Lantern Cracker Jack

• 8 cups freshly popped popcorn (from about 1/3 cup raw kernels)
• 2 cups plain puffed rice
• 2 cups roasted, salted peanuts
• 13 cup raw corn kernels
• 1/4 cup black sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon five-spice powder (recipe follows)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed
• 13 cup sorghum (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Spread the popcorn, rice and peanuts evenly on the sheet pan and set aside.
4. In a small bowl, combine the sesame seeds, five-spice powder and baking soda and set aside.
5. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
6. Add the brown sugar, sorghum and salt and stir to dissolve.
7. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue to cook until the syrup reaches 250 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 5 minutes.
8. Immediately remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and sesame-seed mixture.
9. Stir quickly with a wooden spoon to combine.
10. Pour the hot syrup evenly over the popcorn and nuts.
11. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes to coat evenly.
12. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.

freshly popped, rice, peanuts, corn kernels, black sesame seeds, fivespice powder, baking soda, butter, lightbrown sugar, sorghum, kosher salt, vanilla

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013056 (may not work)