Popcorn Missionary

Popcorn is the official snack of this house. I mean things could be worse, it could be a bag of chips right? It's not like those crinkling bags never enter the house. I'd love to say that my conscious will let me throw a bag of chips at them and be done, but it's a noisy beast that drives me to far better treats. (That, and I fear Michael Pollan would knock on my door one day while I was just opening up the bag and send me to some far off remote island stocked with only Twinkies and high fructose corn syrup to serve out my punishment for being a bad, food loving, semi granola hippy like, has been nutrition major, mom).

Thus I turn to popcorn. It has far less fat, and much more fiber. Plus, we've turned into a ceremonious ritual involving techniques and timing, likened to those of rain dances, or a snake sacrament.



We are fortunate enough to have one of these gadgets about the house.



It's a Whirley Pop and it rocks. Now, I typically don't like gadgets whose sole purposes are tied to one ingredient, but this thing gets used. Cambrell is pretty much the king of popcorn around here (not to be confused with the king of pop). Even without the Whirley Pop he made the best stove top popcorn. Mine has only recently come close to entering the realm of his quality control aka: popcorn zealot.

This popcorn fanaticism not only pertains to how puffy the corn pops and how evenly your butter is distributed. These people around here are serious purists and typically frown upon any other ingredients besides butter and salt to adorn their kernels. I've tried to lure them to the other side with delicacies of rosemary Parmesan, Chipotle chili, and even your ever popular slightly sweet Kettle Corn. They weren't having it. I had defiled the angelic glow of their gleaming white popcorn.



I was beginning to think that the unimaginative popcorn eating would go on for eternity until I stumbled over this post about peanut butter popcorn on The Kitchn. I wasn't even going to attempt another futile adaptation, but it was something in the comments that caught my eye. The seventh comment from amt230, they said swap out the vanilla with Sriracha sauce. This could be it. This may just be crazy enough to deprogram these extremists. They just needed a little kick, a little spice.



Whirley Pop at the ready I made 2 batches of popcorn. One, pure and untouched just to lure them in. The other completely covered in a sweet and spicy, nutty irresistible coating. The plain Jane popcorn was gone in minutes and I used some self control and didn't eat all the peanut butter popcorn. I left it out and it pulled them in. Sure enough there were little handfuls taken. Mummers throughout of a revival. I had them for sure.

Now I typically just like to post my own recipes on this little blog, but this stuff is good. It deserves another mention in internet land and is a perfect after school snack.

Spicy Peanut butter Popcorn
only slightly adapted from The Kitchn's Recipe here

1/3 cup popcorn kernels
3 Tblspn Vegetable oil
Fine salt
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (should be free of added sugar)
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce

Place oil and kernels in large pot and cover with lid. Place over high heat and cook until you hear all kernels are popped. Pour into large bowl and sprinkle with salt. In a small saucepan heat up honey and sugar. Let boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and Sriracha sauce. It's not an easy task, but trust me it works out in the end. Pour sauce over popcorn and stir gently as not to break up all your puffy corn. Spread onto a cookie sheet in an even layer to cool. This makes it firm up better and seems to keep the corn from getting too soggy. Once cool, serve in a bowl.



I'm not saying they have completely repented from their banal popcorn days, or are even close. But they do eat this and like it quite a bit. Baby steps, baby steps.