Snickers Popcorn

■8 quarts air popped corn (about 2 cups of kernels)
■1 cup salted butter
■2 cups light brown sugar, packed
■1 teaspoon salt
■1/2 cup light corn syrup
■1 teaspoon baking soda
■1 cup salted peanuts
■30 “Fun Size” Snickers bars coarsely chopped
■3 oz melted semi sweet chocolate (optional)

Instructions
1.Preheat oven to 200°
2.Over medium heat boil butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup for 5 minutes.
3.Remove from heat and stir in your baking soda.
4.Pour over your popcorn and stir to coat evenly.
5.Transfer to waxed paper lined counter and sprinkle peanuts on top. Stir until all is coated evenly.
6.Transfer popcorn into a large roasting pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
7.Remove from oven and stir in your coarsely chopped Snickers. Return to oven for 3 more minutes so the Snickers begin to melt slightly into the popcorn.
8.Remove from pan and transfer popcorn back to wax paper to cool.
9.Drizzle melted chocolate on top of popcorn if desired.
10.Let set and store in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

1/3 cup honey
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 quarts popped corn

Pop popcorn and set aside. Heat honey in a saucepan until it starts bubbling. Add peanut butter, vanilla and cinnamon and stir until blended and smooth. Pour immediately over popcorn and stir to coat. Let cool before eating.

Ready to Pop, White Chocolate Popcorn Mix!

3 bags microwave popcorn, popped
2 - 12 oz. packages premier white chocolate morsels
2 - 12.6 oz. bags chocolate coated candies (such as M&Ms)


Mix half of popcorn {1- 1/2 bags} and 1 bag of candy in a large bowl. Melt 1 bag white chocolate morsels in microwave at 75% power for 3 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted. CAREFUL NOT TO BURN!!! Pour a small amount of chocolate over popcorn and stir to coat. Continue adding chocolate, a little at a time, until popcorn mix is fully coated. You will use about 2/3 of the white chocolate.


Spread popcorn mixture on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Using a spoon, drizzle remaining white chocolate over popcorn. Allow to cool for 1 hour before breaking popcorn mix into large chunks.


Repeat with remaining popcorn, candy and white chocolate.

VALENTINE'S PEPPERMINT BARK POPCORN

Here is what you will need:

16-20 cups popped popcorn
1 lb White Almond Bark + red food coloring
1 1/2 cups crushed Candy Canes
2 tsp. peppermint extract
3/4 C Valentine M&M's
Valentine Colored Sprinkles

Here's How to Make it:

Pop the popcorn. Crush the candy canes in a large zip-lock bag. Line a large cookie sheet with wax paper then pour the popcorn and crushed candy canes, in an even layer, on top and set aside. Using a microwave safe bowl, melt the almond bark in 30 seconds intervals until smooth. Add the peppermint extract and red food coloring to the melted bark.

Pour the peppermint bark over the popcorn in thin layers. About half way though toss the popcorn mixture. Finish drizzling the peppermint bark over the popcorn. Then sprinkle the M&M's and Valentine sprinkles all over the popcorn. Let the popcorn sit for at least 15 minute to allow the bark to harden. ENJOY!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn...

1 large bowl popped popcorn, kernels removed (or 2 bags microwave popcorn, popped)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 bag white chocolate chips
1/2-1 cup Reeses Pieces

Pop the popcorn then sift through to remove all unpopped kernels. Melt the white in the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds at a time for 2 minutes, stirring after each interval. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth and incorporated. Pour over popcorn and gently stir to coat popcorn evenly with chocolate. Add Reeses Pieces as you stir in the chocolate. Spread out popcorn on waxed paper to set.

Peanut Butter Cup Popcorn

Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 bags of Simply Salted (or similar) popcorn (or about 20 cups of popped popcorn)
2 c. honey roasted peanuts
3 c. peanut butter chips (I used Reese's)*
2/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips *
1 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or oil
*I LOVED this suggestion from one of our readers. If you want more chocolatey flavor in your popcorn, substitute 1 c. of the peanut butter chips with 1 c. of chocolate chips and then still drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn at the end.

Place the peanuts popped popcorn in a very large bowl. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the peanut butter chips and vegetable oil or shortening and heat for 2-2 1/2 minutes or until smooth, stirring every 30 seconds. Drizzle the melted peanut butter chips over the popcorn and peanuts and toss to combine.

Spread the popcorn onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet. In a Ziploc bag, heat the semi-sweet chocolate chips until just melted and smooth (about 1-1 1/2 minutes, mashing the bag every 20-30 seconds). Cut a small corner in the Ziploc bag and drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn. Allow to stand long enough to become solid (you can transfer the pan to the fridge or freezer to hurry this step along). When done, break the popcorn into small pieces and enjoy!

Peppermint Bark Popcorn

Recipe by Our Best Bites

16-20 C popped popcorn (fresh, or about 2 bags microwave popcorn)
1 lb Almond Bark
1 6oz box candy canes, crushed. (About 1-1 1/2 C total and Bob's are the best!)
2 tea. peppermint extract, or a few drops of peppermint oil
3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

*one bag microwave popcorn has about 10 cups in it, so if you're air-popping, do about 20 cups.

Place popcorn in a very large mixing bowl.

