Chocolate Popcorn—Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

With just three or four ingredients (or five, if you go all out and add in the peanuts), this snack checks all the food storage boxes:

• Easy
• Quick 
• Basic food storage
• Cheap
• Chocolate 
• Filling

With checking all those boxes, I can’t believe I didn’t make this sooner.

Chocolate Popcorn can be made two ways, either with chocolate chips or with honey or sugar and cocoa to substitute for the chocolate chips. 

Chocolate Popcorn

1/3 cup popcorn kernels

¼ cup coconut oil, divided

2/3 cup chocolate chips OR 1/3 cup cocoa PLUS 1/3 cup sugar

½ cup Spanish peanuts, optional

Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 2 tablespoons coconut oil.  Pop the popcorn. 

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of coconut oil.  Stir in the cocoa powder and sugar.  Stir in an additional 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, if necessary, to thin the chocolate syrup so that it is pourable.  Add peanuts to syrup, if desired. 

Drizzle the syrup over the popcorn, stirring quickly but gently to coat.  Spread it on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-30 minutes to crisp up, stirring every 6-7 minutes.

Family reviews: 

The first time making this I traveled the cocoa and sugar route.  I suspected this chocolate syrup would be a bit grainy, and I was right.  However, it still satisfied the desire for sugar and chocolate and was quite filling as well.  I meant to save some to share with KOTPE, Buttercup, and Aaron.  That was an epic fail.

So I made it again, with the chocolate chips this time.  In both cases, I used dark chocolate.  The chocolate popcorn was just sweet enough.  Using the chocolate chips resulted in a perfectly smooth sauce and is probably what I’d recommend if making for gifts.  But honestly, I liked the taste of the cocoa and sugar sauce better.  I wish I didn’t.  I wish I’d had some willpower.  Because right now, my tummy is wishing I hadn’t eaten the whole batch all by myself.  I don’t think my stomach has hurt like this since I tested those caramel popcorn recipes several years ago.

Links to related posts:

Basic Food Storage—Popcorn 

All About Cocoa Powder