I am so excited for the Oscars this weekend. I love guessing on who and what is going to win. Perfect thing to watch to figure out which movies are worth a “Netflix and Chill Night”.

;-D

Also, very interesting to see if the judges have any taste what-so-ever to mine, lol.

I created a romantic, elegant, and gold scenery to dress my amazing Homemade Caramel Popcorn. All for the sake of the Oscars and spreading good luck to Leonardo DiCaprio! :-D

I know I personally need Leonardo DiCaprio to win an Oscar ASAP, long over due! I really don’t know what else he has to pretend to be, to get that thing!?!?

If you want to check out the nominations, feel free to visit The Oscars 88th Annual Academy Awards and start guessing or making fun games to play, like “who’s going to do the dishes for a week” bets on which movie is going to win this year!

Somedays regular plain popcorn just doesn’t do the trick. Especially if I have a sweet tooth.

So the best way to curve that craving, is to coat all of the popcorn in my sight, with a super elegant, decadent, and easy homemade caramel!

This caramel is so easy. You don't have to worry about burning sugar first, ruining utensils, destroying pots/pans or wasting ingredients.

It also can go on anything you want (ice cream, cupcakes, apples, etc.) and it makes A LOT!

There is something about the sweetness of the caramel and the extra crunch the hardened caramel gives the popcorn when baked slow in the oven. 

The Crunchier the better! :-D

The sticky warm caramel covers the popcorn and leaves room for other amazing additions to stick to it as well. Like NUTS! Nothing wrong with a little extra protein :-)

Plus, have you ever had WARM, fresh out the oven caramel popcorn?!?!? Can’t eat anything other then homemade caramel popcorn now!

I guess, if this dedication to the Oscar's doesn’t work for Leonardo, I will just have to step my game up next year! Determined! lol

Until then, I'm going to hope, wish, pray, and MUNCH! :-D Because there is nothing like munching on CRUNCHY SNACKS while watching something in anticipation on the television!

Happy Munching!!

Ingredients:

12 cups Popcorn, popped

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter

1 can (14 ounces) Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 cups Brown Sugar

2/3 cup Honey

1/3 cup Pure Maple Syrup

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 250°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside
2. Melt butter on medium heat in a medium saucepan on stovetop
3. Combine first 6 ingredients: butter, milk, sugar, honey, maple syrup, vanilla extract
4. Stir with (wooden) spoon over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved. The mixture should come to a boil
5. Occasionally brush down sides of pan and keep caramel lightly boiling
6. Continue stirring the caramel on medium to medium-low (alternate to keep caramel from burning)
7. Once caramel reaches the desired thickness for you, remove from heat. CAUTION: Caramel is extremely hot, must be handled with extreme care, Do Not Touch!
8. Slowly pour half the caramel sauce over the popcorn while stirring it into the popcorn for even coating. NOTE: Add more caramel if needed, but only enough to fully coat the popcorn. 
9. Continue stirring the caramel sauce into the popcorn until all of the kernels are coated. NOTE: If adding nuts or other additions, combine them after mixing the caramel and popcorn together 
10. Bake the caramel popcorn on an even layer on two separate prepared baking sheets for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes and breaking up any clumps. NOTE: Popcorn may clump together, this is fine
11. Take hot caramel popcorn out of oven and let cool completely.

Tips:

• The caramel recipe may make enough for two batches of popcorn, depending on how thick you end up getting the caramel without burning it!
• Caramel is extremely hot and takes a long time to cool down enough to touch with your hands. Handle with extreme care and Do Not Touch until cooled!
• Caramel may be used on anything you want: ice cream, cupcakes, apples, etc.