Spicy Caramel Popcorn

I think either our altitude or dry climate works against us - in making candies or this caramel corn. The sugar/butter/water mixture cooked the proscribed time, but it was dry and crusty. We spread it on the popcorn anyway, and it was delicious, but looks ugly, and is in large uneven blobs. Next time I will try the recipe at orangette - it uses corn syrup which might help with our problems.

Caramel corn. Yum! This is like Cracker Jack with a kick. I used bagged microwave popcorn and had no trouble following Smitten Kitchen's instructions for this recipe. On a scale of one to ten I'd put ease somewhere in the middle because it is a mess to put together.