Picture this. It’s six thirty in the morning the day before school finishes for the year. I’m lying in bed contemplating dragging myself to the shower so I could get The Princess to the school bus in time when I hear the popcorn maker humming in the kitchen below. Now I know we have a lot of popcorn, but I was unaware it had become breakfast food.
Via some close quizzing (read yelling down the stairs) it transpired that The Princess needed food for a class party she had later that day. To her credit, she had decided not to trouble me and was in the process of making her usual afternoon snack of popcorn with a load of butter dumped over it. Nice idea, however I couldn’t see the buttery popcorn improving in flavor or texture by the time it came for the kids to eat it.
Following some quality thinking time in the shower, and with a small window to produce something if she was to make the bus, I threw together this Chocolate Popcorn. With three ingredients (four if you want to be fancy) it took all of fifteen minutes to make.
A quick word on the chocolate here. Don’t use those nasty compound button things that Nestle try to pass off as chocolate melts to cover the popcorn. These are a mix of sugar, vegetable fats, emulsifiers and milk solids, with some cocoa thrown in for colouring. Chocolate should contain some proportion of cocoa solids. If you can’t find cocoa solids in the ingredients list, go for a different brand. We prefer dark chocolate in this house, although milk or even white chocolate would work equally well here.
We don’t often have candy in the house, so on this morning I got lucky and had some small marshmallows and leftover M&M’s to work with. If I had homemade marshmallows I would have cut them into pieces and used those instead. I am sure that any small candy would work just as well, so use whatever you have to hand.
When mixing the candy with the popcorn you have two options: throw the candy and popcorn into a large bowl and pour over the chocolate so the candy gets coated as well, or coat just the popcorn with the chocolate and stir the candy in once the chocolate is set. The first method sticks the candy to the popcorn but the latter looks neater. You choose.
The Princess made the school bus with a big container of this popcorn tucked under her arm. According to all reports it was well received by the children in her class. Apparently I am a genius. At least that is what I choose to believe.
This recipe produces enough for one class party, taking into consideration other children will be bringing food. If you are feeding more kids you may wish to double or triple the recipe. Author: Tania @ The Cook's Pyjamas Serves: 12 cups Ingredients
- ⅓ cup unpopped popcorn (equal to approximately 10 cups popped popcorn)
- 100g dark chocolate, chopped
- Any random candy you can put your hands on
- Line two baking trays that will fit in your freezer with baking paper and set aside.
- Pop the popcorn using your preferred method, and place it in a large bowl.
- Melt the chocolate either by short bursts in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stove.
- Pour the chocolate over the popcorn and stir thoroughly until all the popcorn is coated.
- Spread the popcorn in a thin layer over the baking trays and put into the freezer for 3 - 5 minutes.
- Remove the popcorn from the freezer and put into a serving bowl or storage container. Break up any larger pieces.
- Pour over your chosen candy, stir to combine.
- Serve or carry to your party.
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