Day 11: Chocolate Covered Popcorn

Here we are at Day 11 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies posts, and I have yet another non-traditional cookie treat to share with you. Its called chocolate covered popcorn, and it is addictive.
I learned how to make this at a baking supply store when I lived in Green Bay. But that is not the first time I had it. I dated a guy in high school whose mom made this - and I munched on bag after bag of it. I really like the sweet and salty combination, and this treat has both.

The trick to this recipe is to find methods that work for you, with what you have. I should have taken more pictures when I made this... but I didn't so I will do my best to explain. Any kind of popcorn will do - I recommend a lightly salted and buttered variety. You also need some means to thin the chocolate. I have used both paramount crystals (check a local baking supply store) and vegetable shortening with success. You will also need some big bowls, and a bunch of baking pans or wax paper.

Chocolate Covered Popcorn

popped popcorn - I used microwave this time

red chocolate wafers
green chocolate wafers

white chocolate wafers

paramount crystals, or vegetable shortening

DIRECTIONS:

Pop your popcorn. Sort through the popcorn and remove all unpopped kernels (they get coated in chocolate and stick to popped kernels and can be an unpleasant surprise when taking a bite).

Melt the first color of chocolate in the microwave, adding some paramount crystals or shortening along the way. I don't have any measurements here, but I would guess I add about 1 Tbsp. of shortening per cup of chocolate. You want to melt about 1/2 cup of chocolate per bag of popcorn. (For reference, I made three bags of popcorn in each color, and used a little more than 1/2 of a bag of the wafers that I bought from Jo-Anns.)

Working in small batches, add some popcorn to a LARGE bowl. Pour some chocolate over it, mixing to coat. Add more chocolate if needed. Here is what I do: I have 2 large plastic bowls that are the same size. I fill 1 up with popcorn, not quite all the way. I dump chocolate on top. Then I invert the second bowl over the first (the edges meet up exactly), and rotate the two bowls while I hold them together. (Its hard to explain, I wish I took a picture). Flip, rotate, flip rotate, swirl, maybe even a gentle fluff.

Once you have the popcorn covered in chocolate, spread it out on baking pans or wax paper for it to harden. After about 30 mins, you can carefully break it apart and move to a large bag.

Repeat with the other colors of chocolate and the rest of your popcorn. For all of my Christmas treats, I made 9 bags of popcorn, 3 bags of each color (and did each color in 2 batches). You can easily size this recipe up or down though!

Once all of your popcorn is cool, toss together to distribute the colors. Store in an airtight bag, or package in small bags to easily distribute.

REVIEW:

This sounds so much harder than it is. Once you try it, you will find a way that works for you. The key really is to thin out the chocolate so that it coats the popcorn more easily. Once you make it, be sure to store it away. It is so hard to just eat a few pieces, this stuff is seriously addictive!