With summer coming on I've been looking for low calorie snacks and am quite taken with popcorn candy. I just pop a half cup of kernels into my air popper and spritz the popped corn with just enough butter spray to make a bit of salt stick. Meanwhile I melt about a fourth a cup of margarine in a glass bowl in the microwave adding half a bag of mini marshmallows to it. When the marshmallows are melty I stir in about a half cup of chocolate chips then add the popped corn while trying to avoid the unpopped or only partially popped pieces. Then mash the whole mix into a lightly buttered pan rice krispy treat style and cut into squares. It's also good with about a quarter cup of peanut butter added into the mix while all the soft stuff is melting. Peanuts are a good add-in. I think I'll try some m&m's in it too. This is really a light snack. It's chewy, high in fiber and satisfies my sweet tooth easily. And it's also rather cheap.
This sounds amazing. I am going to try this out. You have also solved an issue for me. I make air popped popcorn but can't get anything to stick to it. I never thought of spray oil. I didn't want to add too much fat - so this is the solution. I like adding chocolate chips and chopped almonds as a snack, but it's rather dry. I like the thought of melted marshmallow. Yummy!
Wow! Thanks so much for the tip will try to get some of these snacks. Especially with summer coming up, I am in dire need for summer snacks. I really appreciate this post.
Ooh, this sounds rather delicious indeed. I’m a fan of sweet things mixed with a little bit of salt, especially if melted marshmallows are involved, yum! So I’ll definitely have to experiment with this at some point soon. Will also have to try butter spray with li hing mui powder, I can never get it to stick to my popcorn and I think that should do the trick.
Has anyone attempted this method but with Ruffles? You'll need: A 9x13 or 9x9 (thicker) pan lined with parchment 3 TB butter 4 1/2 cups mini marshmallows 1 TSP vanilla 6 cups crushed Ruffles Chips (or any chips of a similar nature) Directions? Same as with making a Rice Krispy Treat. Log In If you're looking for something a tad lower in the caloric intake aspect I would suggest vanilla pudding popcorn: 6 cups popped popcorn 1 cup white chocolate chips 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 box of instant vanilla pudding Melt chocolate with oil in microwave at 25 secondsMix in instant puddingLightly toss popcorn with mixture & spread out flat on wax paperWhen cooled break off pieces as you please
I guess I should have mentioned that you need to choose a bowl large enough to hold all of the popcorn when you're melting your margarine or butter, as everything will be mixed in that one bowl. And I don't suppose it matters what kind of salt you use, but I use sea salt. Can't think of a better combination than chocolate and sea salt. My husband was skeptical when he first saw these treats. I guess chocolate popcorn didn't sound good to him, but after the first one he kept coming back for another and another until he finally took the whole plate and disappeared. I made more the next morning for myself. And the thing about spray butter or oil on the popcorn to make the salt stick was a trick it took me awhile to find also. It used to really bug me that I couldn't have salted air popped corn because the salt always ended up in the bottom of the bowl. And I mean ALL of it. I noticed the last time I bought a can of butter flavored spray oil that they even sell a can specifically for popcorn--popcorn butter spray right there with all the cooking sprays in walmart. I started to get some but decided to just get what I always get because I use it in so many other ways as well and it is just fine for the popcorn. I like to use some of the flavored popcorn salts with it, though. Particularly the cheddar flavor.
Looking good, both the popcorn candy and the ruffles one. I have some experience making the popcorn candy, have read some recipes online and tried it a few times. Next in line is the ruffles experiment for me.
@hayrake Hmm I am not certain how low calorie it is but it is probably better than other cookies with flour, sugar and all of these thigs. That is prety cool how you came up with this strategy though. It sounds pretty tasty and it is one of the things tht would not be too difficult to make. YOu should take a pic of it...and post it on facebook sounds good.
