Twix Caramel Popcorn

A friend made this the other day and it was DELICIOUS!!  The recipe comes from Six Sisters Stuff cookbook.  It is pretty rich...so a little bit is enough for me!

Ingredients:
5 quarts plain air popped popcorn (equals about 1 cup popcorn kernels)
1 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
24 “fun size” Twix candy bars, chopped into bite-size pieces
2 cups milk chocolate chips, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees and place the popped corn in a bowl. Set bowl aside.
In a saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Let mixture oil for about 4 minutes (without stirring it). Remove saucepan from heat and mix in baking soda and vanilla extract. Pour caramel over popcorn in the bowl and gently stir until all of the popcorn is covered.
Spread popcorn on two large cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for about an hour. Remove popcorn from oven and let cool completely.
Break popcorn into pieces and mix in chopped Twix candy bars. Drizzle melted chocolate chips all over the popcorn. Let the popcorn cool until the chocolate hardens (which takes about 30 minutes- if you can wait that long!). Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Makes about 15 servings.

Caramel Apples

I made these from scratch - this recipe is a keeper (and another great Pinterest find).  This comes from the Tasty Kitchen blog.

• 12 whole Apples
• ¼ cups Butter
• 1 cup White Syrup
• 14 ounces, fluid Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
• 2 cups White Granulated Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  Assemble all ingredients: wash and dry apples, insert sticks, and butter a cookie sheet and dinner plate before starting to cook.
  
  Heat all ingredients except vanilla in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir constantly! (Unless you really like the look of scorched bits on your apples.)
  When caramel reaches soft ball stage (235°F–240°F) remove from heat and add vanilla. Let cool a few minutes.
  
  Using the stick inserted in the apples, dunk apples in the hot caramel and twirl slowly away from the heat for a couple of minutes. It’s nice to have a helper or two at this point.
  Place caramel-covered apples on a buttered cookie sheet. Optional: drizzle with melted chocolate or roll in chopped nuts.
  
  Extra caramel from the bottom of the pan:
  1. Can be scraped out with a spatula into a buttered plate or dish to be cut into individual pieces when cool.
  2. Can be thinned in the pan with half-and-half and eaten warm, as a dip for apple wedges.
  

Tiff's Tips:  I cooked the caramel longer in the pan until it was a little thicker and richer in color.  I used the cold water method to see if it was at the soft ball stage I wanted.  You can always use the extra caramel and pour it over popcorn.  Just microwave the leftover caramel when you are ready for a tasty treat.