease two large pans; cake pans work best. Spread popcorn and nuts in pans.
In a small pot, combine sugar, corn syrup and butter. Heat over medium until boiling; put a lid on it and let it boil for five minutes. Remove from heat and add baking soda and spices; mix quickly. The misture should be light and foamy. Pour over popcorn and nuts, stirring to coat.
Bake at 250 for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. While it's in the oven, cover a large area of your counter with wax paper or tin foil. Turn the finished caramel corn out onto the covered area and break it up into bite-sized chunks - be sure to give it a second before you go in there bare-handed, because hot sugar can seriously burn. Once it is completely cooled, mix in the red and green M&Ms. Package in pretty bags or airtight boxes.
Serves: 16
Nutritional Info: Really, really bad for you. That's why you only make it at Christmas and give most of it away.
