to be profoundly self-satisfied to have made toffee popcorn

[Quintanimo]

It is nearly as good as Butterkist.

I feel I am experiencing an unreasonable level of glee - given that I have a full and busy parenting life.

It somehow seems so Mom-ish and frivolous at the same time!

Pschaww!

I bet you guys are doing proper worthwhile things, like cleaning your kitchen or learning Mandarin.

Not sitting on the sofa smugly snaffling only-slightly-grainy toffee popcorn.

YABU because I see no recipe!

Ooh how did you do it? Loving home made popcorn at the moment but can only do sweet/salty

Recipe pleas?!

OK - the sauce was 200ml condensed milk, 100g each of white and brown sugar and 80g of butter, slowly melted together then bubbled a bit more vigorously for a minute to caramelise. Stirred through popcorn and baked at 170 degrees to dry out for 15 mins - then cool and gobble. (Oooh - and I added a pinch of seasalt. Salted caramel - natch!).

BUt I have rather a lot of toffee popcorn left - because while it was heating and cooling I also made a batch of butter& seasalt popcorn for the DC - which was demolished - and they were even appreciative. Normally my DC are only appreciative if I give them £2 for the chip shop .

Ta!

Honestly - Butterkist do do very good popcorn.

But I am walking 10 feet tall that I am now mistress of my own movie night snacks .

do you have to pop the popcorn first then or does it pop in the oven?

Ok, you're less unreasonable now

Hmmm I actually have a tin of condensed milk in the cupboard...

Yeah - you pop the corn first - and don't do what I did and dump the sauce on top of popped and unpopped kernels indiscriminately - because the sauce makes the popcorn clump - and then you keep getting hard little kernels almost taking your teeth out!

I used a fancy tutorial to making 'perfect' corn (heat up empty pan, dump corn, take off heat, put back on heat) - but I can't be bothered to write it out because it seemed to offer me no protection from either burning or having unpopped ones.

I am normally very pragmatic and hard nosed about messing up the kitchen for twee little cooking projects - but I justified this as part of my January Cure clear out kitchen cupboards! Most recipes call for Golden Syrup - but I didn't want to introduce new half-used tins to my stores.

I've tried lots of ways of making 'perfect' popcorn, they're all bollocks. I like to use my massive stock pot when making popcorn

I quite like the partly popped kernels, but the sad unpopped ones hide amongst the fluffy ones in an attempt to break your teeth.

Mmm - yes - and toffee sauce just gives them extra grip!

But I'm still proud.

DH and I are making this right now.

And YANBU to be proud!

I think you are going to be my least favourite poster from now on :D my teeth will be ruined after I make this over and over again sometimes. Ruined I tell you!

Oooo it sounds delicious. Will be grabbing the ingredients tomorrow.
As for perfect popcorn, we use a whirleypop
We got ours online about 5 years ago, having watched a YouTube video with one in. It's used weekly and its still in a good condition. (Oddly satisfying to crank the handle too!)

Ooh - I want one! Do they really work?

It really does! Ours came from one of the american sweet websites for about £30. We tend to use icing sugar, sea salt, or a grinder thingy with vanilla sugar in for quick toppings but it is lovely plain.
All you need is a small bit of ground nut oil and a cup of popcorn kernels.
Its also great for non expensive and quick pta sale contributions - I make small bags of it, tied with ribbons, for school plays etc (that detail may actually out me!)

or any oil! I like groundnut...

I have one of those popcorn pans! Look in TK Maxx if you want one as ours was £15. I see them in there all the time and we got ours about 2 years ago.

I have a much easier recipe...you just need nerves of steel and a good heavy pan.

First pop your corn

then melt enough quite a lot of butter to cover the bottom of whichever pan you used for the popping
when it is all melted add enough also quite a lot of demerara sugar to also cover the bottom of the pan

heat until it looks like a pan of lava....you have to watch it and keep it moving...just before it is ready it will go all oily and gritty and separated, hold your nerve and keep heating and stirring and suddenly you have caramel

Hurl in all the popcorn and mix like a demon.

Add some cinnamon with the sugar right at the start if you like cinnamon.