Caramel Corn

If I trust anyone to turn a fairly healthy food into a sugary, buttery bowl of snacktime happiness, it's Paula Deen. For our Oscar party, I followed her simple instructions for Caramel Corn. (Can't you just hear Savannah grandma drawl wooing you with care-a-mel?)

This takes about 5 minutes of work (10 if you include the stirring later), plus very little skill beyond not burning your fingers on hot sugar. The baking soda makes the caramel puff up and become more mixable. One very important tip: filter out all unpopped kernels before mixing the popcorn and hot caramel, or you'll find them later glued unpleasantly into the popcorn.

Paula Deen's Caramel Corn

Ingredients

• 1 C butter
• 2 C packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 C light corn syrup
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 8 quarts popped corn

Directions

Melt first 4 ingredients in a saucepan over medium. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda.

Pour hot caramel over popcorn. Stir to coat -- you'll stir more as it bakes, so it doesn't need to be 100% perfect.

Bake in large roasting pan (something with sides at lest a few inches high) at 200 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool thoroughly before eating.