Maple Syrup Popcorn

Carrying on with my recent run of snacks – here’s a lovely sweet, tempting maple syrup popcorn recipe – perfect for whilst watching a movie, or a slightly healthy after school snack. It went down a storm with Big S and her playdate last Friday night!

I used the new (well, new to me) microwave way to make popcorn which I only found ‘quite’ satisfactory – the kernels that popped did so beautifully with no soggy bits left, but I did find that maybe a 1/4 of the kernels I put in didn’t pop at all. Its probably the way I did it (any tips gratefully received) but for a fuss-free way to pop corn, it’s pretty good. You simply put the unpopped kernels into a paperbag, fold over the top a few times and then microwave on high for 3 or so minutes until you stop hearing the corn popping. Et voila, beautifully (well some of it!) popped, fatfree corn. Of course you can just pop in the usual way. Then once popped you just pour over the mixture outlined below.

Maple Syrup Popcorn (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes 1 big bowlful

• 1/2 cup un-popped popcorn, freshly popped will produce a big bagful
• 1 tbsp dairy-free spread/butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• salt

– Place the freshly popped, warm popcorn in a large bowl

– Melt together the spread and maple syrup.

– When starting to bubble furiously, take off the heat and stir in the vanilla.

– Pour over the popcorn and toss well. Sprinkle with salt.

– Tip the popcorn only a baking sheet and spread out to dry.

– Eat!