Did you know that there is a National Popcorn day? I don’t know who makes up these random ‘special’ days, but if there is food involved, I’m willing to participate. But when I discovered this special day last year, I really wanted to take part in the celebrations but I wasn’t in the mood for popcorn. I wanted CHOCOLATE! But I didn’t want to dis my pal popcorn, so I did what any devoted and hormonally driven lady would do. I drizzled chocolate all over a bowl of popcorn and dug in. This slightly wacky combination turned out to be a huge hit with my taste buds!
In the spirit of the holidays, I decided to tweak this recipe to offer up a little seasonally delicious punch of mint to replace those artificially flavoured, garbage filled peppermint patty’s that are such a huge hit this time of year. Honest to betsy, just look at their ingredients:
| SUGAR; CORN SYRUP; SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE ( CHOCOLATE; SUGAR; COCOA; MILK FAT; COCOA BUTTER; SOY LECITHIN; PGPR, EMULSIFIER; VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR) ; INVERT SUGAR; EGG WHITES; OIL OF PEPPERMINT; MILK |
But I won’t dwell on the negative nancy narrative about why this stuff makes my tummy turn. Just know that PGPR (Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate), fake flavours and type 2 diabetes inducing corn high-fructose corn syrup are NOT ingredients you need to ingest in order to enjoy delicious peppermint chocolate treats. I’ve got a solution that only requires 5 ingredients, none of which are nasty.
This recipe calls for 6 cups of popped popcorn so if you’re thinking “I’ll just toss a few bags of that handy Orville Redenbacher’s stuff in the microwave”, don’t. Just don’t.
Use an air popper if you have one or do what I do and make it on the stove. Here’s how:
In a large saucepan, place in a couple tablespoons of coconut oil and melt over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated, toss in about 3 kernels. Once they pop, you know your oil is ready. Remove the 3 popped kernels with a spoon and add about 1/3 of a cup of kernels (to make approx. 6 cups of popped) shaking the pot every so often. Once the kernels start popping, don’t let the pot sit on the heat for more than 10 seconds at a time. Remove from heat, shake and place back on the heat and repeat until the popping stops. And there you have it. Popcorn sans that chemical shitstorm.
- 6 Cups of Organic Popped Popcorn
- 1/4 cup Coconut oil
- 1/2 Cup Cacao powder
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1/4 tsp Peppermint Extract
- A few pinches of course Sea salt
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Pour popped popcorn evenly on baking sheet and set aside
- In a small saucepan, melt coconut oil over low heat
- Once melted, remove from heat whisk in maple syrup, cacao powder and peppermint extract
- Lightly drizzle the chocolate mint mixture over the popcorn
- Sprinkle on a few pinches of course sea salt and place the baking sheet in freezer to set for approx. 15 mins
- Once set, give it a shake and enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to eat.
- *This chocolate melts pretty quickly, so eat it right out of the fridge and arm yourself with a napkin.
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