Starting 2015 Off Sweet and Spicy - Honey Sriracha Popcorn

 

Happy 2015! Albeit a little late but I’m still shocked that its 2.0.1.5 seems like yesterday that we were just welcoming 2014, but there is a lot of rejoice about this year. It’s been officially 5 years since I’ve started this food blog and through this journey I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to share my recipes and thoughts with all! Plus I've had the opportunity have met some amazing people that have forever changed my life. It truly has been a wonderful experience and looking back it has also been a learning experience as well. In the world of food there is never such a thing as knowing too much because there is always more out there to discover and it’s a big culinary world with things changing all the time.

Talking about discovering new items, just earlier this month I started to use more coconut oil in my kitchen and also for its beauty benefits (soothing body lotion anybody?). I’ve read a lot about it online and I know tons of people are already enormous fans. Due to its multitude of uses it truly is nature’s gift. So to continue sharing my wonderful experiences on this blog here is a sweet (and spicy) way of using this ingredient to kick off hopefully another sweet year! Recipe has been adapted to make it even healthier from here.

Thanks again to all those that have followed my blog and provided me the support I needed the last couple years. Here’s to many more of everything! Experiences, meeting wonderful people and last but not least - great food~!

Nutritional Tidbit: When sourcing coconut oil you want to ensure that it was made using the cold pressed method, raw aka virgin. Anything aside from that would indicate that it was chemically produced and refined which would degrade the health properties of the oil. Coconut oil contains medium chain triglycerides which are shorter in length than animal fat and are metabolized differently in the body providing a fastest source of energy. It has been linked to increasing metabolism as well.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of popcorn kernels
3/4 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup honey
3 tbsp sriracha or a bit more if you like things really spicy
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts (optional)

 

Preparation:

Air pop the kernels using a popcorn machine. Feel free to double the amount of kernels (1 cup popcorn kernels) if you prefer the popcorn to have less caramel coverage per kernel.

Preheat the oven to 300ºF and line two sheetpans with parchment paper, I had to use foil since I ran out of parchment which I prefer, set aside.

In a saucepan over low to medium heat, bring the coconut oil and honey to a boil, stirring occasionally. Be careful that it doesn’t boil over which happens very easily.

After 5 minutes or so, remove the pot from the stovetop.

In a small bowl, mix together the sriracha, baking soda, salt and vanilla extract.

Add the mixture to the honey and coconut oil. Stir everything together quickly to avoid it from foaming overtop the pot.

Pour the caramel over top the popcorn until thoroughly mixed and add in the walnuts if using.

Transfer the popcorn to the two sheet pans and spread out evenly to allow them to crisp up since the popcorn will be a bit mushy at this point.

Place in oven for approximately 45 minutes, mixing every 15 minutes or so to avoid the popcorn from clumping.

They’re ready when the caramel turns brown in color. Remove from oven, they’ll still feel a bit gooey and soft at this time but will harden up as it cools.

Store in airtight container for up to one week (if they last that long).