Kid Friendly Caramel Corn With Chocolate

My son had a school assignment where he was asked to complete a fun recipe at home and bring photos and a sample to preschool to share.  We chose a caramel corn recipe (which I've had written down on scrap paper for over a decade now and have no idea where it originated from) and switched it up a tad bit by adding chocolate chips.  Because who doesn't like sugar on sugar???

This recipe is very kid-friendly for preschoolers, with the supervision of an adult due to working over a hot burner and oven.  With instruction, my kiddo was able to do most of the process himself, taking care to not touch hot surfaces. 

You will need:
4 quarts (or about 1.5 microwave bags) of popcorn
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips (optional)

***Please don't judge me by the condition of my burners...I wasn't about to scrub off spillage from last night's dinner before I had a preschooler working on my stove with sticky stuff!***

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

First, pop the corn to set aside until later.  I prefer to make popcorn the old fashioned way over the stove top in a kettle, but with an impatient 5 year old I decided to make things happen quickly with 1.5 bags of microwave popcorn (lightest salt and butter flavor I could find).

Melt the butter in a saucepan on the stove top, stirring constantly.  Add your brown sugar, corn syrup and salt.

Stir on medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil.  Boil for 4 minutes.  Keep stirring...you don't want it to burn. 

Remove from heat, add the vanilla and baking soda.  Stir until mixed well.

Make sure your corn is in a heat-resistant, deep pan.  Pour the caramel mixture over the corn and stir until coated well.

Lay coated corn out on deep sided cookie sheets or a baking pan of your choice.  I sprayed the pan with non-stick spray first, but I'm not sure that was necessary.

Bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven, stir, sprinkle in chocolate chips, and bake for another 30 minutes.

Let cool, divide, and enjoy! This makes a great holiday gift or party favor, too.  It is really good this batch is headed to preschool, or my hips would suffer the consequences.