Peanut Butter Popcorn with Chocolate Drizzle

Here’s a super fast, easy, yummy treat for you to make for Peanut Butter Popcorn with Chocolate Drizzle (yes, the chocolate is optional, but uh, why would you not?) ;)

No, really, this was so fast and easy.  Besides the fact that we just had our neat, new popcorn maker out like last week and I could NOT find it, the rest took literally only about five minutes.  We finally found the popper in the strangest place.  Sometimes you’d think we’ve lived here for years, but no, we just moved here a few months ago.  Sigh.

I got the recipe for this Peanut Butter Popcorn from a friend of mine growing up.  I think we were probably only about 14 years old.  And I’d noticed over the years that I still had the actual recipe card she wrote and gave me (I think we were at a young women’s activity where we swapped recipes).  From time to time I’d see that card in my recipe box, the same box that also still holds some of the recipes from when I took a cooking class in 7th grade!  I remember that a lot of those recipes from school were not very good, just not the best recipes and having a bunch of 12-13 year olds make them, yeah, they just didn’t always turn out very good.  So why are they still in my recipe box?  I don’t know, it’s just kind of fun to keep them.  Maybe one of these days I’ll talk myself in to trying one of those old recipes.

Just out of the blue though, my friend, Patty, contacted me just to see if I happen to have a clue what her old recipe for peanut butter popcorn had in it.  She said over the years she couldn’t find the recipe and had tried many others, but never liked others as much as she remembered hers being like.  What are the odds that I actually have THE card with her writing on it.  I sent her a picture copy of the recipe.  We both were surprised that the recipe didn’t have butter.  In fact, it only had three ingredients, besides the popped popcorn.

Patty’s Peanut Butter Popcorn (with optional chocolate drizzle-adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!)

1/2 cup unpopped popcorn

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup peanut butter (I used chunky)

2 ounces chocolate, melted

Pop the popcorn in an air popper and put it in a big bowl (Really, you could use a fat free microwave popcorn, probably two bags).  Heat sugar and corn syrup in a medium sized saucepan until the sugar is dissolved, I let it boil on medium for 1-2 minutes.  You just don’t want the sugar to start burning.  Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter.  Pour immediately over popcorn and stir to coat evenly.  Let cool just enough to eat.

After peanut butter mixture is cooled on the popcorn, drizzle with melted chocolate and let it harden.  (I stuck it in the fridge for a few minutes.)  Break up pieces that have clumped together.  Enjoy!

You could add peanuts to this, or I’d also thought of pretzels, M&M’s, there are a lot of things you could add to this popcorn that would be great additions.  This popcorn would also be a fun treat to bag up in cute packages and give away as gifts!  Thanks for the memory, Patty! ;)

***Later today, I made the peanut butter popcorn again and used Sugar in the Raw (turbinado) in place of the granulated sugar, agave nectar in place of the corn syrup and Adam’s all natural peanut butter and it’s just as good, if not better.  The peanut flavor is stronger, instead of just a super sweet flavor.  It also has a chewier texture.  So now, it’s even healthier!  Love it!