Friday, August 5, 2011

Snickers Popcorn


Who's your buddy? Who's your friend? That's right, I am. Also, I am a giver. And extraordinarily pretty.

At least I think that's what you will say if you try this recipe.

I found it through Lorie at Be Different Act Normal who does an excellent job of scouring the innernets for good stuff of all stripes. One of her treasures recently, was finding Snickers Popcorn created by Shelly over at Cookies and Cups. I don't personally know either of these women, but I think we might actually be separated at birth.

Anyway! A dear friend asked me if I would contribute something for a bake sale for the Pyes in Haiti. (If you don't know Danny and Leanne's story, you must google them and read about it. Seriously. It will make whatever you were worried about seem small by comparison.) I told her that I'd be delighted--and this recipe was what I had in mind.

Here you go:

8 quarts air popped corn (about 2 cups of kernels)*
1 c. salted butter
2 c. light brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. salted peanuts
30 "Fun Size" Snickers bars, coarsely chopped
3 oz. melted semi sweet chocolate (optional--but only optional if you have absolutely no taste whatsoever.)**

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Over medium heat boil butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in your baking soda.
Pour over your popcorn and stir to coat evenly.
Transfer to waxed paper lined counter and sprinkle peanuts on top. Stir until all is coated evenly. (I found this step awkward and unnecessary and for my second batch just did the mixing in the roasting pan.)
Transfer popcorn into a large roasting pan and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
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.
Remove from pan and transfer popcorn to wax paper to cool.
Drizzle melted chocolate on top of popcorn if desired. (Trust me, you should desire this.)
Let sit and store in an airtight container.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour 30 minutes

*Unless you have a roasting pan the size of a kiddie pool, you may need to halve the recipe and make it in 2 batches. After you've made one batch, you may decide that you've made plenty. 8 quarts of popcorn is a lot, y'all.

**Yes, the drizzled chocolate seems like too much of a good thing, but please, please, please try it. I promise you it helps make the whole batch more Snickers-y.

Also, that caramel topping gets really, really hot. Go ahead. Ask me how I know!

Here's how I know: I accidentally spilled it on three of my fingers. You know what happened next? It hardened on my fingers while still burning. I am now typing with my whole left hand and just the thumb and index finger of my right because my blistered fingers are wrapped in a cool cloth. (The sacrifices I make in the name of food, people. They are big.) So please use extreme caution when pouring the caramel, friends. Let me be your cautionary tale.

Should you burn yourself, I can tell you that eating some of this will, at least temporarily, forget your pain. Seriously, it's that good.

Enjoy!

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