White Chocolate Cranberry Cashew Popcorn
At the same baby shower where we served the amazing Strawberry Cream Cake, we also handed out little bags of popcorn mixed with mini marshmallows and drizzled with white chocolate and pink tinted white chocolate. I’ve been thinking about it every since, and finally made my own version this afternoon. I made a healthier version so that I didn’t feel as guilty munching on a bowl of it, and it was just as good as the original, if not better, because it played up the salty and sweet combination even more. I simply popped a bag of microwave popcorn, which I then tossed in a big bowl with some mini marshmallows, roasted salted cashew pieces, and dried cranberries. Then I drizzled the mixture with melted white chocolate, tossed it to coat, then spread it out to cool and set. So quick and easy and so pretty—the perfect sweet and salty combination!
White Chocolate Cranberry Cashew Popcorn
Makes about 8 cups
1 bag (2.9 ounce) microwaveable butter flavor popcorn (I use a reduced fat version)
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup roasted salted cashew pieces
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped into small pieces (or 1 cup white chocolate chips)
1. Line a jelly roll pan with waxed paper and set aside.
2. Pop the bag of popcorn and pour half of the hot popcorn into a large microwave-safe bowl. Top it with the marshmallows, cashews, and dried cranberries. Then top it with the rest of the hot popcorn and toss everything together.
3. Melt the white chocolate, drizzle it over the popcorn mixture, and toss to coat. If the chocolate is too thick, put the bowl in the microwave for 10 second increments until you are able to toss the mixture together and coat everything with the white chocolate.
4. Then spread the popcorn out on the prepared jelly roll pan. Cool completely, then gently break up the popcorn and eat!
YUM!
I’m always so weary of flavored popcorn, but I just love the combo here so much, I just know it has to be incredible.
This looks pretty and delicious! We don’t do microwave popcorn at our house, so hopefully the stove top stuff will work about as well in this recipe.
@Charmaine—I’ve been doing my own variation on this, popping my own popcorn in a microwave-safe bowl (I love that thing! All the convenience of microwave popcorn, without the chemicals!) and throwing in a few spoonfuls of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries, plus a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg and some candied ginger. Yum. So I can definitely vouch for the popcorn-cranberry-white chocolate combo, and for using your own popcorn instead of microwave popcorn.
@Charmaine and @Lauramich — I’m usually an air-popped popcorn person myself. If you pop your own popcorn, just make sure you add a salty element. Part of what I like about this is the slight buttery saltiness of the popcorn combined with the sweet white chocolate. I would toss my popcorn with a bit of butter and sea salt!