Oven Caramel Corn

Deep winter. Cloudy skies, cold, a big storm coming in that might dump as much as 6 inches of snow. I am SO ready for the skies to lighten a bit in the mornings and green things to start appearing outside. This calls for a batch of something really indulgent, like Oven Caramel Corn. I've been making this since I was about 12, and I have never had caramel corn I like better. Zoe agreed to help me make it yesterday afternoon, and then promptly went to the basement and started composing something on the keyboard for her music class. I did make her come up and help me stir the caramel into the popcorn. And she's always happy to help with the eating!

Oven Caramel Corn

Boil 5 min:
2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks butter or margarine
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp. salt

Then add and stir well:
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. butter flavoring (or vanilla, if it's what you have)

Quickly stir into 6 quarts of air-popped corn (if you don't have an air-popper, you can do it in the microwave: 1/4 cup popcorn in a lunch bag, fold the top over a few times and microwave about 2 minutes. You'll have to do this several times to get enough popcorn). You'll need help stirring, because if you wait until you've scraped all the hot caramel out of the pot, the stuff on the popcorn will be getting stiff. Don't panic, though, you can blend it in better during the baking time. Bake at 250 for 45 min. to 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. It's done when it's crispy instead of chewy. After it cools, put it in sealed bags or containers to store. It will last a long time if it doesn't all get eaten too fast.