Ingredient Spotlight: Popcorn

Today, we’re featuring recipes using popcorn!  Popcorn is a great snack – here are just a few stats about popcorn you might find interesting:

• Popcorn is a variety of corn, but it is not the same as field corn and sweet corn; different plants, grown in different parts of the country.
• Popcorn contains water inside the kernel, when heated this moisture turns to steam and puts pressure on the seed coat, which then pops and the starchy interior appears!
• Old Maids are hypothesized to be caused by three things: they (1) were heated too slowly, (2) don’t have enough moisture inside to result in popping, or (3) the hull may be “leaky”.
• Popcorn has two main shapes: butterfly (see above) and mushroom
• Air-popped popcorn is high in fiber and low in calories, has no sugar or sodium… but be weary of “movie-theater” popcorn! 
• Stay away from pre-packaged microwave popcorn.  Make your own instead – all you need is 1/4 C popcorn and a brown paper bag. 

Here are a few of our favorite ways to use popcorn:

Honey Butter Popcorn – When you are looking for a treat or a dessert popcorn, try this honey butte popcorn.   Simple and delicious.  Not overly sweet.  Get the recipe here. 

Papa’s Popcorn – My dad is famous for this stuff.  If you have a stove popper, give this recipe a go.  We can make a whole meal out of it.  Get the recipe here.

Grandma’s Sugared Popcorn – This recipe comes from my 93-year-old grandmother.  Better than kettle corn, and so perfectly my grandma.  Get the recipe here.

Chocolate Craisin Popcorn – Toss in some chocolate chips and craisins and you have a delicious after-school snack.  Get the recipe here. 

Apple Popcorn Munch – Dried apples, cinnamon, sugared popcorn and salty popcorn… delightful combination.  Get the recipe here. 

Do you like popcorn?  What is your favorite way to enjoy it? 

If you have a recipe to share, stop by Tiffany’s blog and link it up to the Ingredient Spotlight for this week!  I can’t wait to see all the other yummy popcorn creations. 

Honey Butter Popcorn

This recipe comes from a reader – who suggested this amazing honey butter popcorn on Finding Joy in My Kitchen’s Facebook page.  

It’s a fantastic treat – either for a movie night, or after school. 

Honey Butter Popcorn – From Rebecca C. 

Ingredients

• 6 C popped popcorn
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1/4 C honey
• sea salt

Directions

Place 6 C popcorn in a large oven safe bowl or baking dish.

Combine 2 T butter, melted, and 1/4 C honey together. 

Drizzle the butter and honey mixture over 6 C popped popcorn.

Stir to coat. 

Bake the popcorn at 350 for 5 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with sea salt. 

Serve warm, or at room temperature. 

Enjoy!

Apple Popcorn Munch

Today, my little sister is a quarter of a century old!  I can’t believe it. 

To celebrate – that is, if she stops by to visit today – we’ll enjoy some apple popcorn munch! 

Dried apples, sweet & salty popcorn with cinnamon make for an extra special treat on a beautiful fall day. 

Happy Birthday, L!  I love you. 

Apple Popcorn Munch

Ingredients

• 1 C dried apples, broken into small pieces
• 1 recipe sugared popcorn
• 1 recipe regular popcorn
• Cinnamon, to taste

Directions

Prepare the popcorn – both sugared and regular, and mix the two together in a large bowl. 

Toss in the dried apple pieces, and sprinkle with cinnamon. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Craisin Popcorn

Want an easy after school snack?  Or, an extra special treat for movie night?  Stop by and see my post at The Happy Housewife to check out this easy & tasty recipe!

Grandma’s Sugared Popcorn

Arriving at my paternal grandparents cerca 1900 home was always a treat.  Literally.

Awaiting hungry visiting tummies were plates full of delicious homemade cookies – usually grandma’s brown sugar cookies or everything cookies – and a piping hot bowl of sugared popcorn.
 

Perfectly salty.
Perfectly sweet. 

Perfectly grandma & grandpa. 

Grandma’s Sugared Popcorn – Grandma Loraine

Ingredients

• 1 T oil (either olive oil or canola oil)
• 1 T Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn Oil
• 1/2 C popcorn
• 1/4 C sugar {not quite full}
• popcorn salt

Directions

In a stove-top popcorn popper, pour in the 1 T oil and 1 T popcorn oil. 

Add in the 1/2 C popcorn and scant 1/4 C sugar.  Close the lid and begin to stir the popcorn handle to move the popcorn around in the canister.  Continue popping according to the popcorn maker’s directions. 

Pour out the popcorn into a large bowl, and immediately sprinkle generously with popcorn salt. 

Toss to coat well. 

Serve warm.  Please note: This popcorn is especially delicious when made by your grandmother. 

Caramel Corn

Warning: this recipe is NOT healthy.

But it is tasty.

My mom used to package this up for Christmas gifts... and we'd only eat a little bit each Christmas. Now, we make a double batch -- and it doesn't last that long, sadly.

To make it a little healthier - we use two bags of puffcorn with the syrup mix ... we reduce the butter just a smidgen and also the sugar a bit. The original recipe uses only 1 bag with all that caramel topping. Crazy.

Caramel Corn - Mom; adapted from Old Dutch

2 bags, puff popcorn (we use Old Dutch)
3/4 -1C butter
1 C brown sugar
2/3 C corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat the oven to 250.

In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Cook on medium heat until mixture has melted.

Once the butter has melted, add the baking soda. NOTE: this cause the mixture to foam -- just be prepared :)

Empty the bags of popcorn into a large oven-safe bowl, or 2-3 9x13 baking pans.

Pour the caramel mix over the top and stir to coat.

Bake at 250 for 45 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.

Pour onto waxed paper, allow to cool, and then break apart.

Enjoy!

I've heard this recipe can be used on Kix, or other puff cereal... but I'm a big fan of the combo of the sweet and salty using the really unhealthy puffcorn.

This post is part of the Christmas Cookie Exchange, Homemade Holidays and Recipe Swap.