Just kidding! Drunk people are uncouth and not classy! They are obnoxious and silly and they say stupid things and fall all over themselves. Never attractive. Always hilarious. The best way to ring in the New Year? Only if coupled with wonderful friends and family, and vigorous dancing efforts.
That being said, I am ringing in 2010 with all of those components for the first time in my twenty-year-long life. Is it sad that this is my first time? Eh. Better late than never! And much less embarrassing, now that I'm legal and have had a little alcohol practice, am I right? Of course I am. All I have to do for proof is invoke the memory of the first time you puked in your best friend's parent's sink. But enough about you, lets talk about my sister Maegen.
Maegen loves drinks! And she loves me too, for which I am deeply lucky. Not only is she letting me and some friends sleep on her basement floor tonight (or tomorrow morning, whichever way you look at it), she invited us over for drinks before we go out. Yes!
She's a foodie. Arguably one of the key players in my own food interest. So I can't just bring her a box of crackers and some Arbor Mist and call it a hostess gift, can I? made a collect call (via my internet connection, we don't actually know each other) to Mollllllyyyyyyyyyyyyy of Orangette, my best friend that I've never actually spoke to (though she did promptly return an email of mine once!). That caramel corn recipe of hers was screaming my name. But I couldn't, in good conscience, just leave the recipe as-it-was. Who would I be?! God!
Rosemary(!)-Caramel Corn
1/3 cup popcorn kernels
Vegetable oil, enough to coat the bottom of the popcorn pot
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
A splash of vanilla
3 sprigs of rosemary, crushed
6 Tbsp butter
Pinch of salt
Preheat your oven to 250ºF.
Popping the popcorn on the stove is actually something that I'd never done before this. Take a large, heavy pot and generously coat the bottom with oil. The kernels should lie in an even layer along the bottom of the pot to ensure maximum popping. Put the pot over medium-high heat and top it with the lid. When there's around seven seconds between pops the corn is done. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and be careful to pick out any un-popped seeds (not fun to accidentally crunch).
The caramel part is cool and very fast. It's just a pure form of kitchen alchemy, you know? Exactly.
So. Smash the rosemary to release its "essence". Toss it and the butter into the pot and melt over medium-low heat, swirling every once and a while it really get the rosemary-ness in there. Add the sugar and the pinch of salt. Whisk in, increase heat the medium-high. Now, Molly says to not try this without a candy thermometer, but I think that's just too safe. I've made this three times now with no measuring-tool in hand and it has worked each time for me. Free yourself from distractions! Your life and your food will be better! And if you cock it up, then you'll learn for next time. No more crutches! I also just don't have a candy thermometer, and on the ever-present list of things I need to buy (clothes, groceries, dinner, coffee, shoes, lipstick, beer) it just doesn't register. Maybe when I'm making more than $10/hour.
I digress. Let that sugary, rosemary-wafting, buttery mixture get itself all worked up! Once it is bubbling up, time three to four minutes. At the end of those three-to-four, remove the pot from the heat. This is when it gets all kinds of Dinner: Impossible intense. Throw in the baking soda and the vanilla and WHISK, goonface! The baking soda makes the caramel expand a bit, so don't get all freaked out when it rises up a little. God! Maintain your composure, it'll be fine!
Once it settles itself back down, dump it all over the popcorn and, using a rubber spatula, mix it in so it coats the corn.
See, I'd never've assumed that one also BAKES this caramel corn. But you do, so whatever get on with it. Spread the newly coated corn in a single layer on a greased baking sheet and toss it into your 250ºF oven fort 1 hour. You'll want to shuffle the popcorn around a few more times to make sure that it all bakes evenly and whatnot. And when you're done, oh my god, be ready to impress guests and friends all over town. You'll be the toast! Just never show them this post so they can't find out how easy your genius hostess-gift really is. Just kidding show them everything on here, how else am I supposed to get famous and have my own show on the Food Network?
