Vegan caramel popcorn

Whilst going about my food Googling adventures, I came across a slide show for 25 Healthy No-Salt Popcorn Toppings. There were so many yummy flavours to try, but the one that caught my eye was number 20/26 Caramel. The recipe involves simmering 1 1/2 teaspoons of coconut oil and 1 1/2 tablespoons of maple syrup. Pop your popcorn anyway you like (I used my popcorn maker) and drizzle that caramel goodness all over the popped goodness. I then sprinkled a wee bit of salt onto the popcorn too. Just a pinch :)

I put my bowl into the fridge for about 5 minutes to help the caramel harden up a bit more, but you can enjoy it any way you like. I really enjoyed this recipe and will be chowing down on more of this on future movie nights. 

Vegan chocolate peanut butter popcorn

I had a movie night with my little brother Peter today. We're keen to go and watch The Wolverine in cinemas, but we're both a bit behind and haven't seen some of the other X-men movies. And we call ourselves comic fans? For shame!

I figured that a movie snack was definitely needed and so I decided to pull out my popcorn maker. I just had a look through my blog archives and found my old post for spiced popcorn. I can't believe that it was all the way back in February. Wow, time flies!

I didn't want to just settle for plain popcorn tonight so I Googled some recipes for chocolate popcorn. A lot of the recipes needed melted chocolate (which I didn't have in my pantry) and butter; but that didn't stop me though. 

After being inspired by a vegan recipe for chocolate popcorn, I decided to put together my own recipe for chocolate and peanut butter popcorn. I like my chocolate bitter and my popcorn crunchy. This recipe definitely delivered.

Peter and I watched X-men Origins: Wolverine. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed the movie. Not sure if the popcorn had anything to do with that, but all in all I was not disappointed. I give it a 7/10.

Can't wait to watch The Wolverine!....maybe I can sneak a bag of my chocolate and peanut butter popcorn into the cinema. 

Vegan Chocolate and Peanut Butter Popcorn

Serves 4 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup popcorn kernels
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil 
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (or more if you like it extra chocolaty. I used dutch-processed cocoa powder because the flavour is much more intense)
• 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or agave nectar

Directions

1. Pop the popcorn in a popcorn machine or place in a paper bag and pop in the microwave.
2. Melt the coconut oil and mix in the cocoa powder, peanut butter and maple syrup.
3. Pour chocolate mixture over popcorn and mix until evenly coated.
4. Serve while it's still warm. Any left overs can be put in the fridge and devoured later :)

Popcorn

Whenever I go to the movies, the aroma of popcorn is like heaven on earth, but I never get to satisfy my craving for popcorn because it's made with butter. Luckily, I haven't had to cut out popcorn completely because some caramel popcorn and kettle corn (lightly coated with icing sugar) is made to be vegan friendly. 

As yummy as popcorn is covered in sugar, it actually makes for a pretty healthy snack when air popped without the fatty sugary goodness. But my tastebuds would not be happy with just plain popcorn. I googled some popcorn recipes and found a bunch which range from cinnamon to chilli popcorn. I've never had anything other than buttered, kettle or caramel popcorn and so I thought I might change things up a little. I went and bought myself a popcorn maker the other day and finally put it into good use. I opted for savoury popcorn today and seasoned it with a bit of soya bean oil spray, garlic powder, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper for a bit of bite. 

I've never had this flavoured popcorn before, but I love spices anyways so I really enjoyed munching on this snack :) I think next time I'll sprinkle a bit of cacao power and cinnamon powder over my popcorn for a guilt-free snack to satisfy my sweet tooth.