I grew up with popcorn. Dad always loved his popcorn and I can remember having it as a staple in our home growing up. Sunday nights seemed to be popcorn nights a lot, as well as nights that we had a babysitter. Mom used to use her Farberware skillet to pop the corn and we loved hearing the popping kernels bang away on the lid, steam seeping from under the lip. When it was done, the warm popped corn was dumped into the large, green Rubbermaid bowl and then salted. Sometimes we had the treat of melting bacon grease and pouring that over the top first. We are all convinced that Dianne made the best popcorn and somehow talked her into making it for us all the time!
I guess traditions like this don't change much. Our family today is growing up with popcorn, too! One of my favorite Christmas presents every year is a 12.5 pound bag of popcorn from Dad that he gets from Dannemillers in Norton. That usually lasts us until spring when we somehow have to get another bag from him. Around the middle of July we get another bag that we try to make last until Christmas again. It's not always easy, but seriously, there is no better popcorn than Dannemillers so I try not to run out of this precious commodity.
Since I babysit several children after school, one of their favorite snacks to have is a huge bowl of popcorn, too! I usually just use Watkins Butter Salt on it, but unfortunately, it's been discontinued, so I'm just getting the generic stuff from Bulk Barn now. When we want a treat, the boys will sprinkle Watkins Seasoning Salt on theirs or maybe even cinnamon sugar, but my all-time favorite lately has been to sprinkle Watkins' Jalapeno Dip Mix on mine! OH YUM! It's sooo delicious, and no extra calories. Bonus!
I also make several popcorn snacks for the kids that we all love and I'll rotate them to make everyone happy, but usually, just a plain bowl of popcorn makes everyone smile! I think I am making popcorn at least five days of the week, if not more, and we never get tired of it.
Here are some of our favorite recipes. Feel free to share yours, too, because chances are, we'll try them!
Cinnamon Popcorn
4 qts popped corn
1/3 c. butter, melted
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. Watkins cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
Mix ingredients together, pour over popped corn and toss. Bake at 300F for 10 minutes.
LuAnn's Party Mix (I have no idea who LuAnn is, but I love her recipe!)
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. taco seasoning mix
3 qt. popped corn
12 c. Crispix cereal
6 c. tiny pretzels
1 c. peanuts
Candy corn or M&M's optional
Mix together and bake at 325 for 5 minutes or microwave 2 batches for 1 minute on high.
JELL-O Rainbow Popcorn
8 c. popped corn
1 c. peanuts
1/4 c. butter
3 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar (or white)
1 pkg (4 serving size) JELL-O strawberry or lime
Over low heat, cook butter and syrup in small saucepan until butter is melted. Add sugar and gelatin; stir until completely dissolved. Bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce to low and simmer 5 minutes. Pour over popcorn, tossing to coat. Spread into foil lined pan. Bake 10 minutes, cool, remove from pan and break into small pieces.
Baked Caramel Popcorn
1 c. margarine
1/2 c corn syrup
1/2 t. baking soda
2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
20- 24 cups popped plain popcorn
Melt butter in medium saucepan. Stir in sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil stirring often at medium heat. Boil without stirring for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and soda. Pour over popcorn which has been placed in a huge bowl. Stir until well coated. Turn onto 2 large shallow baking pans. Bake at 250 for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes while baking. Pour into a bowl and toss once in awhile while it cools so that it is not all stuck together.
Store in a airtight container.
Mom's Caramel Corn
6 qt fresh unsalted popped corn
2 c sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 c. boiling water
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c salted, skinned peanuts (optional - added to corn before pouring syrup on top)
Mix sugar, tartar and boiling water thoroughly. Over moderate heat, boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, cover pan. Uncover and continue cooking w/o stirring, but watch closely until syrup takes on a bright caramel color. (If too dark, it will have a bitter flavor.) Remove from heat at once and stir in butter and soda. Mix thoroughly. It will be foamy. Pour immediately over the top of the popped corn, covering as much corn as possible. Quickly lift and mix until all corn is covered with the candy. Spread onto waxed paper to cool. Do not press together. When cooled, break into smaller pieces and store in a closely covered container.
4 comments:
Thanks, Mar for the pop corn recipes! I just told somebody about your Mom's wonderful Carmel corn and told her I'd have to find the recipe somewhere. So, thanks again. We just picked up anther 12.5 # bag of Dannemiller's popcorn for our friends. That makes 62.5 lbs. of it we got since the middle of December! We used some of it for gifts and Ron/Tammy did also. Nice gifts. EVERYBODY LOVES DANNEMILLER POPCORN!
A. Peg
Good post.
My dad loved popcorn and ate it almost every Sunday night.
Thanks for the recipes!
Maybe that's why we had popcorn every Sunday, too! I never knew it stemmed from Grandpa loving it and eating it then! It's definitely something that's been passed down to our family. :)
As I read through this, I was going to add the caramel corn, but you have it! That was Grandpa P's favorite. He said it didn't stick to his teeth. I also thought of Grandpa Schley sitting in his recliner on Sunday afternoons with a bowl of popcorn in his lap. Yes, it is a long tradition! Keep it up. Your Dad still makes it a couple of times a week. He's the best popper around this house!
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