Ringing In 2011

The girls really wanted to invite some friends over to ring in the new year.  As a general rule we won't have friends over to spend the night, but given that no one wants or should be on the road New Years Eve, we made an exception.  Only one friend was able to come over, so this gathering was a far cry from a "slumber party" and we were just fine with that.  They certainly weren't lacking for fun things to do though ... they played Scotland Yard and Monopoly Deal, watched 'Muppets in Manhattan,' made sweet little flower pins using this technique, and of course enjoyed a little junk food.  

While we were at Mom's I found a caramel corn recipe in my grandma's hand writing.  I love caramel corn, but have never made it myself.  I instantly wanted to try it out so I could share it with the extended family.  In reading through the recipe, Mom determined that it wasn't the recipe Grandma used, (she would often write down recipes she thought would be good and send them to us, so it's made it hard now to whittle it down to her tired and true recipes) so we went in search for a different recipe.  We found an excellent one and I set out to duplicate it for our New Years Eve festivities.  

Growing up Mom always popped her corn in a large stock pot on the stove top.  A while back I tried to pop corn the way mom did on the stove, and burned every single batch.  This time I used one of mom's tips ... she told me to put in test kernels with the oil.  Once they pop, pour in your kernels.  Viola!  Three perfect batches in a row!  I am so excited to be able to quickly and easily pop popcorn for the family just like my mom did!


BTW - the recipe we used is not like Grandma's.  Grandma made sticky caramel corn that wasn't baked in the oven, which is probably why I prefer sticky caramel corn to crisp.