This is what I made this year for people I want to give small gifts to... in my family, that means cousins, aunts, and uncles mostly. I spend a lovely couple of hours with a friend, and we each got 14 bags to give away. We made a double batch of white and milk chocolate, and a single of the caramel (or about 1 cup of unpopped popcorn per type). The cost, including ribbon and bags, was less than $10 each. My favorite is the milk chocolate, but my friend preferred the white.
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 quarts popped popcorn
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (95 degrees C). Place popcorn in a very large bowl.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn, stirring to coat.
- Place in two large shallow baking dishes and bake in preheated oven, stirring every 15 minutes, for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool completely before breaking into pieces.
- 12 cups popped popcorn
- 2 1/2 cups salted peanuts
- 1 3/4 cups milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 1/4 cup butter
- Preheat oven to 300F degrees.
- Grease a large roasting pan.
- Combine popcorn and nuts in prepared roasting pan.
- Combine morsels, corn syrup and butter in a medium, heavy-duty saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils.
- Pour over popcorn and toss well to coat.
- Bake, stirring frequently for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Loosen popcorn from pan and allow to cool slightly in pan.
- Remove to a wax paper lined cookie sheet to cool completely.
2 cups white chocolate dipping wafers
1/2 cup popcorn (measured unpopped), air popped
- Pop popcorn.
- Melt white chocolate wafers in glass measuring cup in microwave.
- Pour white chocolate over popcorn. Stir well.
- Spread on wax paper lined cookie sheets. Allow to harden.
I just may repeat this next year.
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What a great treat to give. Thanks for the wonderful idea!
ReplyDeleteIt looks great! I love the idea and how you packaged it.
ReplyDeleteI am drooling over here!
ReplyDeleteLess then $10 per bag of popcorn or less than $10 altogether?
ReplyDeleteThe supplies for all 28 bags were less than $20 (it's hard to judge because I spent about $20, but my friend brought the ribbon and I had lots of margarine and corn syrup left, as well as some popcorn).
ReplyDeleteThe bags aren't huge; probably about 3 cups each. Big enough to be a gift for one person, but not big enough to get sick on popcorn.
That helps thanks. They look really tasty. I was wondering if you still have that list of other homemade gifts you were deciding between? If you could post that I would really appreciate it. (this is kelly72206)
ReplyDeleteSure! It's right here:
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfdr8jh4_21gqb794gr&hl=en
I went with the popcorn because my friend wanted to make something with me, and it seemed like something anyone could enjoy. I will probably still make a few other things (like gingerbread pancake mix) as I decide who is getting what.
Where did you get the bags for the popcorn?
ReplyDeleteMichaels ($7 for 50, find a coupon first if you can)
ReplyDeleteThey do have Christmas themed ones, but I figured clear was classier and more useful the other 11 months of the year.
I'm glad it wasn't some magic store only in Canada. I will secure my coupon and head there tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteMmmm - I love popcorn and this all looks great!
ReplyDelete