Friday Yummy – Kettle Corn

Kettle Corn. Man I love this salty and sweet treat! It’s a favorite of ours to grab at a baseball game and even better to make for a movie on a dreary day.

The best I’ve had so far is this kind that you can get at the Daytona Flea Market or order online, but I love most of it – so much so that I often have some microwaveable 100 calorie bags on hand just to get a fix.

The other day I wanted some kettle corn and didn’t have any to put in the microwave so I looked online and found this recipe. (My added notes are in italics.)

Here’s how you make it.

What you’ll need:

•  1/4 cup vegetable oil
•  1/4 cup white sugar (Plus a couple of tablespoons for the end)
•  1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels (Buy a bag of them, you’ll want them on hand)
•  A healthy pinch of kosher salt and some in a shaker for taste

What you’ll do:

1. Take out your stock pot or really big pot that has a lid. Put your vegetable oil and 3 or 4 popcorn kernels in the bottom. Heat the vegetable oil in the large pot over medium heat. When those popcorn kernels pop, it’s hot enough.
2. Once it’s hot enough, stir in the sugar and then the rest of the popcorn.  You don’t want your hand in there for stirring when it starts popping. At least that doesn’t sound like fun to me.
3. Cover, and shake the pot constantly to keep the sugar from burning. A good strong circular motion worked well for me.
4. Once the popping has slowed to once every 2 to 3 seconds, remove the pot from the heat and continue to shake for a few minutes until the popping has stopped.
5. Pour into a large bowl, and allow to cool, stirring occasionally to break up large clumps.
6. Sample a few pieces. (They will be very warm, but now is when you want to adjust the sweetness/saltiness of it and to get it to stick, the popcorn needs to be warm)
7. If it isn’t sweet enough for your liking, add more sugar a little at a time. (I ended up adding about an 1/8th of a cup more while stirring carefully) When I tasted it again, I felt it needed more salt so using my regular shaker, I gave it a few shakes and stirred some more.
8. Let it cool some more and enjoy!

I haven’t’ tried this with Splenda yet, but if/when I do, I’ll let you know how it goes.