Peanut Butter Caramel Popcorn

My boys and I love to do crafts and bake together while my daughter takes her afternoon nap. Today we decided to make peanut butter caramel popcorn balls! Popcorn balls are a fun treat any time of the year, but, for some reason I always associate them with Halloween! We doubled the recipe so we could share with our friends! The boys helped me put all the ingredients into the pan and I did all the cooking and "hot" stuff! After I poured the peanut butter caramel onto the popcorn, it was cool enough for the boys to help form some balls themselves! Try making these with your kids! We had a great time and the caramel corn is delicious!!

Cooking spray
1/2 c. unpopped popcorn kernels
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
2/3 c. light-colored corn syrup
2 1/2 Tbl butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 250F

Line a large lipped cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper; coat foil or paper with cooking spray.

I pop all my popcorn in an air popper. The corn tastes delicious, is fast to make and is much healthier than microwave popcorn! If you do not have an air-popper, you can cook the kernels in a large soup pot with two tablespoons of canola oil over medium-high heat. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook kernels for approximately four minutes, shaking the pan all the while. When popping slows, remove pan from heat. Let stand until popping stops.

Combine sugar, syrup, butter and salt in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla; stir until smooth. Drizzle over popcorn (make sure the popcorn is in a very large pot); toss well. At this point you can either spread the popcorn mixture out onto prepared pan OR you can CAREFULLY (it’ll still be hot) form popcorn mixture into small balls. Bake the caramel corn or balls at 250F for 1 hour, stirring mixture or turning balls over, every 20 minutes. Cool completely before eating. Enjoy!