Popcorn flavours from Luniac Glamour's 2nd Birthday Party
August 01, 2014
Popcorn is such a fantastic, versatile snack. You can keep it super simple and enjoy it naked and natural, throw in some savoury flavours or pile on the sweet stuff!
It's a great, simple and cheap snack, and can (depending on your flavour choices!) be a healthy nibble.
I was delighted to be asked by Luniac Glamour to provide some snacks for their second birthday party.
Luniac Glamour is a beauty bar and local shoppe featuring local designers, located in East Greenwich, RI.
Wanting to give the lovely Luniac ladies something tasty to celebrate their big day I chose three different flavour combinations for some popcorn packets for visitors to sample:
- Simple Salt and Pepper
- Spicy Sweet Chili
- Cinnamon Bun
Simple Salt and Pepper
Ingredients:
1/2 cup pop corn kernals
2 tablespoon ground sea salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper- not pre ground it's too fine and harsh in flavour
2 tablespoons vegetable/sunflower/canola oil
Method:
Whilst you may baulk a the idea of two table spoons of salt per 1/2 cup of un-popped kernels, I assure you you will not be eating ALL that salt on your own. 1/5 cup of popcorn kernels makes about 15 cups of popped corn, I was preparing this for a large event so adjust your amounts as necessary.
Heat the oil in a large, lidded stock pock on a high heat until it is shimmering, add one or two kernels to check the heat. If you add the corn too soon before the oil is hot enough to pop it, it will dry out and create soggy pops.
Once your test kernels have popped throw in the rest of the corn and replace the lid. When the corn starts popping vigorously, shake the pan around to redistribute the kernels and make sure they all have an even time on the heat.
When the popping subsides pour out the popcorn onto a large dish, shake over the salt and pepper and mix well. It's best to get the flavourings onto the corn whilst it's still hot so that it can infuse and stick.
Spicy Sweet Chili
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tablespoon died chili flakes
2 tablespoons vegetable/sunflower/canola oil
Follow the method above until you've added the kernels to the pan. When the corn starts popping gently, about one pop per every 1 or 2 seconds, add in the sugar and the dried chili. Have the chili and sugar in a cup ready to throw in quickly as you take the pan lid off, you don't want pop corn flying everywhere!
Shaking the pan regularly through the cooking is going to be especially important with this recipe as you don't want the sugar to burn.
Turn the heat down under the pan to a medium high level.
Every 30 second, shake the pan really vigorously and, with the lid firmly held in place, shake upside down to distribute the sugar through out the corn. Sugar is exceptionally hot and dangerous when heated so be very, very careful when doing this and make sure the pan lid is really well secured.
When all your corn is popped, which may take a little longer as you'll be disrupting the lower heat by shaking the pan a lot, pour it out onto a dish to cool. When it's cooled and the sugar has hardened, you'll need to crack all the pops away from each other and give them a bit of a shake around before serving.
Cinnamon Bun
1/2 cup pop corn kernel
2 tablespoons vegetable/sunflower/canola oil
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/8 cup white sugar
1/4 cup icing/powdered sugar
A few drops of vanilla essence
a few drops of water
Method:
Mix together the cinnamon and white sugar and spread out on a dish or large tray.
Prepare your pop in the same way as the Simple Salt and Pepper version above. When all the corn is popped, pour it into the tray of cinnamon sugar and shake around.
In a separate small bowl, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla and a few drops of water together to make a runny icing that is the consistency of heavy/double cream.
Pour the icing over the popcorn and the cinnamon sugar and mix really well so that everything is coated in vanilla icing and cinnamon sugar. Leave the iced pops to 'set' before serving.
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