Christmas Candy – Chex Caramel Corn

***UPDATE: See this post about our new eating habits. (7/10/11)Today starts a week dedicated to Christmas candy! Everyone loves Christmas candy…..everyone. Seriously, do you know someone who doesn’t? Every day I’ll do a tutorial for one of my favorite Christmas candies. I’m not really sure why they’re called Christmas candy, because really you could eat them any time of the year. I just dude them up to make them look all Christmasy and fancy. So, do not distress! You can eat this stuff all year long. Christmas in July (or January, or April)! Today we’re doing Chex Caramel Corn. I’m still astonished at myself for doing this one as a tutorial. It’s the best Chex mix that I make. I sell a lot of it at Christmas……so it’s like I’m giving away my secret. Count it as your Christmas present. You’re welcome.

We need corn Chex, buttered popcorn, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, butter, peanuts and Christmas sprinkles. I’m partial to the corn flavored Chex, but if another one suits you better then go ahead and use it. Whenever I break a box of this out, Annie is always bumming it from me.  I make a LOT of different Chex mixes, so she’s used to it being around. Oh and we’re using the buttered popcorn because we want a tad of the salty taste in this sweet dish.

Grab a big bowl and put in your cereal, popcorn, and nuts. Mix them up. Recognize this bowl? It’s my designated Chex Mix bowl….I sometimes use it for other things, but when I’m making Chex Mix, I always use this bowl. Why? Because I know it’s microwave safe…..we’ll just say I’ve broken a FEW things in the microwave, so now I like to be sure. Yes, we’re making this in the microwave instead of the oven. It makes it super fast! You can whip up a batch in less than 15 minutes, not counting the cooling time. Nice! I accept hugs in thanks…..I also accept large bills. And no, I do not mean a large man named Bill.

Melt your butter in another microwave safe bowl. Don’t make it too hot, just let it get all nice and melted. I used real butter in this. Most of the time I use real butter. I’m not really a margarine type of girl – for my cooking anyway. I like to lather up my rolls with margarine though. “I Can Only Eat Margarine!” Ha, ha! Ok, go see this video if you didn’t get that.

When the butter is melted, add the brown sugar, vanilla, and corn syrup. Mix it up and pop that sucker in the microwave.

Microwave for one minute and then pull it out to stir. Microwave another minute. Hey, wanna know a good tip? Use a pretty big bowl…..this stuff is going to boil. If you use a small bowl, you’re going to have a little mess to clean up – or so I’ve heard.

After the two minutes, you need to pour the mixture over your cereal. Please be careful. It’s very hot. If you get tempted and want to dip your finger in for a taste, you might pull back a nub. Or, if you get sloppy and accidently pour some on your finger, you might accidentally say a not nice word. Or so I’ve heard.

Take a nice wooden spoon (it doesn’t conduct heat….unless it catches on fire) and stir the mixture up. Make sure you toss it well so all the pieces get coated.

Pop the bowl back into the microwave and nuke for one minute. Take it out and stir it up. Do this two more times until you’ve microwaved a total of 3 minutes. Don’t get distracted or you’ll forget how many times you’ve already microwaved it….and it will burn. Or so I’ve heard.

Now, this is how I make this look all nice and Christmasy – I add Christmas colored sprinkles. Stir them up and pop it back in the microwave for 30 seconds only. Too long and the sprinkles will melt into yuckiness. You can make this for any holiday! Just add red sprinkles for Valentine’s Day – or green sprinkles for St. Patrick’s Day.

Pull the bowl out and let it cool. You’re going to need to stir it frequently while it’s cooling so that the pieces break apart……or you’ll have one big piece of Chex mix. It usually takes about an hour to cool completely.

When mine is done I either put it in an airtight container or a Ziploc bag. I used this Christmas bag because this batch is for a gift. It will keep for a while. But trust me, you’re not going to have a problem with it getting stale…….your problem is going to be getting some at all. Or so I’ve heard.