"Cinnabon" Popcorn...holy cow delicious

This weekend we were invited to a friend's house for a cookout.  Since there were going to be several kids (a lot of them mine), I thought I'd make a fun snack.  I searched through some of my favorite food blogs, and ran across Cinnabon Popcorn from The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I've been wanting to make something like this, and decided this was the perfect opportunity.  It's good when I can take the goodies OUT of the house, so I won't eat it all!!  I've never made any type of candy/caramel popcorn before, but I have to say...this was SO good, and will be made again.

does this not look dee-wish-us?!

Chocolate "Cinnabon" Popcorn 

adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

• 12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels or around 1 1/2 bags of microwave popcorn) **go here for how to make homemade microwave popcorn!
• 1 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped   I omitted these since my 2 yr old is allergic to nuts
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup karo syrup (or honey makes a good substitution)
• 1 stick real butter (1/2 cup)  I used Smart Balance 50/50 and it worked great!
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 squares almond bark (about 4 oz)  I used chocolate almond bark (b/c it's what I had on hand)
  

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 2 liter 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. *If you microwave it too much 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. Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and pecans and stir very well so everything is well coated. *STIR MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU NEED TOO.

Spread popcorn mixture onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and spread out on a large piece of parchment, waxed paper, or foil. *I just slid the foil from the jelly roll pan (w/popcorn on it) and let it sit on counter to cool

Melt almond bark according to package instructions. Drizzle over popcorn mixture. When almond bark is hardened and popcorn is cool, break into chunks and enjoy!

I say again, holy cow delicious!

I'm linking this recipe up at Eat at Home for Ingredient Spotlight: popcorn