Caramel Cheerios

[Guest guest]

I made the HUGE mistake of having the husband person go to the grocery store

without my painstakingly carefully written list (names of what I need, amounts,

brand names, aisle things are found on, what to get if X is not available, like

that). I didn't feel like going in my wheelchair (dumb but people can be so

crass), so asked him to go.

 

Oh sigh. Oh crumbs. He came home with a can of beets, a can of carrots (I have

never, ever in the past almost 43 years of marriage, used canned carrots), a

dozen eggs, HUGE box of Cheerios,  5 pounds of onions and 20 pounds of potatoes.

Usually I have things for making do on the shelves, but we've been helping out

two families worse off than we are, so I only had a box of brown sugar, corn

syrup, masa for tortillas, a pound bag of pinto beans in the cupboard and maybe

a half cup of flour.

 

At least he remembered coffee beans but he also bought a box of mint tea. BLEAH

YUK PTOOIE BARF. I loathe mint tea. I despise mint tea. I really, truly,

honestly and absolutely thank you very much do NOT like mint tea. I made him

take it back to the store for a box of Constant Comment.

 

So it's Thursday and somehow I managed to stretch the garbage - er - stuff he

bought into something to stick in our faces but last night our youngest son came

jonesing for a goodie. The boys had told him to visit us because " Nana always

has something for us. "   They were hoping it would be Buckeyes (like Ressee cups)

or a big chocolate cake.

 

Here's what I sent home with him.

 

Caramel Cheerios

1 cup butter (2 sticks) yes, you can use margarine but NOT the tub stuff as it

has water in it

2 cups (1 box) light brown sugar

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) corn syrup or honey (I use honey)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup roasted peanuts (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Huge box Cheerios (about 12 cups, approximately)

 

Using my ancient, huge turkey roaster, I dumped the Cheerios in and put them in

a 250*F oven to warm. (trust me, it makes the caramel syrup coat better)  In a

heavy pot, melt butter. Add brown sugar, corn syrup or honey and bring to a

boil, stirring. Once it is boiling, reduce the heat and let it bubble without

stirring, for about 4 to 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat, add the baking soda,

vanilla extract and peanuts.

 

Note: bubbling sugar syrup can give you a VERY bad burn. Use a long wooden spoon

to stir to the boiling point. If you get popped by the boiling syrup,

immediately put your hand in cold water. You will blister.

 

Pour over heated Cheerios, stirring to coat. Bake at 250*F for an hour, stirring

occasionally. After it has cooled, store in either air tight container or air

tight bags. Once baked it will be crisply crunchy and sweet without being too

sweet.

 

Except for the Cheerios, this is the basic recipe for caramel popcorn. It makes

about 2 gallons. Some recipes I've read which are similar, say this is 40

servings. I guess those aren't kid servings or even old lady servings.

 

The recipe doubles easily, but rather than using a pound of butter, use 2 and

1/2 sticks of butter. You can even get away with using just 1 stick of butter

for the original recipe if you are stressing over calories or the cupboard is

getting bare.

 

Jeanne in GA