Peanut Butter Chocolate Popcorn

Popcorn has alway been one of my favorite snacks.  I like it buttered, salted or covered with all sorts of yummy toppings. Growing up we would always look for Grandma’s Christmas box to be delivered by the mailman because it would usually contain some of her famous popcorn balls.  And many Sunday nights our family would sit around watching the Wonderful World of Disney with a huge bowl of sticky, gooey, yummy homemade caramel popcorn.

A few years ago a friend gave me a recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Popcorn and I fell in love.  I love anything Peanut Butter so adding this wonderful coating to popcorn has become a favorite treat of mine.  

Over the years I have learned a few tricks to make the popcorn the best. One of the most important things is to “sift” the popcorn to get all the “Old Maids” out of the mix.  These are all the kernels that have not popped and if you find one while eating this popcorn it can really hurt your teeth.  With clean hands gently grab the air-popped popcorn and transfer into a clean bowl.  As you grab the popcorn gently shake it to let any old maids fall out.  I have had commercial gourmet popcorn filled with old maids and it is a pain to eat and so disappointing.  This little tip will give you the best peanut butter popcorn (or caramel corn) ever.

I always air-pop my popcorn for this recipe, but any popped corn will do.  A lot of times I will not add the chocolate on top and we just eat it right after we make it, so yummy good when it is gooey and warm.  It also makes great gifts.  If I am giving it away I slowly bake it in the oven to hardened the peanut butter coating.  I kept this popcorn in a glass jar for over a week (opening every once in a while to grab a little) and it stayed fresh for over 8 days.  I plan on making this for gifts this Christmas.

This recipe will quickly become a favorite in your house as well.  For gifts it can be put in small cellophane bags, glass jars, mason jars or anything that can close tightly to keep it fresh.

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Popcorn

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Light Corn Syrup
• 1 cup Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 12 oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Pop the popcorn in an air popper
2. With clean hands transfer popped corn to a new clean large bowl to get rid of any old maids
3. In a medium sauce pan combine sugar and corn syrup
4. Over medium heat bring to a boil
5. Once it is at a boil. Boil for 2 minutes while constantly stirring
6. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter and vanilla
7. Stir well to combine
8. Pour over popcorn and gently stir the popcorn making sure it is evenly coated
9. Put popcorn on a cookie sheet with sides.
10. Bake in the oven at 225 degrees for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes
11. Let cool
12. Put the chocolate chips in a ziptop bag
13. Microwave at 30 second intervals until chips are melted
14. Snip a small hole in a corner of the bag
15. Drizzle chocolate over the popcorn
16. Once the chocolate is set put popcorn in an airtight container