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1
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
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2
Chop the almonds roughly.
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3
Set aside.
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4
Put a large pot over a medium heat and add the oil and popcorn kernels.
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5
Put a lid on the pot, with a small gap so that steam can escape.
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6
Pop the corn until there are a few seconds between pops, and it sounds like they are mostly cooked.
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7
Dump the popped corn into a large buttered roasting pan (like one you would use for your Thanksgiving turkey!)
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8
and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.
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9
In the same pot that you made the popcorn, melt the butter, sugar, corn syrup and salt together over medium heat.
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10
Let them boil and continue to stir the mixture for about 5 minutes.
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11
In a tiny bowl, mix the baking soda and vanilla together so that the soda is mostly dissolved.
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12
When the caramel has cooked for about 5 minutes, pull the pot off of the heat and stir in the vanilla and baking soda.
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13
The caramel should get very light and frothy.
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14
Immediately pour the caramel over the popcorn, and gently fold the caramel into the corn to try to coat it.
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15
At this point you will probably think that you have not made enough caramel for the corn, as there will be globs of caramel and a lot of the popcorn will not seem well coated.
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16
But dont worry!
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17
This is where the oven comes in.
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18
Put the roasting pan in the preheated oven (250 degrees F), and bake the popcorn for about 7-8 minutes.
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19
Then gently stir the popcorn into the melting caramel until the popcorn is better coated.
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20
Put it back into the oven and repeat the stirring process again at the 15 minute mark, after which the popcorn should be quite evenly coated.
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21
Bake for another 15 minutes, and then remove from the oven.
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22
Give the corn one final stir to coat the popcorn, and then leave it to cool for a couple minutes.
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23
Add the dried cranberries and chocolate covered almonds and stir to coat.
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24
The chocolate will begin to melt, coating the popcorn as you stir.
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25
You will have to let this sit someplace out of the way for several hours until the chocolate firms up again.
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26
When the popcorn is totally cool, it will have a nice, thin, crispy coating and then a second layer of chocolate.
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27
There will also be tart bits of dried cranberries and crunchy almonds.
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28
Store in airtight containers.
