peanut dipped caramel apple popcorn

Labor Day Weekend tradition the past few years has been camping with our #framily for a few days. I love planning meals I can cook in the cast iron over the campfire -- but sometimes you need a treat after dinner (& s’mores aren’t gluten free… )
Soooooooout came my new the popcorn-maker-I-wanted-so-my-mom-bought-it-for-my-husband’s-birthday
I tossed a cup of peanuts into my biggest lasagna pan
added a cup of freeze-dried sliced apples (that I chopped into smaller pieces)
then I piled the popcorn on top (making sure not to invite include any of the “old maids”) Preheat oven to 250°.
Time for my caramel sauce:Into a saucepan goes 1/2 c. salted butter, with 1/2 c. yogurt (full fat is best!) 1/2 c. light corn syrup, 2 c. brown sugar and 1 t. salt (or to taste -- depending how salty the peanuts are…)Heat until the mixture boils for 5 minutes.Remove from the heat and carefully stir in 1 t. vanilla and 1 t. baking soda.
Pour over waiting corn/peanut/apple mixture and stir gently. Bake for 15 minutes then gently stir. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes and stir again. Place pan back in over to bake 15 more minutes. Stir gently for the last time and return pan to oven for the last 15 minutes.

When it’s time is up, turn that incredible corn out onto waiting parchment (actually, this time I used freezer-) paper and allow to cool

ifyoucanwaitthatlong…