Leprechaun Popcorn Treat

My favorite treat as of late is popcorn, sweet or salty, it does not matter. A little something to snack on while working on chores or watching a movie, it is just perfect.

Today I am sharing our Leprechaun Popcorn. It requires three ingredients but you can add anything you would like to help sweeten the pot.

Yum!

Items needed:

Cookie sheet

Tin foil {heavy duty would be best}

Cooking spray or butter

Small pot

Whisk

12 Cups popped popcorn {about 1/2 unpopped}

3 oz Lime Jell-o

14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 bag of Mini M&M's

Place the tin foil on the cookie sheet being sure to cover the entire sheet and even fold over the edges. This will help keep the tin foil in place. Spray the entire sheet with a generous amount of cooking spray. You will be thankful you did later on when it is time to remove the popcorn. Trust me!

Pop the popcorn. Measure out 12 Cups making sure to leave behind any kernels that did not pop. No body likes to bit into a yummy treat and chomp down on a kernel. Ouch.

Place on the cookie sheet, put it in the oven and heat to 300˚. This will help keep the popcorn warm so when it is time to add the Jell-o mix, it will spread easier over the warm popcorn.

Mix the Jell-o and sweetened condensed milk on medium heat 4-5 minutes, stirring with a whisk. Stir the whole time because it has a tendency to burn on the bottom. My mix never boils but it does become a little thicker as it heats on the stove.

Remove the cookie sheet of popcorn from the oven and pour the Jell-o mix over it. Use a plastic spatula {I even put some cooking spray on that to help keep the mixture from sticking} to evenly mix. 

Bake at 300˚ for 20 minutes, stirring ever 5 minutes. This helps to keep the stuff on top from burning since it will all be rotated. Also make sure that you do not have high peaks of popcorn from stirring, those will burn pretty fast.

Remove from the oven after 20 minutes and let it cool. After it has cooled add the mini M&M's or bite size candy of choice. Then break apart into individual servings or place the whole thing in a bowl and enjoy! Store extra in an air tight container.

A couple for movie night

Tip: If you want a little salty mixed in with your treat you could try using lightly butter and salted microwave popcorn.

Hint: I like my Leprechaun Popcorn to be a bit chewy so cooking at a medium temperature and baking for only 20 minutes will help keep it soft. If you would like it to be more crunchy try cooking the Jell-o mix at a little higher temp or baking it an extra five minutes.

Some for the neighbors

Download a pdf of the recipe here.

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Freezer Microwave Popcorn

Growing up we always made air-pop popcorn. When I moved out to go to college the convenience of the microwave bag was hard to beat. The over processed butter would get old....nothing beats just melted butter poured on freshly popped pop-corn with a sprinkle of salt.

I was so excited when my sister suggested that I make my own microwave popcorn. It is more like air-pop, but does not require that I take out the air-popper and it is the perfect size for one or two people.

Here is what you will need: paper lunch bags, tape, popcorn and this fun printable that you can download for free here.

It will take a little bit of trial and error to figure out the amount of kernels and time needed to pop per bag so that you will be left with the fewest amount of un-popped kernels and the stuff already popped does not start to burn.

• 1/3 C kernels
• Pour them in the bag {I place them in without opening the bag up since the bag will need to be flat}.
• Now roll the bag where the fold are.
• Fold the top over and tape shut. I like to place a label on them so that I am sure to use the oldest first when I go to pop a bag.

When it is time to pop, simply unroll the bag and use the tape piece to pinch the opening of the bag closed {this will keep the popcorn from falling out of the bag when it is popped}.

I hit the popcorn button on the microwave and add 30 seconds. The key to popping popcorn is listening for when the pops have approx. 3 seconds between them. This is a perfect time to pull the bag out, getting the most of the kernels popped and keeping it from burning.