Let's Celebrate National Cheese Doodle Day with Caramel Crunch Cheese Doodles!

Its National Cheese Doodle Day, and no other cheese doodle is closer to my heart than good ole crunchy Cheetos.  The spicy ones are awesome in a bloody mary, and if you have a bag getting stale, throw them in a food processor and they coat a piece of chicken pretty nicely.  I have to admit that I never thought of them as a good partner to a crunchy caramel coating until I stumbled across this recipe on food.com.  I was pretty sure this would go into the recipe fail folder, but the ingredients were cheap, and more importanly, already in my pantry, so I gave it a whirl and I am glad I did - the taste reminds me of those popcorn tins you get at christmas with the cheese and caramel popcorn inside - I LOVE to remove the divider and mix the cheese and caramel corn together and this is exactly what it tastes like.  I did mess around with the quantities of the original recipe a little because if a little caramel crunch is good a lot of caramel crunch is better! 

Caramel Crunch Cheese Doodles

slightly adapted from food.com

3/4 Cup  Unsalted Butter

3/4 Cup  Granulated Sugar

3/4 Cup  Light Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup  Clear Karo Syrup

1 tsp  Vanilla

1/4 tsp  Baking Soda

9 oz bag of Crunchy Cheetos

Prehear oven to 250.  Put the butter, sugars, and syrup in a 3qt saucepan over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil.  Once the mixture comes to a boil, stir continously for 5 min and then remove from heat, stir in vanilla and baking soda until combined and add Cheetos to pan, stirring to coat.  Dump the gooey Cheetos mixture out on to a parchment lined cookie sheet spreading into a single layer and put into the oven for 60 minutes, stirring every 20.  Put the cookie sheet on a rack to cool and break into pieces when it is cool to the touch.

I cannot wait for the next movie night to debut this treat, and really who am I kidding, I'll probably sneak a bag of it into the theater to munch on at the Lorax...

-Meg