Microwave Caramel Popcorn

I love caramel popcorn -- even though it hardly can be classified as a diet food. Here's a simple, quick recipe for delicious caramel popcorn. Beware, though, long cooking times or different proportions of ingredients can result in hard or overly chewy caramel. Recipe largely inspired by, and only slightly adapted from, the following recipe for caramel popcorn.


Pop a bag of popcorn as usual, put it in a large bowl.

Mix in reasonably large microwavable bowl:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup molasses
1/8 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Microwave for 2.5 minutes or until the mixture bubbles. Remove from microwave, stir in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and (optional -- for peanut butter caramel!) 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter. Drizzle over popcorn, toss popcorn, try not to eat the whole bowl. Particularly phenomenal with peanut butter!