Homemade Caramel Corn with Sorghum

 When I was a small kid in southeast Missouri, we would sometimes go trick or treating out in the country around Fairdealing.  My Grandma's both lived there.   I loved going to the the houses in the country, because back then we would often get homemade treats like cookies or popcorn balls.  The popcorn balls were made pretty much like this caramel corn was, with sorghum, and I always loved the taste of sorghum.   This is pretty much the same thing, except it isn't made into balls, although you could easily do that.   When the corn comes out of the oven, allow to sit until cool enough to handle, then with lightly buttered hands, form it into balls.   

Homemade Caramel Corn

11/4 cup of unpopped popcorn, popped (about 12 cups or so)

1  cup butter

1 cup sorghum or molasses or corn syrup

1 cup brown sugar 

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Put the popped corn in a very large bowl and set aside.

In a 2 quart saucepan melt the butter, then add the sorghum, water, sugars and salt. Bring the pan to a full boil,  stirring until the sugars are all melted and the butter is completely incorporated. Boil about 1 minute. 

Add the vanilla and stir well.   Pour the caramel

over the popped corn and mix very well.

Place the caramel corn into very large deep roaster or divided between two 9x13 inch

cake pans. Place the pan or pans in the oven and bake for an hour, stirring the corn

every 15-20 minutes. At the end of the hour allow to cool completely, then break

up into pieces and store in airtight containers.

Frosted Chewy Molasses Bars

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup molasses (I use and prefer sorghum)
1/3 cup water
.
Frosting
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1-2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoon molasses
water as needed
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then butter and flour a 9x13 inch cake pan. Cream the butter, sugar and molasses together, then beat in the water and egg. It will look curdled. Then beat in the remaining dry ingredients until just barely blended. Scrape into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or a toothpick comes out clean. Remove pan from the oven and cool on a rack. Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat together the butter and molasses until smooth, then stir in the powdered sugar until you have a smooth, easily spread frosting, adding small amounts of water as needed. Spread it over the slightly cooled, but still warm cake. When completely cooled, cut into small squares with a very sharp knife.
Feel free to vary the spices, according your personal taste. And if you are a fan of raisins and/or nuts, they would be good added with the dry ingredients. I would use about a cup to a cup and a half total of which ever or a combination of the two.

Sorghum

I am not a fan of molasses.   Any time I've tasted molasses it has had a bitter aftertaste I didn't care much for.   However, I am a BIG fan of sorghum.   It looks kinda like molasses, but has a much better flavor in my opinion and can be substituted for any recipe that calls for molasses.   In fact, it is often called "sorghum molasses".     Sorghum isn't just tasty on hot biscuits, but also contains iron, calcium and potassium.   When I was growing up down in southeast MO, there was always sorghum on the table any time we had hot biscuits.   I can remember mashing butter and sorghum together and then slathering it all over a hot biscuit.   Larruping good as my dad would say.    Sorghum can be a bit hard to find, although most good health food stores will carry it.   The best sorghum, in my opinion, tends to come from small family run producers.   However sometimes you just have to take what you can get.    I use sorghum mostly in baking.   A friend on a chat site I frequent gave me a recipe for ginger cookies that are to die for.   I use sorghum instead of the molasses called for in the recipe.   Here it is:

Bink's Kick-Ass Ginger Cookies
(My additions are all in parentheses)
 
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2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 1/2 (4 tbsp.)  tablespoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

(1/2 tsp. clove)

(1/2 tsp. ground coriander)

(1/2 tsp. allspice)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup dark molasses (sorghum)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (275 degrees C).

2. Mix together flour, baking soda and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the shortening until creamy. Add ginger and cinnamon and blend thoroughly. Add the 1 cup of sugar gradually and continue beating. Beat in the egg and the molasses.

4. Sift into this about 1/3 of the flour mixture, stirring and blending well. Repeat until all is added. Roll the dough into balls (about quarter-sized) by hand, then rolling each in a mixture of 1 tsp cinnamon in 1/3 cup sugar.

5. Place 2 inches apart on a ungreased baking 0sheet. Bake 9 minutes or until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked. Cool on a wire rack. Store in an air tight container.

For more about sorghum, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sorghum