ever since we’ve moved into our neighborhood, i’ve made christmas popcorn for our surrounding friends every christmas!
it’s the easiest thing to make and oh so yummy! this year is the first year olive has really helped me with it and this year is the first year she is dressed so crazy! baby girl picked her outfit out or should i say lack thereof an oufit?! we’re going on week two or three of no clothes at home and she absolutely loves it! well, it definitely makes laundry a little lighter! haha!
i prepped our ingredients {popped the corn, opened the toppings, and readied the tools!} and boom! we were ready to go! i dumped a small bit of popcorn, at a time, into a bowl so we don’t have huge batches to cover. it’s best to do a small amount each time because you really want to coat the popcorn with the chocolate! olive sprinkled on the pretzels, m&ms, and we dusted each batch with perils!
olive so patiently helped me with each round and at the very end of it, i let her eat a piece and she was smitten! she loved it and gave me a thumbs up! i filled a santa cup up for her and she was a happy camper!
i then divvied up the popcorn into each jar and voila! they were ready to go out to each of our neighbor friends!
we had just enough left over for us and guess who ate it all? yup…miss olive!
get it girl!
[prepping the jars]
[yeahhhhhh, her baking outfit. she’s a nut! i love it! she only wears her undies and the most random stuff. it cracks me up!]
[if you don’t know by now, i liiiiiive in pj’s!]
[i love this girl! her outfit choices crack me up!]
every year, i kind of do the same thing. maybe one day i will switch it up and make something different but as of now, making christmas popcorn for the neighbors is so fun and easy!!! i stress easy because this mama doesn’t have much time anymore, especially during the holidays!
this treat requires very simple ingredients: 2 microwavable popcorn packs, 2 bags of white chocolate, pretzels, m&m’s, and christmas sprinkles. i popped the popcorn and then melted the chocolate. my favorite way to melt chocolate morsels is to boil two inches of water in a pot, put a broiler on top and then another small pot in it to melt the chocolate. i melt small batches of chocolate to ensure it doesn’t coagulate or seize, plus i prefer to make small amounts of christmas popcorn to ensure each nook and cranny gets coated with yummy goodness!
i put out a large sheet of wax paper and spread the popcorn out, poured copious amounts of m&m’s, dumped a handful of the broken pretzels, and then drizzled the chocolate in a zig zag pattern across the mixture. after the chocolate, i then dumped a generous heaping of sprinkles all over the popcorn. it transforms into a yummy, sweet, decadent treat for the holidays! mmmmmmm
after the chocolate dries, i then packaged it into mason jars…wide mouth mason jars are best but i only had regular mouth jars on hand. i had pre-dressed them up in festive paper, ribbon, and string.
ta da! yummy, easy gifts for your awesome neighbors! {we are so lucky to be surrounded by awesome neighbors!} i love the holidays – ’tis the season of giving out sweet treats and fun gifts!
[dressing up the jars]
[the simple easy, unhealthy ingredients]
[melting chocolate]
[i would turn around and this candy thief would sneak m&m’s off the counter! i had a picture of her totally laughing, sneaking the candy but it was so blurry…wahhhhh]
while i was at target the other day, the idea of making christmas popcorn {literally} popped into my head. i was super thrilled at the thought! so, i grabbed a bunch of ingredients and put it into the shopping cart to create the yummy goodness.
my first attempt was an utter failure. our microwave is old, it’s a hand me down from the house and it’s quite unpredictable on how it heats our food. we have a new one, but we won’t put it out until we remodel our kitchen. so i burnt the popcorn and burned the chocolate. fail. i was super bummed and a bit frustrated.
i cleared my head and tried again. this time, it was a complete success! i figured out the right cooking time for the popcorn and decided to melt the chocolate over the stove instead. perfecto. the popcorn was fluffy and the chocolate melted seamlessly {no clumps, no seizing, no graininess}.
[mulit-tasking: writing thank you cards and collecting ingredients for my baking excursion]
as for the popcorn, you can either pop it the old fashioned way, buy kernels and pop it over the stove {it depends on if you want your popcorn free of other flavors}. i chose to use the microwave bags of buttered popcorn.
what you will need:
four bags of microwavable buttered popcorn bags
two 12 oz. bags of white chocolate morsels
one 12 oz. bag of milk chocolate morsels
one bag of mini m&m’s
red and green nonpereils
one bag of mini pretzels
one dozen 32 oz wide mouth ball jars
red twine or raffia to decorate with
[popped corn]
[melting white chocolate // use a double broiler (fill the bottom pot with one inch of water) boil the water and then turn down the heat // add the chocolate to the top pot – constantly stir the chocolate until there are a few lumps left, remove the chocolate and continue to stir…it will all melt eventually from the heat]
i started with small batches of popcorn. i used two bowls to separate it. a big bowl to make the christmas popcorn in and a smaller bowl to house all the popped corn. i put a small batch of popcorn into the big bowl and drizzled it with the melted white chocolate. i then sprinkled in red and green nonpareils and mini m&m’s. i then took another batch of popcorn and repeated the steps until i used up all the fresh popcorn and all the nooks and crannies where filled with tasty sugary morsels.
[christmas popcorn]
after i made the popcorn, i then dipped pretzels in first, the white chocolate and then i made a batch in milk chocolate. i used wax paper to place all the dipped pretzels and plus, it’s easy to pull off the finished goods. i sprinkled the dipped pretzels in green and red sugar, and rainbow nonpareils to dress them up.
i let the popcorn and pretzels dry and harden up for about an hour. after everything was set, i packed up all the goodies in large ball jars {i love ball jars…so many fun uses}. i like the wide mouth jars so it’s easier to transfer the goodies in and easy to pull it out and eat!
[white chocolate pretzels]
i packed the christmas popcorn first and then topped off the jar with the white dipped pretzels and then the milk chocolate dipped pretzels. i wrote merry christmas on little tags and used raffia string and twine to tie it together for a finished festive look.
[christmas popcorn // ball jar // twine and tag]
annnndd, ta da! christmas popcorn and pretzels! so cute, fun, and tasty. it’s a perfect homemade gift for the holidays for loved ones, neighbors, or co-workers!
