Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

So, yeah, it had to be done eventually, and I don't regret being the one to do it. As Michelle (and Bryce, Justin, Jodi, Liz, Heather, Mom, Marquie, etc.) can attest, I'm just one BAD influence. Oh well, that's life. Besides, after the Chipotle Beef debacle, I thought I owed the forum something! So here you go, please enjoy (as Liz and I did last night!)

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

• 1 recipe of Family Cookbook Caramel Popcorn
• 2-3 batches of air popped popcorn [more popcorn=less caramel per piece—don't be greedy!]
• 1/4-1/3 cup cocoa [I used dutch process because I finally replenished my Kitchen Kneads supply!]
• Peanuts or pecans or peanut butter chips (optional)

OK, so prepare the popcorn and caramel as usual, but after you melt the butter and sugar together, add cocoa and mix well. Be very careful with the boil, because this will thicken FAST! Of course, I only made a 1/4 size batch, so it thickened super fast. Add salt, vanilla, and baking soda as usual. This will be thicker than your average caramel, but you shouldn't hate it.

For the small batch I used about 2 Tbsp cocoa, so my amount above is an estimate. We didn't add nuts or anything, but they sound good, don't they? We did 1/4 batch caramel to 1 batch popcorn, and it wasn't quite enough goo; so gauge accordingly. Love you!