Maple Bacon Bourbon Carmel Corn

Delicious snack but I think this will be the last of the bourbon cooking experiments for awhile...

1 cup of popcorn kernels
 5 strips of bacon
1 stick of butter
1 cup of packed brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup bourbon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Pop the popcorn
Cook the bacon and cut it into small pieces
Preheat the oven to 250
Put the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup  in a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, stirring constantly, simmer for 5 minutes

Mix together bourbon, vanilla, salt and baking soda, turn off the heat on the stove, slowly add this mixture to the mixture on the stove, it will cause the mixture to bubble up so go slowly, stirring constantly until mixed

Pour the mixture over the popcorn, sprinkle in the bacon and mix well
Spread onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for an hour. After half an hour mix the popcorn again. Let it cool and enjoy!

Since we had a big blizzard in Boston we made this treat while we were snowed in, the public transit wasn't running,  so we brought it along on a walk in to Boston.