O is for Oyster Crackers

 

Supply chain woes are a very real thing.

Off the top of my head, I can name cream cheese, deli meat, canned soup, cat food, noodles, and Diet Dr Pepper that have disappeared from shelves for weeks at a time.

For "C," I was originally going to do a recipe for caramel cracker bites made with oyster crackers, but when I stopped at the store for them, I found there wasn't one bag of them on the shelf. Not only weren't there oyster crackers, there weren't any saltines, either. And it wasn't just at Walmart; I tried several other grocery stores, and NOT ONE had oyster crackers, and only one had a few saltine boxes. I complained about it to my friends at work and moved on to Plan B (Cheetohs Cookies). A week or so later, my friend came to work and handed me a Walmart sack with not one but two bags of oyster crackers (thanks, Nikki!). Supply chain mended, at least for now!

Lucky for me AND for you that I could turn this from a "C" post into an "O" post, because you're going to want to make these! 

I love caramel popcorn, and I will go on record as saying I make some of the best caramel popcorn you will ever eat, but it is a time consuming process. You have to pop the corn. Cook the syrup to a certain temperature. Stir the syrup into the popcorn and then stir it at 20 minute intervals for an hour as it bakes and do it as gently as possible to minimize breaking the popcorn into little bits.

Here's a quick, easy way to get the taste and crunch of caramel popcorn and get it fast: salted caramel cracker bites!

You need a bag of oyster crackers (when my son was little, he thought they were called "moister" crackers), brown sugar, salted butter, vanilla and kosher salt. That's it! 

Ingredient shot

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. The surface of the mixture will look kind of fluffy, and that's when you will know you've got it at the right stage. Let it boil for 3-4 minutes, remove the pan from the heat, and add the bag of oyster crackers to the pan, stirring gently to coat every piece. Pour the mixture into a baking pan with sides that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle kosher salt over the crackers (I measured this with love, not a spoon) and slide the pan into a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. When it comes out of the oven, let it cool a bit, then you can break apart big clumps with your hands (or leave them be, whatever). 

Note: I may have (okay, did) vary from the recipe directions in several places. I used light brown sugar instead of dark. I used Great Value oyster crackers instead of a name brand. I used pure vanilla extract instead of vanilla paste. I poured the crackers into the syrup and stirred rather than pour the syrup over the crackers and try to stir in the pan. I didn't use parchment paper in the pan.

Stirring the crackers into the syrup.

I lined the pan with aluminum foil, but the
next time I made it, I didn't bother.

Yum, yum, snackies!

Store in an air tight container. Try to refrain from eating the entire batch in one sitting; they are THAT good.