Top Ten Recipes of 2012: Vegan Caramel Corn

I never thought this day would come.

No butter, no heavy cream, no sweetened condensed milk and yet I have delicious caramel in front of me?! Egads! I even got to use the gimmicky "auto-stirrer" my mom got me for fun.

I am very thankful to Angela's Kitchen and The Mixing Bowl Diary for this revelation. My husband's astonishment and delight sweetened the deal even more!

This time, I'll just post my version. There are many ways to make caramel--in this recipe I'm just listing what I did with the tools I have in my kitchen and what works with my pots and pans. Please reference the other blogs for their techniques.

Vegan Caramel Corn

1/3 c. Coconut Oil
1 c. Sugar
2/3 c. Canned Coconut Milk
1/3 c. Almond Milk (I used Silk)
1/2 c. Brown Rice Syrup
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

8 c. Popcorn (already popped ~_^)

Place Coconut Oil, Sugar, Coconut Milk, Almond Milk, Brown Rice Syrup, and Salt in a tall saucepan. Stir constantly over low heat. This can take over an hour, but the results are velvety smooth. Do a cold water test to make sure the caramel is at least at hard ball stage, then remove from heat. Stir in Vanilla and Baking Soda. It will foam up to double capacity. Pour over popcorn in portions. Spread popcorn on two large silicone baking mats and bake at 200F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Enjoy!

*It's important to stir so that you keep the individual pieces of popcorn coated and they don't clump together.