Coconut Pecan Caramel Corn

I do have more pressing things to do with my time, like lesson planning, laundry, cleaning, etc.

But as I do some of those things, my mind wanders to possible yummy things I could make. As I was cleaning off my kitchen counters today, I found some leftover toasted coconut I had from my last batch of Nanaimo Bars, and I didn't want to throw it away. So I decided to add it, and even more coconut and chopped pecans to a batch of caramel corn: Coconut Pecan Caramel Corn.
It tastes great, but I'll have to tweak the recipe a little since a lot of the coconut & pecans didn't stick very well. They still taste good scooped up by themselves, but I wanted it stuck to the caramel corn.

This caramel corn is just another fun way to eat myself silly.

Coconut Pecan Caramel Corn

Ingredients

• 1 C brown sugar 
• 1 stick butter 
• 1/4 C light corn syrup 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 4-6 quarts plain popped popcorn (I pop mine on the stove with some canola oil; air-popped is good too) 
• 1 cup flake coconut 
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans, lightly toasted Instructions

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 250°.

Put brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, and salt into a microwave safe dish. Microwave on high until butter is mostly melted and then stir to combine ingredients. Bring to a boil by cooking on high for about 2 minutes. Remove and stir to combine all ingredients; then stir in baking soda.

Put popcorn into a huge bowl and top with coconut and chopped pecans. Pour above syrup stuff over popcorn, coconut & nuts, and mix thoroughly. Spread popcorn onto two non-stick cookie sheets. Bake at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes, rotating pans between top and bottom shelves. Remove from oven. Allow to cool completely on pans and then move to an airtight container.