Everyone’s list of staples in their pantry varies from family to family, depending on cultural heritage, location and personal tastes. My pantry never runs out of rice, flour, pasta, beans, coconut milk, baking powder, tomato sauce, cooking oil, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, soy sauce, eggs, milk, onions and garlic. And popcorn. Now you may be wondering how popcorn landed on this list of staples, well, that’s why we are here today.
When the doctor instructed me to cut back on salt, the raised eyebrow also meant that any and all snacks containing salt had to be ditched as well. So I bid a tragic farewell to my favourite crisps and their cousins. It was a painful decision and the withdrawal was a nightmare, but I have to admit that I began to feel much better once they were gone. The question now remained, how to satisfy those cravings when watching a movie at night or curled up with a favourite book without doing the utterly boring and healthy thing such as vegetable sticks. Popcorn! Mind you, the temptation to make buttery or salted popcorn is definitely there each time I pour some kernels into the pot, but I keep reminding myself that dangerously high blood pressure is not worth the trouble.
It took several months but I eventually found pleasure in freshly popped plain popcorn and since the cats don’t like it, I don’t have to share with anyone. On some nights I overestimate my appetite and end up with leftovers and it seems like such a waste to throw away. Then again, leftover popcorn is almost inedible the next day. One night I had a craving for caramel popcorn. Don’t ask how this surface, but I sat there and went down the Pinterest rabbit hole looking for a recipe that wasn’t going to catapult me into diabetes. Eventually I found the right one and after several attempts and tweaking of the recipe i.e. reducing the sugar, I settled on my own version of caramel popcorn which I share with all of you below.
As a special treat on a rare occasion I will indulge in popcorn bars that include a peanuts, dried cranberries and chocolate chips. It is decadent, sticky and once you finish the batch you either never want to eat it again for the next twelve months, or desperately need to make a new batch after 12 minutes!
The full recipe (below) is good for 4-6 people, depending on how greedy they are. I usually end up with a half portion which keeps for about five days.
10 cups popcorn
1 cup unsalted peanuts
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
- Mix the popcorn, peanuts, cranberries and chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a saucepan mix all the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil on medium heat. Lower the heat and stir continuously until you have a thick caramel sauce.
- Pour the caramel over the popcorn and mix well.
- Spread the mix over previously prepared baking pan lined with parchment paper to create a large, flat block and allow it to cool for 30 minutes.
- Transfer to an air-tight container and enjoy!
You can mix and match extra ingredients as you wish e.g. chopped walnuts or cashews instead of peanuts, raisins instead of cranberries, etc. or leave it out altogether. I tried it with coconuts chips and sunflower seeds which is also a lovely variation. If you choose to just have the popcorn then reduce the sugar and butter to 2/3 cups, and reduce the vanilla to 1/2 tsp.
Enjoy and let me know how it went!
FrogDiva Thoughts 