Well, that's not quite true. You CAN find unsalted, unbuttered, unadulterated popcorn. In fact you can find it with relative ease in the popcorn section with all of the microwaveable madness. But it's $4.89 a jar. And I only need a mere 1/4 cup of kernels to yield the 5 1/2 cups of popped corn the recipe calls for. Since I don't eat popcorn much, I won't really make use of the remaining 20 servings. Grr. It's not even "D-Day" for making the brittle (I try to get my supplies at least a day early), and my knickers are already in a twist. Because sometimes it's not the baking that'll kill ya. It's finding all the right ingredients at a decent price. You and I both know my time for finding the popcorn is running out, and I'll no doubt end up paying an arm and a leg to get what I need. All I'm gonna say is this brittle better be bodacious. And someone needs to tell Orville that scalping popcorn kernels is bad karma.
But that was yesterday. This morning, with today's challenge weighing heavily on my mind, I made an early morning trek to Publix for that's right, you guessed it, the $4.89 bottle of popcorn and a package of brown lunch bags (I didn't know this, but you can actually make your own microwave popcorn - place 1/4 cup of kernels into a brown lunch bag, fold over the top a little, and microwave on high for 1-2 minutes. Voila. Pure naked popcorn).
With the last ingredient now in place, I managed to make the brittle with relative ease. Unless you are having a particularly stressful day, there's no need to whip out your meat mallet to break up the popcorn - I did it with my hands. I definitely would recommend making this with the help of a candy thermometer, because it took me longer than 8 minutes to reach 270 degrees. And remember to be patient when spreading this out in the pan - definitely spray your spoon with the cooking spray, and work your way from one end of the pan to the other. Any recipe with the phrase "working quickly" gives me the dry heaves - I had visions of a mess of tangled brittle sitting in the middle of my pan because I wouldn't be able to spread it quickly enough. Not so. It stayed warm long enough for me to get it smoothed out, although it didn't quite fill a 12 x 17 baking sheet.
Cooking Light described it as, "...a wonderful hybrid - part caramel corn, part brittle." I couldn't have said it better myself! This is definitely one bodacious brittle! Which is why I'm going to make a second batch. Right now.
Popcorn Brittle
Cooking Light, November 2005
Ingredients
Cooking spray
5 1/2 cups popcorn, popped without salt or fat
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Line a baking sheet with foil; coat foil with cooking spray. Set aside.
Place popcorn in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal. Crush popcorn using a meat mallet or rolling pin; set aside.
Combine sugar, syrup, and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook 1 minute or until sugar dissolves, stirring constantly. Cook, without stirring, until candy thermometer registers 270° (about 8 minutes). Stir in molasses and butter; cook until thermometer registers 290° (about 5 minutes). Stir in baking soda, vanilla, and salt. Stir popcorn into boiling syrup mixture. Working quickly, pour popcorn mixture onto prepared pan; spread to 1/4-inch thickness using a wooden spoon coated with cooking spray. Cool completely; break into large pieces.
Note: Store brittle in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days.
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