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1. Put your popcorn into a large baking dish. Make sure to sort out and throw away any unpopped kernels.
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2. Mix together brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in at least a 3-quart pot. Stir constantly until all of the butter melts.
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3. Bring to a boil over medium heat and let mixture boil for 5 minutes. Once it starts boiling, don't stir anymore.
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4. After 5 minutes, remove the pot from the heat.
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5. Add in vanilla and baking soda and stir quickly. The mixture will lighten in color and get foamy and will rise up, so work fast.
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6. Pour the foamy mixture on top of the popcorn. Stir the popcorn with a wooden spoon.
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7. Put the pan into the oven and bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. Stir the popcorn every 10 minutes to coat all the popcorn with the caramel.
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8. While the caramel corn is baking, get the counter ready for cooling. Tape down a layer aluminum foil to the counter, and then a layer of waxed paper. I put the aluminum foil on the bottom because the butter will seep through the paper and make a mess.
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9. After 30 minutes, remove the caramel corn from the oven and stir one last time.
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10. Pour onto the waxed paper in the center.
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11. While the carmel corn is still warm, start to separate it into pieces. Otherwise you will have large clumps that no one will want to eat. Let it cool on the waxed paper for about 15 minutes.
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12. Put the carmel corn back into the pan. I find it easier to load into the bags this way.
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13. You can use whatever kind of bags that you like. Make sure that you get the ones that come with a twisty tie.
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14. Print out a label and add some ribbon and they're ready to go.
