Friday, June 10, 2016

Food Friday - Our Husbands' Special Request Popcorn

from Tracey G.


Jeremy and I were chatting about popcorn the other day, it's been a hot topic since I bought myself a hot air popcorn popper, about a flavored microwave popcorn we'd loved years ago. It was by Orville Redenbacher, it popped up cinnamony and sweet and then you drizzled an "icing" packet on it once you got it in the bowl. Oh. My. Gosh. It was fantastic, and the funny thing is, I thought there was no way this stuff could be good, I mean, come on! Cinnamon popcorn?? Yuck! I was never more wrong, ever!! Well, I don't think you can get it anymore, so we were discussing how sad that was, because it was a yummy occasional treat - and back then by "occasional" I mean an every evening treat!

That led to Jeremy stating it would be nice to find a recipe to make it homemade, which actually meant, "hey, will you look for a recipe for it and make it now that you have that popper?"! It was pretty good timing too since Kris and I had just talked about doing flavored popcorn sometime in the near future as a fun project/recipe to do. And so that's how this week's treats came about. Not exactly "diet" food - but we aren't doing the traditional "diet" kind of thing anyway - we've decided to eat mindfully, and that means everything in moderation. There is room for the occasional treat when you want - we just generally build them into our day. So, that means the real deal is allowed! And honestly, after I plugged in the numbers/ingredients into SparkPeople's recipe calculator, this treat (not counting the powdered sugar-cinnamon icing drizzle) clocked in at 149 calories per 1 cup serving. That's not too bad at all!!

I found this recipe on Pinterest - that place has become a s source of all things fun for me, and there's no shortage of recipes, one of my first true loves! But I do notice that I'll have a tendency to pin a bunch of recipes then start pinning exercise - as if that will negate all the calories I just pinned I guess... ha! But, anyway, this recipe came from another blog, called Bake Then Eat (baketheneat.com) and can be found here: Cinnabon Popcorn 

I can't thank her enough for creating this recipe! It's easy and yummy and well, just perfect as far as we're concerned! Jeremy and I discussed today the addition of nuts and whatnot and they would work so well in this recipe that it's definitely going to be something that will find its way into future renditions of the stuff! And I told Jeremy today that I do believe I've found another treat to add to my holiday baking food gift repertoire! And that is always a good thing!!

Without the icing drizzle this should keep pretty well in an airtight container for about 5 days. As you can imagine, with the drizzle it would get a bit soggy, so only drizzle your current servings etc. for non-mushy popcorn!!!

 And now, the recipe...

Cinnabon Popcorn


from: Bake Then Eat (baketheneat.com) and can be found here: Cinnabon Popcorn

16 -1 cup servings

1/2 cup popcorn kernels, popped via your desired method to attain 16 cups popped. (I  air-popped mine)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda

Glaze:
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I used less, about 1/8 of a tsp for my personal taste)
1 tsp water


1) Preheat oven to 300°F.


2) In a medium sized sauce pan, add the sugar, butter, corn syrup, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Melt the ingredients together - but do not boil. You just want to melt and dissolve things gently. You could also melt them together in the microwave.

3) Cool to the touch and add the baking soda. Your mixture will bubble up and become a bit foamy and that's ok.*

4) Coating the popcorn: I put some coated freezer paper down on my island, dumped the popcorn on it and then drizzled the coating on it. I sprayed my hands down with a little cooking spray and mixed it all by hand - and it worked really well in getting the coating evenly distributed. I suppose you could do it on a cookie sheet too - whatever works best for you! I just know, for me, it was easier to mix by hand than trying to toss it all together in a bowl.

5) Spread the coated popcorn in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes.

6) Take it out of the oven and allow to fully cool, about 15 minutes or so. This will allow the coating to harden.

7) To make the glaze, combine the ingredients in small bowl and mix well. Adjust the ingredients according to your taste - more powdered sugar for thicker and more water if you want it thinner! Drizzle over popcorn per serving.

*My mixture did not foam or bubble. I'm not sure if it was less-than-active baking soda, or if my mixture was cooler than it should have been when it was added - I'm not sure. But I do know it turned out just fine even if it didn't!

Nutritional information (popcorn only), serving size 1 cup, as per SparkPeople Recipe Calculator: Calories 149; Total Fat 6.1g (saturated fat 3.7g, polyunsaturated fat .4 g, monounsaturated fat 1.6 g) Cholesterol 15.5 mg; Sodium 92.2 mg; Potassium 74.8 mg; Total Carbohydrates 28.8 g; Dietary Fiber 1.3 g; Sugars 22.5 g; Protein 1 g


from Kris B.


Today is Weber’s birthday.  We tend to do non-traditional birthday treats at our house.  When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, his first response was apple pie.  Then we started talking about popcorn.  And then came the possibility of making Apple Pie popcorn.  I was surprised to see that there are quite a few recipes on the Internet for Apple Pie popcorn; none of them did exactly what I wanted, so I set out to create my own recipe by taking various ideas that I found in different recipes.  I wanted something that had actual apples, the “correct” spices, and maybe something that even hinted at a crust.  Eventually I was successful, but I had one dismal failure along the way!  My first attempt had a decent flavor, but was a soggy mess; its consistency was much like those dissolvable packing peanuts!  Not to be defeated by popcorn, I tried again.  The second attempt was much better!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 Cup uncooked popcorn (to yield 15 cups popped)
1 Cup chopped pecans
4 graham crackers
1.2 oz package of freeze dried apples
1 tsp. apple cider mix
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Cups brown sugar (dark or light)
12 TBS butter
1/4 Cup plus 2 TBS corn syrup 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda

  1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Butter a large roasting pan.
  2. Pop the popcorn using your preferred method.  I used an air popper.  Place the popcorn in the buttered roasting pan  Add the pecan pieces.  Set aside.
  3. Combine the graham crackers, apples, cider mix, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a food processor.  Process until you have a course powder.  Set aside.
  4. Place the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan.  Over medium heat, bring to a boil.  Stir occasionally until the sugar has completely dissolved (4-5 minutes).  Once the mixture begins to boil, allow it to boil for 3 minutes.  Do not stir.  Remove from heat.
  5. Whisk in the vanilla and the baking soda.  The caramel mixture will double in volume.  Fold in the dry mixture from the food processor.  Stir just long enough to incorporate.
  6. Pour the caramel mixture over the popcorn and nuts.  Using a rubber spatula, gently stir to coat all of the popcorn. Place on the middle oven rack and bake for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
  7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
  8. Regardless of how tempting it may be, do not eat the entire pan of popcorn at once!
Nutritional information: serving size 1 cup, as per SparkPeople Recipe Calculator: Calories 226; Total Fat 14.4g (saturated fat 5.9g, polyunsaturated fat 2.1 g, monounsaturated fat 5.7g) Cholesterol 23.3 mg; Sodium 108.1 mg; Potassium 102 mg; Total Carbohydrates 30.4 g; Dietary Fiber 1.2 g; Sugars 27 g; Protein 1.1 g

1 comment:

  1. I would have never thought of these flavors! Sounds really delicious!

    ReplyDelete