Quick and yummy popcorn recipes for the weekend

Pop those corn kernels right into your desserts to pamper your sweet tooth.
Now, haven’t there been times when the popcorn tub saw you through an unbearable movie? It’s the go-to munchie for gossip hours during sleepovers, short-notice get-togethers and kiddie parties. Clearly, it’s a comfort food we can count on for good times. And if you knew what US food bloggers are upto, this ‘good time’ only gets better. They’ve been popping corn kernels into hot chocolate, red velvet cake, fudge and all else your imagination can conjure.

A treat for all season(ing)s
Pastry chef Vasant Khot enumerates the virtues of popcorn. “Popcorn is a versatile snack. It has a neutral flavour that lends easily to any seasoning.” And the greatest advantage popcorn has is that it’s a healthier snack. “Because it’s light, people enjoy more of it,” he points out. Due to its white colour, it’s never an eye sore in any preparation, taking any hue a recipe calls for. He recommends experimenting with sugar-coated popcorn as a base for cheese cake or you could try your hand at making popcorn nougatine (chikki).
Peanut butter popcorn fudge
Rachel Conners’s food blog has three recipes on popcorn snack, one of which is this unique peanut butter popcorn fudge recipe dedicated to her readers. This college student, currently living in Washington, writes, “It’s just one of those things that makes you happy. It has three ingredients. The hardest part of this recipe,” she jokes, “is popping the popcorn.”

Recipe: Line and grease an 8x8-inch baking pan. In a bowl, microwave 500 gms of the vanilla frosting and 2 cups of peanut butter for 1 minute, and mix it well. Fold in 2 cups of popcorn. Scrape the entire mixture into the prepared pan. Crumble ¼ cup popcorn and sprinkle it on top. Refrigerate for 2 hours, or until firm. Cut into 16 pieces.

Caramel apple popcorn balls
Colorado based food writer and blogger Brooke McLay’s Caramel Apple Popcorn Balls are sure to excite your children as well as the child in you. She says a basket of fresh apples that she got from the farmer’s market made her think of caramel apples, “And carameled apples made me think of caramel popcorn,” which led to pretty little caramel-apple popcorn balls.

Recipe: Combine 110 gms butter,
1 cup brown sugar, ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk and ½ cup corn syrup in a saucepan. Once boiling, cook for 2½ minutes (until soft-ball stage). Remove from heat, add ¼ tsp apple flavouring and ½ tsp red food colour paste. Allow to cool slightly then pour over six to eight cups of fresh popcorn. Stir until well coated. Form large, well-packed balls. Stick a wooden dowel into the center of each popcorn ball and decorate.

Chocolate and peanut butter popcorn
Put 9 cups of plain popcorn in a large bowl. In a microwave or over a double boiler, melt 1 cup chocolate chips, ½ cup peanut butter and ¼ cup unsalted butter and mix it all into a smooth paste. Add 1 tsp vanilla extract. Pour this melted chocolate mixture all over the popcorn and stir until all of the popcorn is evenly coated. Sift 1½ cups powdered sugar over the chocolate-covered popcorn and stir to coat evenly. Spread the mixture out onto a baking sheet and place in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set. Break it up and serve.

Did you know?
US celebrates Popcorn Lover’s Day every year on the second Thursday in March. This year, it was on March 14. So popular is popcorn in the US, that they have two more days dedicated to it — January 19 is the National Popcorn Day, and April 7 is dedicated to Caramel Popcorn. And October is the National Popcorn Month.

Popcorn ball ice cream cones
Pop 2 bags of instant butter popcorn in the microwave. Remove unpopped kernels. Fill 12 ice cream cones with colourful chocolate candy and set aside. In a large sauce pan, melt ¼ cup butter over low heat. Add 8 cups of marshmallows and stir until marshmallows melt. Pour over popcorn and stir until coated evenly. Immediately, apply a little oil on your palms and start forming three-inch balls. Press the popcorn balls gently onto candy filled cones. Once the popcorn is on the cone, dip in a bowl of colourful sprinkles. Individually wrap them or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Fun facts about popcorn
- Popcorn kernels can pop as high as three feet in the air.
- The world’s largest popcorn ball was created by volunteers in Sac City, Iowa in February, 2009. It weighed 5,000 lbs., stood over 8 ft. tall, and measured 28.8 ft. in circumference.
- Popcorn is a whole grain and compared to most snack foods, popcorn is low in calories. Air-popped popcorn has only 31 calories per cup. Oil-popped has only 55 per cup
- World’s oldest piece of popcorn, at 5,600 year old, was found in a bat cave in New Mexico in 1948.

PS: You can substitute light corn syrup with honey.

Save your teeth: Remove unpopped seeds from the popcorn before pouring the caramel mixture.

Fun activity for kiddie parties
Make sweet and scary hands: All you need is some transparent plastic gloves, ribbons, scissors, popcorn and chocolate candy. Get the kids to first wash their hands. Now guide them to first put one coloured chocolate or a candy corn into the tip of each finger of the plastic glove. Fill the glove with popcorn and tie off with a ribbon. Voila!

Red Velvet Popcorn
If you have red velvet cake leftovers, this one’s for you. You could also bake a red velvet cake, eat half and keep aside half for this popcorn treat. Pop ½ cup unpopped kernels that will give you around 8 cups of popcorn. Melt around 550 gms of white chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler. Pour the melted chocolate over the popcorn and stir to coat completely. Pour the popcorn onto a waxed paper lined counter and sprinkle with 3 cups of red velvet crumbs. Let it dry completely before eating. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Hot cocoa popcorn Combine 8 cups of plain popcorn and 1 cup marshmallows in a large bowl and set aside. Combine two tbsps of drinking chocolate mix, ½ cup marshmallows, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup butter and ¼ cup honey in a non-stick pan. Cook for 4-6 minutes over medium heat, stirring until mixture is melted and smooth. Pour over popcorn and marshmallows; stir to coat. Immediately place popcorn mixture onto waxed paper set on a flat surface, and separate into small clumps. Once cool, place in mugs. Garnish with mini marshmallows and 1/2 tsp drinking chocolate. Melt ¼ cup chocolate chips in the microwave. Drizzle over popcorn mixture. Let it stand until set. Serve and store the rest in an airtight container.