As you’d expect, the hard-core denizens of a serious food forum are a tough crowd, but this recipe was an instant classic when it was first published almost 10 years ago. Scores of us have made it every year since we first read it.
I’ve never met Jaymes in person, but the flavor of her writing (she’s a journalist and novelist) and her encyclopedic knowledge of Southwestern and Mexican cuisine has earned her serious culinary cred. But, with all her wit and writing chops, she’s probably best known in online culinary circles for her Caramel Corn.
This recipe makes enough to fill giant seasonal tins for gift giving and have enough left over to demolish for two days, if you live alone.
When you read the ingredients don’t read “six quarts” of popped corn for “six cups” of popped corn. It’s six quarts, roughly twenty-four cups. Jaymes uses an air popper, but says the oil in a pan method works fine. (That’s what I did. I used a little more than half a cup of unpopped corn and I made four batches.)
In a pinch, Jaymes has admitted that the pre-popped stuff in plastic bags works not quite as well as the real thing, but snackers have never complained.
Don’t skimp on the nuts: you’ll need at least a pound. Jaymes’s first choice, and mine, is pecans, but peanuts, almonds, filberts—they’re all good. If you’re lucky enough to get the big can of Holiday Mixed Nuts from the kid in the next cubicle who did his office party grab bag shopping at Walgreens, rejoice. That careless can rocks this recipe.
A note about the pan: go big. Go your biggest. Jaymes and I both own the biggest stainless bowl from that nesting set we can buy anywhere. If you don’t own that bowl, use your wide-ass turkey roaster lined with foil; you don’t want to use a dark pan. The couple of bucks spent on a cheapo lightweight supermarket tinfoil roaster will do.
Happy holidays, dear Village Chronicles readers. And the happiest of New Year, Jaymes.
JAYMES’S CARAMEL CORN
Ingredients
6 quarts popped popcorn
1 cup butter
2 Tablespoons molasses
½ cup light corn syrup
2 cups light brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 pound pecans or your nuts of choice.
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter then add the brown sugar, corn syrup, and molasses.
Let it bubble away at a low boil for five minutes, remove from heat, then stir in the salt, baking soda, vanilla and nuts.
Pour the mixture over the popcorn in its baking pan—see above.
Stir it over the corn and mix well to coat, but don’t sweat it—you’ll have other opportunities to stir.
Put the pan in the oven, and set your timer for an hour. Every 20 minutes, stir the caramel sauce over the popcorn; I love doing this.
When the timer beeps, spread the mixture over a long piece of waxed paper or foil on your counter, then let it cool completely.
Break it into chunks and store in airtight containers.
I’ve no idea how long this Christmas Crack will keep, because it disappears like that!
