Description
Christmas Crunch is a festive white chocolate popcorn treat featuring crunchy pretzels, colorful red and green M&Ms, and a drizzle of smooth melted vanilla candy melts, perfect for holiday snacking or gift-giving.
Ingredients
Scale
Popcorn Mix
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels (104g)
- 1 1/2 cups broken pretzel pieces or baby pretzels (75g)
- 1 (10 oz) bag green and red Milk Chocolate or Mint M&Ms
Coating & Decoration
- 1 (12 oz) bag Vanilla Candy Melts
- Christmas sprinkles (to taste)
Instructions
- Pop the popcorn: Pop popcorn kernels in a popcorn popper into a large bowl according to the manufacturer's directions, or use microwave popcorn bags as an alternative. Remove any unpopped kernels to avoid bites of hard popcorn.
- Combine mix-ins: Add the broken pretzel pieces and M&Ms to the popped popcorn, gently tossing to mix evenly.
- Melt the candy melts: Place Vanilla Candy Melts in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat at 50% power in 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until completely melted and smooth.
- Drizzle and stir: Drizzle half of the melted candy melts over the popcorn mixture, then gently toss a few times with a rubber spatula to coat. Drizzle the remaining melted candy melts and gently stir until the mixture is evenly coated, being careful not to over-stir so the sprinkles will adhere later.
- Set and decorate: Spread the coated popcorn mixture in a single layer on wax paper. Immediately sprinkle the entire mixture evenly with Christmas sprinkles before the candy melts set.
- Cool and store: Allow the popcorn to cool and harden completely. Once set, break into pieces and store in an airtight container to maintain freshness.
Notes
- 1/2 cup of kernels yields approximately 16 to 17 cups of popped popcorn.
- If you don't have a popcorn popper, you can pop popcorn using the brown paper bag microwave method or use microwave popcorn bags.
- The bag size for M&Ms has changed over time; a 10 oz bag works well, or add 2 extra ounces from another bag if desired.
- To keep M&Ms and pretzels more visible and less covered by candy melts, set aside 1/4 of each and sprinkle them over the popcorn mixture along with the sprinkles.
- This recipe yields about 8 to 9 party treat bags (1/2 inch by 4 inch) filled two-thirds full, ideal for gift giving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
