Homemade Cracker Jack Snack

I had this left over popcorn, and well I hate wasting anything so I starting thinking about what I could do with it. I thought about feeding it to the wild birds but decided against it as I wasn't sure how good it would be for them. I decided instead to look for a recipe for homemade "Cracker Jacks". I mean really, who doesn't love caramel popcorn and peanuts?

I found this recipe at browneyedbaker.com. It looked simple enough and I had all the ingredients so....here it is! BTW, it was a big hit at our house. Really good, even better than the name brand stuff.

You can use any fresh popped popcorn as long as its the plain type. I recommend air popped but you can use the microwave bagged type as long as you don't get the butter flavored. Plain or Homestyle should work well. 

I wasn't able to take pictures during the process as you sort of have to keep moving once started. I just couldn't stop between each step and take photos. So I apologize, but this is really pretty simple so you shouldn't have any trouble.

You do need a candy thermometer for this. I wouldn't recommend trying it without one. 

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INGREDIENTS:

10 cups of freshly-popped popcorn (or 3.5-oz bag of microwave popcorn, plain)
1 cup light brown sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup lightly salted peanuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

2. Pop the popcorn. Coat a large mixing bowl with nonstick cooking spray, and then transfer the popcorn to the bowl; set aside.

3. In a small saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt and water, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Continue to simmer, stirring often, until the mixture reaches 250 degrees F on a candy thermometer, about 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Turn off the heat, and whisk in the vanilla and baking soda. Immediately pour the hot mixture over the popcorn. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the caramel into the popcorn until all of the popcorn is coated. Gently stir in the peanuts, and transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet, spreading it out.

5. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, and cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Gently break up the popcorn. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Enjoy!!