Worlds Best Caramel Popcorn

I mean it when I say that this Carmel Popcorn is indeed the World's Best.  It is SO incredibly chewy and gooey and lip smacking yummy. I love it....(a little too much perhaps)

I made a double recipe yesterday (that's 6+ cups of popcorn people) to feed to my family, the 3 19-20 year old missionaries that came for dinner and for my "BBC chicks" movie club.
This is all that is left.

Yeah....it's that good.

Makes great Halloween Popcorn Balls.  I also like to make it to give away to neighbors at Christmas time.

Now....the original recipe (published in a ward (congregational) cook book) didn't state the amount of popcorn to use (odd, I know), so I have experimented over the years.  Here's my adaptation of the recipe.

World's Best Caramel Popcorn

1 cube (8 TBSP) margarine or butter
1 cup light Karo syrup
2 cups brown sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Popcorn 
You are looking for the equivalent of about 12 cups popped popcorn (that makes it really gooey.  If you want a dryer popcorn add 1-3 more cups.)  Honestly, we usually use microwave popcorn (the "healthy" stuff with just a bit of butter and salt...yum) but you can used regular air popped as well.  For microwave, use about 3 bags...for air pop you are looking at about 9 TBSP (just over 1/2 cup).  It's really not an exact science...just a good jumping off point.  :)  Try to weed out as many of the un-popped kernel's as possible (no one likes to chomp into a hard kernel after all).  You can do this by collecting the popcorn into a large brown paper sack (or a large bowl) and shaking lightly to "settle" the un-popped kernel's in the bottom.  Then lightly hand spoon the popped corn into a (another) LARGE bowl.  Set aside.

 Caramel
After popping and making ready the corn, pour all ingredients into a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Once it reaches a boil, cook it for another 3 minutes (no candy thermometer needed...yeay!).  Pour over popcorn and stir until well coated.  Lay out on wax or parchment paper to cool.  Store in an airtight container or bag.

SUPER EASY!  and SUPER YUMMY!

ENJOY!