Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything. Perfect for holiday gifts!
8 oz. bag puffed corn (I find Clover Club or Barrel O' Fun brands at Macey's)
1/2 C. (1 stick) butter
1 C. light brown sugar
1 C. light corn syrup
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
Place puffed corn in a VERY large bowl. In a large saucepan melt together the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and add the can of sweetened condensed milk. With a rubber spatula, stir mixture constantly for about five minutes, making sure to scrape the sides and especially the bottom of the pan to prevent any burning. The longer the mixture is cooked, the firmer the caramel will be. I followed the recommended time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Pour caramel over popcorn and stir until coated.
Notes: This recipe makes a little too much caramel for the amount of puffed corn. You could probably get away with two 8-oz. bags of puffed corn (I think the puffed corn is also sold in a 16-oz. size), but I haven't tried it yet. The original recipe used popcorn, but I like the puffed corn because it has the same taste without the annoying kernels getting stuck in your teeth. It also saves time from having to pick out the unpopped kernels from the popcorn. The original recipe indicates you can add M&Ms, nuts, or drizzled chocolate to the mixture. Either salted or unsalted butter works. I don't usually notice the difference, but I can definitely taste the salt from the salted butter in this recipe. However, it complements the sweet caramel nicely. If you're not a fan of salty, make sure to use unsalted butter. Finally, the recipe didn't mention this, but if I have time I like to lay out the mixture on a sheet pan lined with wax paper until the mixture cools. This helps prevent big clumps from forming and allows any excess caramel to drip on the wax paper rather than in the bottom of the bowl which is a little harder to clean.
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