Oh what fun we've had making different types of popcorn. We make ours the old-fashioned stove-top way, which goes like this:
Heat ¼ cup vegetable oil in a large saucepan add ½ cup of popping corn, put the lid on and take it off the heat once
the corn stops popping.
To make a simple caramel corn
Combine 125g butter and 1 cup brown sugar in a saucepan.
Cook over a low heat, stirring for 4-5 minutes until dissolved
then boil, uncovered, without stirring for 5-8 minutes.
Put your popped corn into a large dish (salt it if you like a salted
caramel), pour the caramel over and stir through.
Spread out on a tray lined with baking paper and leave to cool.
Coloured candycorn
This requires extremely hot sugar syrup so not something the kids should make on their own — they'll have fun eating
it though!
Bring 1 cup sugar and ¾ cup water to the boil and boil at a high temperature (115C) until it forms medium balls
when a little is dropped into cold water.
Add 2-5 drops of food colouring towards the end of cooking then pour over and stir through.
Sprinkle straight away with 3 Tbsp icing sugar and keep stirring until the kernels separate.
To make savoury popcorn
The options are endless here. Play with mixing different spices with salt and stir them through the popcorn while
it's hot. We discovered one that tastes a little bit like Rashuns.
Mix 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp smoked paprika and a good ¼ cup finely grated parmesan and stir through popcorn
that has been cooked in half butter/half oil.
Pack the kids off to the movies or other events with bags of yummy homemade popcorn. Your budget will love you.
This is our go-to recipe when the kids want to cook a batch of biscuits. It's a Jo Seagar recipe that is also a favourite
whenever they are served in her cafe, Seagars at Oxford, so pop in if you are down that way. www.joseagar.com.
Chocolate chunk oat biscuits
250g butter, softened
3 Tbsp sweetened
condensed milk
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1½ cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
200g dark chocolate,
roughly chopped
1. Heat oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with non-stick
baking paper.
2. Beat butter, condensed milk and sugar together until
light & creamy.
3. Add flour, rolled oats, baking powder and chocolate
chunks.
4. Place spoonfuls on the prepared oven trays, flatten
slightly and cook for 15-20 minutes until golden brown
5. Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.
Over the years the kids at my place have changed the dark
chocolate out for prettymuch anything they have to hand,
for our picture on page 22 theymade a couple of batches,
one using pebbles and one using fruit and nut chocolate.
