Molasses Spice Popcorn

Is this not the scariest picture of popcorn? Lighting was weird...

I have a magic molasses spice cookie recipe. Everyone loves them, and no one more than me. Unfortunately they are time consuming, messy, and downright terrible for you (at least if you eat them in the quantities that I tend to...).

This weekend when I asked Nathan what he wanted for snack and he said cookies, they were immediately what came to mind. But I know I'll be eating a bunch of them at Christmas since everyone in my family makes them, so I didn't want to overdose now. After the idea of that beautiful medley of flavors was in my mind, I couldn't shake it. So I looked at the wonder that is the internet and found a number of delightful looking popcorn recipes. Popcorn is a good conveyer of things because in itself, it's mostly air.

Thus Molasses Spice Popcorn. It tastes vaguely like ginger bread and reminds me instantly of the holidays.

Molasses Spice Popcorn

Ingredients

2 bags of natural flavor popcorn popped according to their directions in the microwave
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of corn syrub
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp all spice
2 tsp ground cloves


Directions

In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Stir in the corn syrup, brown sugar, and molasses until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir in vanilla and all spices. Let it cook on low, whisking constantly until it thickens a bit and is more syrupy.

Also, got these super cute containers in the popcorn aisle

Put your popped popcorn in a large bowl. Pour about half of the syrup mixture over it and gently stir until it is spread out. Pour the rest of the syrup on and continue to stir until syrup is well distributed. Spread the popcorn out on trays lined with wax paper and allow the syrup to cool completely. This isn't going to get hard like a crunchy caramel corn, but it will toughen up a bit as it cools.

Eat! Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

This made a HUGE amount, and I ended up with about 3 quart sized zip lock baggies left over. Definitely makes enough for a big Christmas crowd siting down to watch a favorite holiday movie.