Peanut Butter Caramel Corn

I found this recipe in my Cooking Light magazine and since I love peanut butter, I decided to try it. I should mention that I'm not a huge fan of caramel corn. In my world, popcorn is meant to be salty. However, since I do love peanut butter, I thought this might be awesome. To me, it tastes alot like cracker jacks. The popcorn was a hit. Everyone, except me, who has eaten it can't say enough good things about it. In fact, I think the most common comment was, "This stuff is addicting. I can't stay out of it." So, while I don't love it, I think it was a success and has been added to my recipe box.

Here's the recipe. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
2 T. canola oil
1/2 C. unpopped popcorn kernels
1/2 C. sliced almonds
2/3 C. packed brown sugar
2/3 C. light Karo syrup
2 1/2 T. butter
1/2 t. salt
1/2 C. creamy peanut butter
1 t. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250.
2. Line a jelly-roll pan with parchment paper; coat paper with cooking spray.
3. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Ad popcorn; cover and cook 4 minutes, shaking pan frequently. when popping slows remove pan from heat. Let stand until popping stops. Uncover; add almonds. ***I used a non-stick pan for this. I also poured the popcorn into a large paper bag to absorb the excess oil. I also wanted to keep the unpopped kernels out of the caramel corn, so I scooped the popcorn onto the pan, leaving the kernels in the bag. I sprinkled the almonds onto the popcorn, after it was on the jelly-roll pan.***
4. Combine sugar, syrup, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and vanilla; stir until smooth. Drizzle over popcorn; toss well Spread mixture out onto prepared pan. Bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely. ***I drizzled the sauce over the popcorn on the pan, instead of trying to spread a sticky mixture onto parchment paper.***



Other notes:
-I doubled the batch to share. It made 2 large ziplock bags full.
-The recipe says that it will serve 20 people. Each serving size is about 3/4 cup. The nutritional information can be found on the recipe link.

Enjoy! And let me know what you think!