Chocolate caramel popcorn cookies

Here’s a handy way of perking up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. The popcorn gives an added textural dimension and the caramel essence gives an delicious unexpected flavour. Make sure the popcorn is well popped though – finding any hard kernels in your cookie would not be a nice surprise!

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn Cookies (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan) makes 12-16

1 cup caster sugar
2/3 cup sunflower oil
1/3 cup oat milk
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp caramel essence
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup popcorn
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade, grease two baking sheets.
Whisk together the sugar, oil, milk, cornflour and essence until to looks like a thick caramel. Sift in the flour, salt and bicarbonate and bring together to a soft dough. Stir in the popcorn and chocolate chips.
Roll into conker sized balls and place well apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes until starting o turn golden.
Leave to cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack.

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!

Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Popcorn

Popcorn is such a great vehicle for interesting flavour combinations and makes such a moreish snack. This version really is a cinnamon bun in popcorn form – ideal for adding a hit of spiced sweetness to your day – but far easier and healthier!

Cinnamon and Brown Sugar Popcorn (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes 1 large bowlful

3 cups of freshly popped corn
1 tbsp dairy-free spread
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

– Melt together the spread, sugar and cinnamon.

– Pour over the popped corn and stir well until all the corn is coated in the luscious sweet spice.

– Serve

Rocky Road Popcorn

I came across this concept in a cookery book I was flicking through in the bookshop – I didn’t note the title but it was one of two books entirely dedicated to popcorn recipes! Here’s my lucysfriendlyfoods version…

This is rather delicious – rich and sweet, whilst still retaining some popcorn lightness.

In fact, I reckon this is so yummy I’ve entered it to a blog ‘no bake’ contest…

Rocky Road Popcorn (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)

85g dairy-free chocolate
2tbsps dairy-free spread
3 cups freshly popped corn
2 cups vegetarian marshmallows
2 tbsps desiccated coconut, toasted in a dry pan

– Line a square brownie pan with baking parchment or foil
– Melt together the chocolate and dairy-free spread. Stir until smooth and velvety.
– Pour the chocolate mixture over the popcorn, scatter on the coconut. Stir well until all the corn is well coated.
– Cut the marshmallows into quarters with scissors and stir into the popcorn mix.
– Pour into the lined pan. Place baking parchment on top and firmly press down.
– Leave to set in the fridge

– Cut into bars or crumble into clumps!

Toffee Popcorn

My success with a rather delicious salt and vinegar popcorn recipe has spurred me on try some others…. it seems like the start of a popcorn journey with manifold possibilities… and popcorn is the perfect easy-eating snack if you’re still off food like Big S.

I’ve read about using nutritional yeast to make a cheesy flavour which I intend to try, but today’s experiment was dairy-free toffee popcorn. The result was pretty yummy, not dissimilar to Butterkist. Who needs dairy-loaded popcorn when the homemade dairy-free version is just as nice and twice as good for you, and a fraction of the price? 🙂

This recipe was inspired by the one found at Veg Bitch with a couple of little tweaks.

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

makes a large bowlful

2-3 cups freshly popped corn
2 tbsps dairy-free spread
2 tbsps soft brown sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
pinch of salt

– Melt together the dairy-free spread, sugar, syrup and salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for a minute or so.

– Place the freshly popped corn in a very large bowl (you need enough room to stir well)

– Slowly pour the sugar mix over the freshly popped corn, stirring all the time, until all the popcorn is well coated

– Serve

Salt and Vinegar Popcorn

Big S has been really unwell this weekend, so she gets to eat what she wants when she wants – sometimes any food is good. The only things she seems to have wanted are either sweet or zingy. Crisps are always what I fancy when I’m ill, so I thought I’d recreate her favourite zingy salt and vinegar flavour in a healthier popcorn form. After much recipe browsing on the web I came up with this version – salty with a sweet balsamic twang…

Salt and Vinegar Popcorn (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, soya-free, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan)