I’m excited to be writing this post from Seattle! Woohoo! After a long day of traveling, with 2 flights, 3 mean flight attendants, 2 nice flight attendants, 1 allergic seat mate and finally 2 nice guys who put up with a sleepy, smelly puppy… we made it! She’s happy to have a yard, I’m happy to have someone else to pass the responsibilities off to and we’re both happy to be home with our momma, Tom and Spence!
Before I left, I had to proctor and grade exams for the class I’m a TA for. I knew we had a long night of grading ahead of us so I decided to bring this Peppermint Bark Popcorn as a treat to munch on all night.
I was inspired by this post from Plain Chicken and knew I had to give it a shot. I had tried making it a few times in the last week and each time was a failure! Either I didn’t let the oil get hot enough and burned the kernels before they popped or the white chocolate didn’t melt and I had clumps of chocolate in my popcorn (not complaining). But I finally figured out the trick of it and am ready to share the recipe with you! It’s really quite easy to make and is perfect for a family movie night or to wrap up as gifts for friends! Let me know what you think!
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup popcorn kernels
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract, divided
- 3 oz candy canes, crushed
- 1 cup melting white chocolate chips, (don’t use chocolate chips – they don’t always melt well. Buy the melting chocolate – it’s so worth it)
- In a large pot with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Important: wait until it is HOT. Drop a kernel or two into the oil, swish it around so it’s coated, put the lid on and wait for it to pop. Don’t add the rest of the kernels until this one has popped and the oil is hot enough. Otherwise, you’ll just burn your kernels and they will never pop (trust me on this).
- When the first kernel has popped, add the rest of the kernels, swish them all around so they are coated in oil, put the lid on with a crack of air and watch them pop! When they have slowed down, turn the heat off and shake the pot to get the last ones to pop. Pour 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract over the popcorn and stir it in with a big wooden spoon.
- While the popcorn is popping, remove the wrappers from the candy canes. Crush them by hand or in a food processor (so much easier). Pour half of the crushed candy canes over the popcorn and stir to mix.
- Melt the chocolate according to package directions. Pour the remaining half of the candy canes into the white chocolate and stir. Pour the melted chocolate over the popcorn and mix well.
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the popcorn over it to allow the chocolate to harden.
