Saturday, July 02, 2005

Gingerbread Popcorn

Gingerbread Popcorn

15 cups popped popcorn
16 tablespoons (1 cup or 2 sticks) butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 250

Line 2 large baking dishes (I used 9" X 13" pans) with foil and coat with cooking spray. Fill each with 7 1/2 cups popcorn.

Combine butter, brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, ginger, cinnamon, and salt in a large, heavy bottom saucepan. Heat over medium heat until mixture boils. Boil for 5 minutes; stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Pour over popcorn; toss to coat.

Bake at 250 for one hour, carefully stirring the warm mixture about every 15 minutes. Cool completely.

42 comments:

  1. i made this and it was killer. except i used about 1/3 as much popcorn and 2/3 as much ginger topping
    delish :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Crazy good" sounds like putting it mildly :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my gosh! Take me to your leader! I need to make this...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh Joe! I had all of my baked goods all ready with tags and everything...then I saw your post. The candy cane biscotti is in the oven as I write this and the Gingerbread Popcorn is cooling on my counter. Thanks for such great recipes! I will have to make another batch of the popcorn to keep at home - it's really good!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anon - Glad you liked it!

    JEP - But, it is the truth!

    Rebecca - Hop to it! It is so worth it.

    Amanda - Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, this sounds incredible! Thank you for the recipe. I am going to do my best to fit this in this weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gemma - I hope you enjoy it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How do you pop your popcorn? Does it need to be air popped?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Terri - You can pop it however you want. We've done it a variety of ways from air popped, to bagged butter popcorn to the old-fashioned way in the pan - they all worked fine for us.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have this baking in the oven right now and it smells AMAZING! I hope I can exercise restraint and not eat it all before I bring it in to the office tomorrow.

    By the way, I've been stalking all of your holiday treats posts to get ideas. Love the ones you share!

    ReplyDelete
  11. KA - This stuff is wicked hard to resist!

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's taken me years to make this, but I'm so glad I finally did! Thank you for the recipe.

    http://bakingaway.blogspot.com/2009/12/gingerbread-popcorn.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. I made a half recipe and it was delicious! I think I took to long to pour the ginger mixture over the popcorn...it was thick and very hard to mix. I wound up with a lot of partially-covered popcorns and a few that had extremely thick coatings! Even so, my family loved it. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. BA - See what you've been missing?!

    Michiyo - It does begin to set up after a few minutes and it is best to get it onto the popcorn right away.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Crazy good does not go far enough in explaining how good this recipe is! It is so much easier than it looks. Thank you from my entire family.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This turned out so awesomely that I ditched plans to make more batches of the salty caramel corn recipe on Orangette this week.

    In case anyone is wondering, you can make this with brown rice syrup instead of corn syrup and it works just fine.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yarn - Glad you enjoyed it!

    Maven - Good to know!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Have given this a street name. Has now been dubbed "G-Crack" in this house! Talk about addictive. Pure. Evil. Genius. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Erndog - I just had a bowl of this myself!

    ReplyDelete
  20. So If you make this early for Xmas how do you store it fridge? Looks amazing going to try to get this done tomorrow.
    Thanks Dale

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dale - I haven't made it that far in advance. I don't know if keeping it in the refrigerator would be a good idea - you may lose the crunch. If you experiment, let us know!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Light or dark corn syrup?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anon - I've always used light.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dark or light molasses. I suggest you may want to specify that because it does make a difference. I used dark molasses today because that is what I commonly use and it tasted light burnt sugar. Too strong. I may have to dump it.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anon - Well, our molasses just says "molasses". It is the unsulphured type.

    If you are talking about "Blackstrap Molasses" then no, I wouldn't use that. I would call for that specifically if so.

    I don't see many choices in the markets around here (or any other place we have lived in the US) other that regular unsulphured Molasses and Blackstrap/Robust.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thanks Joe! I purchased my molasses from a health food store and after some reading, I realize I did get blackstrap. I didn't know it was blackstrap because the bottle is not labeled blackstrap. I found out it is blackstrap because it provides excellent source of potassium, calcium, magnesium and other minerals that only blackstrap provides. I just openend this jar and only used it with my sweet potatoes which did tasted good. I'll give the popcorn another try with Grandma's brand molasses from supermarket. But in the future, can you be more specific with your ingredients for ameateur bakers as myself? Would be helpful to include brand names if you favor a certain brand. Maybe it's just me!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I always buy Brer Rabbit brand molasses - the one labeled "Mild Molasses Flavor". I've heard too many tales of bad molasses experiences, so I stick with the tried and true!
    Anyhow, I made three batches over the weekend and was definitely challenged by how quickly it sets up. Next time I may use a little less popcorn, but it worked out fine because I gave it a good stirring with a wooden spoon, and as soon as it had cooled down enough, I dug in with my (newly washed) hands and just mixed it that way. No better tool! :)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thanks limoncello! That is the brand I purchased yesterday and is determined to give this another try. I brought the batch I made with blackstrap molasses to my workplace and left it in the breakroom. By the end of the day, all the popcorn was all consumed. Did not go to waste. I have to say that each kernel of popcorn is nice and crispy which is great. I will give this a second try today.

    ReplyDelete
  29. From my test kitchen:

    http://lemonchiffoncake.blogspot.com/2010/12/gingerbread-caramel-popcorn.html

    ReplyDelete
  30. We absolutely adore this stuff. I made a batch using pumpkin pie spice in place of the ginger (ran out of ginger) and it may have been even better than the original. Either version is a definite repeater around here.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This is soooo yummy! I had thought of making some changes: add more spices, double the candy coating, try 1/2 recipe first, etc. But I'm glad I made it just as specified. It was perfect! Cruncy, sweet, spicy, salty, a-ma-zing!!! This is going to be a regular on the Christmas treat to-do list.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I made this tonight. I'm going to have a hard time sharing it with my family tomorrow. Super tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  33. I LOVE this popcorn! I made a batch of it on Sunday and since then have made three more batches, which will mostly be given away, thankfully!!! Delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  34. This looks so good! What type of brown sugar is more appropriate - light or dark?

    ReplyDelete
  35. Phaedra - Since there is already a good amount of molasses in this, I've only used Light.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I made this for Christmas this year, and I just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed it...it was a HUGE hit at our Christmas party. I have already gotten several requests to make it again! Thanks for sharing the recipe :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. joe, i don't know why i waited so long to make this. it will be a december regular from now on, i guarantee it. thanks for the recipe & happy new year to you both!

    ReplyDelete
  38. I just whipped up a batch of this (sort of a belated Christmas treat) and it's amazing. I'm planning to bring some to my co-workers tomorrow...if it lasts that long. :)

    Thanks for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Gearing up to make this again this year! I always look forward to your holiday treat posts and wish I was the recepient of such an amazing list of yumminess!

    Hope you all are having a great holiday season!

    ReplyDelete
  40. (P.S. Just pinned you on Pinterest! This recipe is too good not to be a regular at Christmas time!)

    ReplyDelete
  41. made this last Christmas and it was so popular, i am going to be making it again this year. A nice twist on a traditional carmel corn.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Just getting ready to make this for the fourth year. I like to add some nuts to the mixture. It's always a hit......Just a nice twist the traditional carmel corn that i used to make. Have given the recipe out so many times.

    ReplyDelete