Microwave Caramel Corn: Yummy Treat in a Brown Paper Bag

As an occasional sweet treat, we like to make microwave caramel corn. Our old recipe was a complicated process of baking it in the oven, setting the timer to stir the concoction and risking a scorched popcorn disaster. This recipe meets my criteria for a family snack:

You might wonder how you can eat caramel corn for a snack and not gain weight. Fair question. First of all, we don’t have it very often. When we do I usually eat a bit too much so I stack the odds in my favor by limiting the times I make it.

Second, just like everything else I eat, I eat caramel corn only when I’m truly hungry and stop when I’m full. “One more bite” is a little trickier here because it tastes so good. But I don’t sit down on the couch in front of the TV with the whole big bowl and give myself permission to indulge without self control. I use a small snack bowl, eat slowly and savor the taste.

Remember, you can only taste food while it’s in your mouth. So no point in snarfing it down as fast as you can.

And there, doesn’t it make you feel better that I’m not perfect in my eating? When I’m working out regularly with T-Tapp I have some wiggle room without fear of weight gain.

Here’s the yummy, easy recipe:

¾ cup unpopped popcorn

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup butter, melted

¼ cup light corn syrup

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

Pop popcorn and place in a large paper sack, like a brown grocery bag. Microwave the sugar, butter and syrup on high 4 minutes. Stir in the baking soda and salt and pour over popcorn. Fold the top of the bag shut and microwave 1 minute. Take it out and shake the bag. Repeat. Microwave 30 seconds and shake bag. Repeat. The recipe says to spread on a cookie sheet to cool, but I usually just dump it in a large bowl and let it cool a few minutes. Remember: 1 minute the first two times, 30 seconds the last two times. That’s it!