I have always been a sucker for anything cinnamon flavored, especially around the holidays. Cinnamon bears were my guilty pleasure in college, and if something is cinnamon flavored, odds are that I will LOVE it! My daughter is a cinnamon-lover like me, and when she mentioned that she needed to take a treat to school for her friends for a movie they'd be watching, I knew that cinnamon flavored popcorn would be perfect!
Plus, it's red, which makes it especially perfect for this time of year!
When I was shopping at Walmart I picked up some Star Butter Flavored Olive Oil, a new olive oil with a slight butter flavor. I know that olive oil is healthier than butter, so I thought I would try substituting it for the butter in this recipe.
The olive oil comes with a handy conversion guide to let you know how much oil to substitute for butter in your baking and cooking, which was very helpful.
Cinnamon Popcorn Recipe:
- 1/4 cup Star Butter Flavored Olive Oil (Substituted for 1/2 cup butter)
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 6 oz. box of Red Hot candies (theater size box)
- 8 cups popped popcorn (I popped 1/2 cup kernals and ended up using the 10 cups it made)
1. Heat oven to 250 degrees. Pop popcorn in a pan, popcorn maker, or microwave. To pop in a pan, follow the directions from my kettle corn directions. Spray a cooking spray onto a baking sheet or in a roasting pan, and spread the popcorn out in a layer in the pan.
2. Add the oil, corn syrup, and Red Hots to a small pan, and heat til boiling over medium heat. Boil mixture for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
It took almost the full 5 minutes for the Red Hots to fully melt.
Carefully pour mixture over the popcorn in the pan, and stir until the popcorn is evenly coated.
3. Bake for approximately 1 hour at 250 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes. Baking takes away the "stickiness" of the popcorn. Remove from oven and let cool. Sitr to break up any large clumps of popcorn.
This cinnamon popcorn ends up being such a pretty red color, and is a great treat for a Christmas party, or just for a yummy snack! The butter olive oil tasted great in this recipe, and I am now going to be on the lookout for more recipes I can incorporate this oil into.
The cinnamon flavor isn't too strong for kids. Next time I make this recipe, I'll add some cinnamon oil that I had left over from making homemade suckers to give it even more cinnamon flavor.
My daughter loved the popcorn, and can't wait to take it to school tomorrow wo share with her friends! So glad she's taking it, because it prevents me from eating the whole batch!
Recipe adapted from here.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Be sure to check out the giveaway that's running on Star's Facebook page. You can also connect with Star on their:
Happy baking! Can you believe there's just 6 short days until Christmas?!? This December has just flown by, don't you think?
xo, Laura
Oh this looks delicious! Thank you! #client
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Margie! I hope you like it as much as we did! :)
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