It doesn’t get any better than this rich ooey gooey real caramel corn, my family loves making this easy no-fail recipe.  Homemade caramel candy poured over popcorn.  The smell is irresistible as it is cooking.  You will definitely want to save some caramel for fancy sliced caramel apples.  The best apples to use for caramel apples is Macintosh, Jonathon, Pink Lady or honey crisp – a sweet but tart apple.

Chewy Deluxe Caramel Corn – 2 cups sugar, 1 cube real butter, 1 cup light karo syrup, 1 can evaporated milk, 3 -4 bags butter microwave popcorn, 1-1/2 tsp. real vanilla

Directions: Combine all ingredients (but popcorn and vanilla) in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil turn down to medium heat stirring every few minutes with a wooden spoon.  In the meantime start microwave popcorn – be careful not to burn – make sure all hard popcorn kernels are removed and place popcorn in a large metal or glass bowl.

Use 3 bags when saving caramel for apples – use 4 bags when using all for caramel corn.   Cook to just under a soft ball or check using ice cold water, if caramel forms a soft ball in your fingers after sitting in water its done.  It usually takes 15-20 minutes to cook and has a medium golden caramel color, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  If you feel you may have gotten it cooked to long you can slowly add a couple of Tbsp. of milk before you coat popcorn.

For Fancy caramel apples – slice and core one apple in thin slices in a bowl, drizzle plenty of caramel over top, top with toasted nuts, toasted coconut, chocolate chips, sprinkles, marshmallows, cherries, what ever you love works great.  So much better than a whole apple that is messy and hard to eat.

For Deluxe Caramel Corn while still hot spread out on a cookie sheet – sprinkle on any desired toppings and dig in.   Makes the BEST homemade hot caramel sauce for Christmas pudding or ice cream.

For chocolate caramel corn add 1/4 cup cocoa – mix with the sugar and cook as directed – makes the BEST Homemade Hot fudge sauce

Baked Cheesecake – 2 – 8oz. cream cheese, softened, 1 (14oz. can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk), 3 eggs, 2 tsp. vanilla, ¼ c. lemon juice, ¼ tsp. salt
Crust: two crumb crusts already prepared in a pie tin (chocolate, graham, shortbread or vanilla wafers) or homemade
Creamy Cheese Topping: 1 – 8oz. softened cream cheese, 2/3 c. powdered sugar, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, 2 tsp. vanilla, 1 cup whipping cream
Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees, For Baked Cheesecake – in a large bowl beat cream cheese, Eagle Brand milk, and eggs till smooth. Sprinkle with Salt, beat in vanilla and lemon juice, pour half into each shell. Bake for 35 – 40 min. till center springs back when lightly touched, do not over bake. Let cool completely – for creamy topping beat whipping cream till stiff – set aside – beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla, till smooth – fold in whipped cream and frost pies as directed below.

Variety of Cheesecake Pies:

Raspberry White Chocolate: Frost baked cooled cheesecake with half of creamy cheese topping, top that with 1/2  of raspberry pie filling below, just before serving top with 3/4 c. chopped white chocolate covered pretzels  each pie – Raspberry Filling: enough for two pies – ¾ c. pineapple juice, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, 3 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 – 16 oz bag frozen raspberries or mixed berries, In a sauce pan mix pineapple juice, lemon juice, and cornstarch, bring to a boil – remove from heat – stir in frozen berries, let cool completely.

Brownie Toffee: Double garnish for two pies, Top baked cheese cake with 1 c. brownie pieces, then frost with half of creamy cheese topping, just before serving top with ½ c. chopped toffee chocolate bar pieces or homemade toffee

Fresh Strawberry Kiwi: Frost baked cheesecake with half of creamy cheese topping, top with sliced strawberries and kiwi or other fresh fruit in season

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Before baking baked cheese cake – Sprinkle with half of the cookie dough in small chunks – using a fork sink into batter, till completely covered, save the other half for the top. Bake as directed above – cool – Frost baked cheese cake with half of creamy cheese topping, then sprinkle with reserved cookie dough and a few extra chocolate chips  Cookie Dough: Enough for two pies, ¼ c. butter softened, ¼ c. sugar, ¼ c. brown sugar, 1 T. Water, 1 tsp. vanilla, ½ c. flour, ¾ c. mini chocolate chips or vanilla chocolate swirl chips

Turtle: Double garnish for two pies, Top baked cheese cake with ½ c. caramel topping, ½ c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, and ½ c. toasted chopped pecans, then frost with half of creamy cheese topping. Drizzle top with extra caramel sauce, chocolate chips and pecans

German Chocolate: Enough for two pies, 1 c. canned milk, 1 c. sugar, 3 egg yolks beaten, 1 cube butter, Mix and simmer 8-10 min stirring constantly till thick, remove from heat, stir in 1 c. toasted coconut, 1 c. toasted pecans, (make sure toasted coconut and pecans are cool before adding) and 1 tsp. vanilla, cool completely – top cooled baked cheesecake with half of German chocolate mixture, then frost with creamy cheese topping, garnish with extra coconut and pecans

Fresh Peach Cheesecake: Fresh Peach Filling: enough for two pies – ¾ c. pineapple juice, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, 3 Tbsp. cornstarch, 4 – 5 fresh ripe peaches sliced – In a sauce pan mix pineapple juice, lemon juice, and cornstarch, bring to a boil – remove from heat – fold in sliced fresh peaches, let cool completely. Top each baked cheese cake with half of filling, then frost with creamy cheese topping, garnish with extra peaches, cookie crumbs or nuts

The original baked cheesecake at the top came from an Eagle Brand recipe pamphlet from years ago – since then I have added to it – to make my favorites –
The Possibilities are endless – make up some of your own favorites.

Get Out of DEBT