Chocolate Popcorn and Zesty Snack Mix
The girls and I were busy this week working on our gifts for Autumn's teachers, our neighbors and Grandpa Jordan.
We started with a Zesty Snack Mix that I found in a Paula Deen Magazine. You start with:
2 (9 ounce) packages oyster crackers, 1 (1 pound) package of goldfish, 1 (1 pound) package miniature pretzel twists. Dump them all in a roasting pan.
Melt two sticks of butter in a medium sauce pan.
The rest of the characters: 2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning, 1 tsp dried dill, 1 tsp ground red pepper and 1 (1 ounce) package dry ranch dressing mix.
Next, make sure your assistant isn't eating all the goodies.
Keep your eye on crooked eye.
Add all the dry ingredients to the melted butter and then pour over the pretzels and crackers.
Stir with a slotted spoon.
A great task for Autumn! Put in the oven at 250 degrees for 45 minutes. Every 15 minutes, pull it out and stir it up.
I transferred to a cookie sheet so it would cool down quickly, but wait for the mix to cool down completely before transferring it to
Jars. This batch made 8 quarts, so I filled 6 quart sized wide mouth mason jars and then had a little extra left for me.
Next step was to throw some Christmas flair on them and put the recipe card on each jar.
Chocolate Popcorn.
The Ingredients.
4 (3.2 ounce) bags microwave popcorn, popped.
1 cup butter
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
I popped the popcorn and then dumped each bag out on to my cookie sheet. This made it easier to pick out the popped kernels from the unpopped kernels. I placed all the popped corn into the roasting pan.
I don't think anyone wants to eat that!
Melt two sticks of butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. While butter is melting, start measuring out your other ingredients (wet and dry) this next part is going to happen fast!
Add your brown sugar.
Corn syrup and vanilla.
Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes. As soon as you see that first boil, start your count down.
Scold your assistant for eating all the popcorn.
Keep an eye on your butter/sugar mixture and stir it occasionally. I'm not going to lie. This is probably the hardest part for me. I am obsessive compulsive. I want to stir a thing constantly, so I busied myself with other things, like taking these pictures. Once the five minutes is up,
Remove your saucepan from the heat and sift in the cocoa and the baking soda. Stir until combined, then pour over your popped popcorn.
It says to drizzle it, this is what mine looked like. Then I took the slotted spoon and stirred.
Until it looked like this. Place in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Next, I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and placed the popcorn in a single layer (on two cookie sheets) to cool. Some pieces I just snapped apart with my fingers so they would be single pieces and not like eating a caramel popcorn ball.
I waited for them to cool completely and then added them to the 1 quart wide mouth mason jars. It filled up 6 and I had plenty to spare (although the recipe says it makes 6 quarts). Again, I added some Christmas flair and the recipe card to each jar. We packaged these guys up and already handed them all out. So far we have received good reviews.
I'd like to thank Paula Deen for the recipes and my two little assistants for all their help!
Order Up!
The Jordan's.
We started with a Zesty Snack Mix that I found in a Paula Deen Magazine. You start with:
2 (9 ounce) packages oyster crackers, 1 (1 pound) package of goldfish, 1 (1 pound) package miniature pretzel twists. Dump them all in a roasting pan.
Melt two sticks of butter in a medium sauce pan.
The rest of the characters: 2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning, 1 tsp dried dill, 1 tsp ground red pepper and 1 (1 ounce) package dry ranch dressing mix.
Next, make sure your assistant isn't eating all the goodies.
Keep your eye on crooked eye.
Add all the dry ingredients to the melted butter and then pour over the pretzels and crackers.
Stir with a slotted spoon.
A great task for Autumn! Put in the oven at 250 degrees for 45 minutes. Every 15 minutes, pull it out and stir it up.
I transferred to a cookie sheet so it would cool down quickly, but wait for the mix to cool down completely before transferring it to
Jars. This batch made 8 quarts, so I filled 6 quart sized wide mouth mason jars and then had a little extra left for me.
Next step was to throw some Christmas flair on them and put the recipe card on each jar.
Chocolate Popcorn.
The Ingredients.
4 (3.2 ounce) bags microwave popcorn, popped.
1 cup butter
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
I popped the popcorn and then dumped each bag out on to my cookie sheet. This made it easier to pick out the popped kernels from the unpopped kernels. I placed all the popped corn into the roasting pan.
I don't think anyone wants to eat that!
Melt two sticks of butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. While butter is melting, start measuring out your other ingredients (wet and dry) this next part is going to happen fast!
Add your brown sugar.
Corn syrup and vanilla.
Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes. As soon as you see that first boil, start your count down.
Scold your assistant for eating all the popcorn.
Keep an eye on your butter/sugar mixture and stir it occasionally. I'm not going to lie. This is probably the hardest part for me. I am obsessive compulsive. I want to stir a thing constantly, so I busied myself with other things, like taking these pictures. Once the five minutes is up,
Remove your saucepan from the heat and sift in the cocoa and the baking soda. Stir until combined, then pour over your popped popcorn.
It says to drizzle it, this is what mine looked like. Then I took the slotted spoon and stirred.
Until it looked like this. Place in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
Next, I lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and placed the popcorn in a single layer (on two cookie sheets) to cool. Some pieces I just snapped apart with my fingers so they would be single pieces and not like eating a caramel popcorn ball.
I waited for them to cool completely and then added them to the 1 quart wide mouth mason jars. It filled up 6 and I had plenty to spare (although the recipe says it makes 6 quarts). Again, I added some Christmas flair and the recipe card to each jar. We packaged these guys up and already handed them all out. So far we have received good reviews.
I'd like to thank Paula Deen for the recipes and my two little assistants for all their help!
Order Up!
The Jordan's.
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