Salted Caramel & Dark Chocolate Popcorn

You'll be able to deceive all of your friends with this fancy snack. The end result seems extravagant, but the process is so simple. It only takes minutes to prepare!

Salted Caramel & Dark Chocolate Popcorn
1 bag microwave popcorn (unsalted)
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
3 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon sea salt (you can eliminate this if your popcorn was already salted)

Line a large baking sheet with foil.

Pop a bag of popcorn in the microwave according to directions on the bag. Do not remove the popcorn from the bag.

In a medium saucepan, melt the sugar, butter, corn syrup together, and vanilla. Cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in the baking soda and continue whisking until the caramel is smooth. When you add the baking soda, the caramel will bubble up (didn't want it to worry you - just be careful that it doesn't bubble over the edge of the saucepan). Immediately pour the caramel into the bag of popped popcorn.

Give the bag of popcorn and caramel a little shake and microwave for 45 seconds. Remove the bag from the microwave and shake a few times. Microwave again for 45 seconds. Shake the bag again and microwave for a final 45 seconds. This helps to get the popcorn evenly coated with caramel.

Spread the caramel-coated popcorn on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips at 50% power at intervals of 30 seconds. It will probably take a total of 2 minutes.

You can now use a spoon to drizzle chocolate from the bowl onto the caramel popcorn. You could also transfer all of the chocolate to a ziplock bag, snip of a small corner, and drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn (that's how I did it).

Immediately sprinkle with sea salt. You can either let the chocolate set up at room temperature (which could take an hour or so). Or you can place the whole baking sheet with popcorn in the refrigerator or freezer to speed up the chocolate hardening. Break up any large clumps and transfer to a bowl. You can store in a large ziplock for several days.

Enjoy!