Caramel Popcorn

by Jean Quinn

Another popular one! If I hadn't eaten so many Christmas cookies today, I'd make some myself. Yum!

2 - 7.5 oz. bags hull-less popcorn
2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks of butter or margarine
1/2 cup Karo Syrup
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. baking soda
2 T. creamy peanut butter

Put popcorn in a large pan. In a saucepan, melt butter, add Karo syrup and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes and remove from heat. Add vanilla, soda and peanut butter and mix well. Pour over popcorn and stir well. Bake 1 hour @ 250 degrees F, stirring every 15 minutes.

Caramel Monkey Bread

by Ronica Brownson

This is my favorite thing for breakfast, ever.  Perfect for company or Christmas morning, or in my case, as a birthday cake. Hey, when you're the baker, you make what you want!

• 18 frozen Rhodes bread rolls  (you can use a loaf of their bread dough, but waiting for it to thaw and cutting it in pieces is kind of a pain. This is much easier. Resist the urge to add more--there won't be enough caramel and the rolls will start creeping out of the pan like The Blob.)
• 1 box NOT INSTANT butterscotch pudding mix (the instant just turns the whole thing into a crusty, not caramelly mess.)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 t. cinnamon (optional, I don't use it because I'm allergic. It's still fantastic.) 
• 1/2 cup or so of chopped nuts, if desired
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 T. milk or cream

The night before, or at least 8 hours before, grease a Bundt or tube cake pan. Add the nuts, if using, and the frozen rolls. Mix the pudding mix, sugar and cinnamon (if using) together, and add melted butter and cream or milk. Stir until it's fairly well mixed, then pour over the rolls in the pan. Cover with a piece of foil sprayed with nonstick spray, or the non stick foil. Set aside in a warm place to thaw and rise. (Overnight is ideal--do this just before you go to bed.)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Bake rolls about 25 minutes or until golden. To be safe, I usually set my bundt pan on a half sheet cookie pan just in case some caramel tries to escape. Nothing worse than burnt sugar on the bottom of the oven! Remove from oven, and turn out onto a large plate with higher sides to contain any caramel overload. 


Mmmm... caramel overload.






Photo by Lori D. Stone.