Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn

I love playing around in the kitchen, and one of my favorite things to make is flavored popcorn. It started a few years ago when I had too many bags of candy and no desire to eat it. Instead, I melted it over popcorn. Since then I've been experimenting with different flavors. In preparation for my coffee party tomorrow, I decided to try something new - Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn.

My inspiration? Necco Mary Janes, half price after Halloween. I enlisted Linda to help out and got to work. First, opening all of those candies!

 

While Linda unwrapped, I popped - a cup of kernels (1/2 cup at a time in an air popper) into a roasting pan (I like to stock up on the foils at Thanksgiving, then I reuse them until I ruin them).

Next it's time to melt things - one stick of butter first, then the candies. I used an entire 16 oz. bag, but it was a lot. If you like your popcorn coated, use a whole bag. Otherwise I might suggest 8-12 oz.

Once everything is nice and smooth, pour your melty, peanut buttery goodness over the popcorn. Stir it well to coat. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan and turn upwards.

Popped, melted, and coated, it's time to bake - 250 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

When the popcorn is done, spread it onto a strip of waxed paper to cool. While it's cooling, it's time to melt the chocolate. This was my first time adding chocolate to popcorn, so I had to guess. I started with a 4 oz. bar of semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolate. Melt it with 2 tablespoons of butter (without the butter it won't be smooth enough to drizzle). It still wasn't as easy to drizzle as I'd like, but it worked.

Pour the melted chocolate over the popcorn. The Ghiradelli chocolate didn't set as well as I'd like, but it did it's job - a hint of yummy chocolate on top of chewy, peanut buttery popped corn.

This recipe takes a little while to make (because of the bake time), but it really is super easy and terribly scrumptious!