Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Spirit of Christmas Popcorn - SAMM

Brad and I have a thing for popcorn, you might call it an addiction really.  We love it and eat it almost nightly.  We use a Stir Crazy oil popper and butter/salt flavouring to get popcorn that is just about better than theater popcorn.  We don't usually make any sort of candy popcorn because we love buttered so much but for this recipe I made an exception.  It's gingerbread flavoured popcorn which sounds odd but is just so yummy.  It was the perfect thing to bake today while it's super cold outside.  The popcorn bakes so it's crispy and sweet and delicious.  It's easy so you should make some too, it would make a great gift for neighbors or friends.

Spirit of Christmas Popcorn
16 cups popped popcorn
2 cups packed golden brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup fancy molasses (I used cooking molasses because it's what I had, it was delicious)
1/2 cup white corn syrup
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Line a large roasting pan with non stick foil.  Place popcorn in prepared pan.  Combine next 7 ingredients (brown sugar through salt) in a heavy Dutch oven.  Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring frequently.  Boil, without stirring, for 5 minutes.  Remove pan from heat and immediately stir in baking soda.  Mixture will foam vigorously.  Immediately pour foaming mixture over popcorn and stir to combine.  Bake at 205"F, stirring every 20 minutes, for 1 hour or until popcorn is glazed and crisp.  Cool in pan on a rack.  Store in an air tright container in a cool dry place for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 6 weeks.

Note: 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn = 10 cups popped popcorn

I realize this isn't a Meal, nor is it Monday but I'm going to link this to Share a Meal Monday anyway.

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