Food Friday: Playdate Popcorn

This December, at our Haiti Christmas Party, friends of ours brought us the best-ever party ‘hostess’ gift. It was a big tin of handmade sweet&salty popcorn. My mother taught me to never go to anyone’s house empty-handed, so I can appreciate a good hostess gift, and seriously, this one tops them all. The day after the party our family of five devoured almost the entire tin. The next day, Monday, by the time we came home from work, Margie had finished it off. Seriously– it was that good. I asked our friend (hi Jennifer!) for the recipe. And she gave it to me. But there was one caveat. In order to make it, we needed a special stove-top crank popcorn popper. I thought about it for a couple of weeks, and then, with all of us craving that popcorn, bought one online. Do you own a Whirley Pop? Well, if you don’t, I highly recommend investing in one! It is well worth it —- just for playdates alone!!! Ever since we bought it, we’ve used the Whirley Pop during every playdate to make that sweet&salty popcorn. K & O call it “playdate popcorn.” Kids love it. The making of it, the eating of it. They love every part of it. Just today K & O had a playdate— they each invited a friend over and the four of them had a blast. And we made “playdate popcorn” of course. And all four boys went crazy for it. Here’s the recipe:

Playdate Popcorn~~

• 1 tablespoon corn oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup popcorn
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the popper on medium high heat. Add oil, popcorn, and sugar (in that order… one on top of the other). Crank well to mix. Pop, mixing well throughout popping (i.e., cranking slowly the whole time), until all of the kernels are popped (i.e., you don’t hear them popping anymore). Here are Kyle and Lucas cranking away:

Dump into a large bowl and add salt — stirring so that the popcorn is well coated. It is important to add the salt right away when the popcorn is still hot; the salt will not stick to the popcorn if it is already cooled. Serve right away. Or, let cool completely and then store in airtight container. Here are the boys eating it right away!

Serves four 5-6 year old boys!