peppermint popcorn

Did you know that there is a National Popcorn Day? And did you know that it’s today, January 19? Popcorn is a snack worth celebrating, so I decided to make a batch of peppermint popcorn for an afternoon snack, inspired by this recipe from Our Best Bites.

Ingredients:

popcorn
white chocolate chips
semi-sweet milk chocolate chips
candy canes

How I put it all together:

It’s best to use salt-free, butter-free popcorn for this sweet treat, so I popped the popcorn in the microwave in a brown paper bag. Just put the popcorn in the bag without any oil or anything, fold over the top of the bag, and microwave it until it stops popping. (Read more about making your own popcorn in the microwave.) For this recipe, I popped 1/8 cup of popcorn kernels, and I had twice as much as I needed.

Line an 8×8″ baking pan with aluminum foil and spray lightly with oil. Put a bunch of white chocolate chips in the pan and place it in a warm oven. When the chips have melted, remove the baking pan from the oven and spread out the melted chips with a knife. Sprinkle with two thirds of the crushed candy canes, then add a layer of popcorn. Push the popcorn down into the melted white chocolate.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. (I use a metal bowl set into a small kettle.) Spoon the melted chocolate chips over the popcorn and sprinkle with the remaining candy cane pieces. Place it in the refrigerator to cool. Enjoy!