What Do You Mean, That's Not Interesting?: Caramel Corn

I've posted autumn recipes a couple times before and although fall is well passed, thanks to my parents' generosity and their freezer, I'm still getting to enjoy some fall goodness. While I was in NY for Christmas, they gave me 1 1/2 gallons of apple cider. And not that swill you find in the grocery stores. Oh, no, this is some of the best damn cider you'll ever come across, from the Burrville Cider Mill (luckily they're waaaaay better at making cider than at making web sites). One of my favorite things to go with this delicious apple cider is my mom's homemade caramel corn, which she'd typically only make for Halloween. Since I was neither in NY nor even had any apple cider at Halloween, I figured it was a good time to make up for it.

This is a fairly simple and quick recipe; all you need is 1/2 C molasses, 1/2 C light corn syrup, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tbsp butter, and plain, unbuttered popcorn. My parents always buy the jar of popcorn and make it on the stove, but I'm lazy and use the microwave kind.

Go ahead and get your popcorn all popped. Make sure you get rid of any unpopped kernels since you probably don't want to chomp down on one of those after you get everything covered in caramel. Now, in a large-ish saucepan, combine your molasses, corn syrup, and vinegar. Put this on medium-high heat and let it come to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it starts to boil, it'll bubble up pretty quickly, so keep a close eye on it. Keep it going until it thickens up a bit, which should only take a couple minutes for a single batch. You'll know it's ready when you can dribble a bit into a glass of cold water and form a ball with it with your finger. Once it's ready, turn off the heat and drop in your butter, stirring until it's all melted. Now pour it over your popcorn and stir it all around until the popcorn is completely coated. And you're done! See? Quick and easy. And very very tasty (way better than that crunchy stuff in the grocery store). And sticky. But no worries on that account; just let your dishes soak for a bit and they'll be extremely easy to clean. This will keep very well for a few days at room temperature when kept in an airtight container.