Unwrapping the candy canes to crush them is the most labor intensive step of this easy treat, so you can do that ahead of time if you want too. I put my candy canes in a large zip-lock bag and have a whack with a heavy marble rolling pin.

One they're crushed, dump them into the bowl with the popcorn.

To melt the almond bark, follow the instructions on the package. I just break it up and put it in a glass measuring cup and microwave on 1 min intervals until it's nice and smooth.
When your almond bark is melted, add the peppermint extract. It will seize a little bit (get kind of lumpy) but it's totally fine. If you use a peppermint oil it shouldn't seize at all, just make sure to only use a few drops as oil is stronger than extract. Pour over popcorn and candycanes.

Stir it up really well until the candy is evenly distributed. Pour the popcorn out onto a piece of waxed paper, parchment, or foil. Spread it out into an even layer and leave it alone!

While the popcorn is setting, place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until melted and smooth. I really like dark chocolate to counter-balance the sweetness of the almond bark, but I know there's a lot of dark haters, so do what you want!
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn. You can use a fork, or put it in a zip-lock bag with the corner cut off.

Leave it until the almond bark and the chocolate is hardened. If you need to hurry it up, do this whole process on lined cookie sheets you can pop in the fridge.

When chocolate is hardened, use your hands to break up popcorn into chunks. Toss in a bowl, a jar, a cute package, or in your mouth :)

Cinnamon Caramel Corn with Pecans & White Chocolate

{AKA Cinnamon Bun Popcorn!}
Recipe by Our Best Bites

12 C popped popcorn (about 1/2 C kernels)*
1 C roughly chopped pecans
1 C brown sugar
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 C Karo syrup (or honey makes a good substitution)
1 stick real butter (1/2 C)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
3 squares almond bark

*You can use air popped or microwave popcorn. If using microwave, anything works, but I prefer a "natural" flavor that's low in butter and salt.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Place popcorn and chopped pecans in a large bowl and set aside. And by large bowl, I mean like, twice as big as you think you really need. If you don't believe me, then maybe you will believe the scorching hot caramel goo that's splattered all over your hands while you're stirring in your not-so-big bowl. Just a thought.

Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a big, microwave-safe bowl. Like a 2-quart bowl or Pyrex measuring bowl. Again, use a bowl larger than you think you need to avoid scorching hot caramel goo accidents. It's really important to incorporate the cinnamon into the brown sugar at this point. For some reason, if you don't it does crazy things. I don't know why. Try it and then email Alton Brown and ask him if you really want to know.

Chop butter into chunks and place on top of sugar mixture. Pour corn syrup (or honey) over the top of everything.

Microwave on high for 30 seconds (just to soften the butter a bit) and then stir to combine.

Return to microwave and heat for 2 minutes. Remove and stir and then microwave for 2 minutes more.

By this point it should be nice and bubbly.

If it doesn't quite look like that you can microwave it a little longer, but just beware that if you over cook it, it will reach the hard candy stage and you'll end up with a giant clump of tasty concrete-like substance with little popcorn pieces stuck to it. Don't ask me how I know this.

Remove from the microwave and add in vanilla and baking soda.

Okay, back to caramel goodness. See what happens? The vanilla makes it bubble and pop and the baking soda makes it foam up, like this:

Now take that foamy science project and pour it right over the popcorn and pecans. Stir right away, and stir lots. Take too long and the caramel will harden on you. Keep stirring until everything is well coated.

Spread popcorn mixture onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan.

And yeah, go ahead and pop some in your mouth, you know you want to. It will be kinda chewy and stick-to-your-teeth-like. But we're gonna change that. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take a piece out and let it cool. "Sample." If it's not crunchy enough, bake for another 5 minutes. "Sample" again. This will not be the end of "sampling."

When it's done, give it a final stir and let it cool off for a bit while you melt your almond bark (just nuke it in the microwave according to the package directions) If you want, you can spread out your caramel corn on a clean piece of parchment, waxed paper, or foil. I always do this because sometimes it sticks to the hot foil if I leave it on the original pan. I'm kind of a clean control freak and I like to have it on a nice, fresh surface.

Now, just use a fork and drizzle the melted almond bark over the popcorn mixture.

When it's hardened (pop it in the fridge to speed that process along) break into chunks and enjoy!

Brown Paper Bag Microwave Popcorn

Recipe on Our Best Bites, courtesy of Linda, our Cool Reader of the Day

1/4 c. unpopped popcorn kernels
1 brown paper lunch bag
Tape
Seasonings like melted butter, kosher salt, seasoning salt, Creole or Cajun seasoning, bacon salt, or Garlic Bread Seasoning

Place unpopped popcorn in the brown paper lunch bag. Fold the bag over twice, tape it shut, and gently push the air out. Pop for 2 1/2-3 minutes or until there are 1-2 seconds between pops. Remove the bag from the microwave and shake gently before carefully opening the bag. Season as desired

Caramel Corn

This is one of Troy's favorite!!!

1/2 cup butter
1 cup light corn syrup
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 can sweet and condensed milk
2 cups of unpopped popcorn

Put butter, syrup, and brown sugar in a pan. Boil for 6 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in milk vigorously--pour over Popcorn!!

Popcorn Balls

1 pkg jello of your choice
1 cup karo syrup
1 cup sugar

Mix well and bring to a boil and pour over 6 quarts of popcorn.

Roll into balls!!

These are really YUMMY!!!