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Monday Morning in the Kitchen: Sister Mabel's Caramel Popcorn


My first year of college, my dorm mom, Sister Mabel, would invite the girls to her room for an evening of caramel popcorn and good conversation.  She graciously shared her recipe with us, and it has become my favorite caramel popcorn recipe.

Sister Mabel's Caramel Popcorn

6 quarts popped popcorn
1/2 lb. butter
1/2 c. light corn syrup
2 c. brown sugar
1/4 t. cream of tartar
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.  Place popcorn in large, 4-inch deep buttered baking pan.  (A turkey roaster is perfect.) Keep warm in oven.

In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, cream of tartar, and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in baking soda.  (John always helps me with this step, measuring out the baking soda for me just before the five minutes are up.  The conversation is the same every time.  John:  "How much baking soda do you need?"  Me:  "One teaspoon."  John:  "Heaping?" Then both of us laugh at the joke that never grows old.  In fact, because it is a tradition, it grows funnier every year.)

Remove popcorn from oven, and pour caramel mixture over the popcorn.  Stir gently until well-coated.  Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. 
Thanks for Sister Mabel, and her wonderful caramel popcorn.

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Comments

  1. my little cottageJuly 9, 2012 at 6:04 AM

    love this! will try the recepee

    ReplyDelete
  2. DebbieJuly 9, 2012 at 6:42 AM

    Oooh, thanks! I have been looking for a good recipe.....now is it a heaping teaspoon?! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. BiancaJuly 9, 2012 at 10:17 AM

    Yummy, gonna try this for sure!

    And congrats on winning the book from "Sew Many Ways" give away!! Looks like a great book that I will look for when in the US.

    ReplyDelete
  4. reganJuly 9, 2012 at 11:12 AM

    I will be making this tonight! Yummy! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Connie Kresin CampbellJuly 9, 2012 at 6:35 PM

    Sounds really good, thanks for sharing the recipe and also on your win!
    Quilting at the River Linky Party Tuesday

    ReplyDelete
  6. TaraOctober 20, 2012 at 7:19 AM

    This is the *best* caramel popcorn recipe that ever existed, and I know because I have been making it for 30 years. It was published in an old candy making cookbook as "Sister Mabel's Super Caramel Corn". I use less popcorn than 6 quarts (quite a bit less) because I have found that I can't fully coat the popcorn as the recipe reads. I also cook the caramel to 260 because it firms up nicely.

    ReplyDelete

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