Homemade Caramel Popcorn

Hey party people!

I know this week may be crazy for you but I wanted to share a quick recipe.

Every year, I try and come up with a budget-friendly gift for my co-workers. Last year, I did the personalized post-it notes. The year before that, I did a small gift bag with some of my favorite things (like Oprah’s, except with .00001% budget of hers). The year before that, I made different treats that resembled candy so it looked like a candy bag with oversized treats.

This year, it was going to be a little different. Mike & I just got back from vacation to Colorado so I knew I wouldn’t have a ton of time to whip up the gifts.

Here’s one of my favorite photos from our trip. It was a great trip with our friends, the West family and I learned to snowboard. Such a wonderful Christmas memory and vacation.

All that to say…whatever gift I decided on had to be quick, inexpensive and easy.

I was able to cross the first two off but the easy part wasn’t exactly that.

I ended up making homemade caramel popcorn.

The bags I ordered from Pick Your Plum. Pick Your Plum is an awesome company that sends you daily deals on all kinds of  crafty things. They offer a lot of great party supplies as well. To sign up for their emails, just click on the button on the right of this blog.

Here’s the recipe I used for my Caramel Popcorn.

 Have you ever heard of a whirly pop? You can find them at Bed, Bath & Beyond and I think Walmart and/or Target has them as well. They rock! The popcorn is sooo delish.

I put a heaping tablespoon of coconut oil in my whirly pop and then add 3 heaping tablespoons of popcorn kernels. Turn stove on medium high heat and stir the whirly pop handle. Keep stirring the popcorn and after a few minutes, you’ll start hearing a popping sound. Once the popping stops, take the whirly pop off the heat. Pour into a bowl & sprinkle with sea salt.

Get ready for the most delectable popcorn you’ve ever tasted…and it’s healthy! Woop woop!

The caramel popcorn recipe is easy until the part about laying it on a cookie sheet. The hard part is after you get it out of the oven. I tried to put it on greased wax paper but it did nothing but stick firmly to the paper. 🙁

Try greasing a cookie sheet or a glass pan REALLY well and then bake the popcorn.

Parchment paper may also work better. I didn’t have any on hand so I didn’t try that.

So did you make a gift for your co-workers? If so, what did you do?

Hope you have a Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays (however you celebrate it)!! Thank you for the gift you GIVE me with every comment you leave, message you send and facebook like!

Now go get your Christmas/Holiday party on!

p.s. You can now LIKE Parties for Pennies on facebook! Click here.