Cinnabon Popcorn

So we had a fun family game night Saturday night, and I made this treat to go along with it. Our family loves this popcorn. It is out of this world yummy, by far our favorite popcorn treat! I got this recipe from ourbestbites over a year ago, and have made it several times since. This recipe calls for pecans, but honestly, I often leave them out and it's still awesome.

Cinnabon Popcorn

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12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)
1 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup karo syrup (or pancake syrup, I use it all the time in place of corn syrup in different things, I think it actually tastes better, and it's cheaper!)
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 squares white almond bark (about 4 oz)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

*You can use air popped or microwave popcorn.
Place popcorn and chopped pecans in a large bowl and set aside. *Use a bigger bowl than you think you need.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a 2quart capacity microwave safe bowl. Mix well. Chop butter into chunks and place on top of sugar mixture. Pour corn syrup over the top of everything. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir to combine. Return to microwave and heat for 2 minutes. Remove and stir and then microwave for 2 minutes more. *It should be bubbly by now but don't microwave it too much or your popcorn will turn out really hard.

Remove from microwave and add in vanilla and baking soda. Stir to combine. Mixture will foam and rise, your kids will love seeing this! Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and pecans and stir very well so everything is well coated.

Spread popcorn mixture onto a parchment-lined 15x10 inch jelly roll pan. (the original recipe tells you to put it on a foil lined pan, but when I tried that my popcorn stuck to the foil and was a mess, parchment paper works much better. Also instead of placing it on wax paper to cool, you just leave it on the parchment paper.) Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let it cool on the parchment paper. Melt almond bark in a double broiler or use Jessica's tip of melting it on the stove on low heat in a fry pan.  I am NOT a fan of melting chocolate in the microwave, way too tempermental and ruining chocolate is heartbreaking. Driizzle over popcorn mixture. Let sit for a minute and enjoy!

Recipe Source: Ourbestbites