So, remember in my last post where I was complaining about the cold weather? Yeah, that’s not the case anymore. It has been so incredibly warm and beautiful here the past two weeks I almost forgot I live in Winnipeg. Granted, our summers are traditionally nice and hot. I actually went for lunch on a patio with a friend on Friday and got sunburnt. Gone are the days where I used Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil with SPF 6. Seriously, that’s what I used 20 years ago when I went to the beach! Today, I put on SPF 60 to cut the grass. Either our ozone layer is non-existent now or I’m learning another harsh reality of growing older. As if the grey hair wasn’t enough, right?
We are celebrating 4 birthday’s on our hockey team this week. Since I am incapable of celebrating without baking, I decided to make something unique for the birthday girls. These cookies combine my favourite movie theatre snack items. I recently discovered that the kids pack is the best invention ever. I don’t know about your theatres, but our theatres have a kids pack that comes with the perfect amount of popcorn, one chocolate bar of your choice and a normal-sized drink. Not to mention, it’s cheap! Well, cheap for movie theatre standards I suppose. You simply cannot go wrong.
You also cannot go wrong with these cookies. The salty buttered popcorn pairs wonderfully with the dark chocolate chips and creamy cookie dough. They are also extremely chewy and soft. I used buttered microwave popcorn because it’s super convenient. But you can also pop and butter your own popcorn too if you don’t like microwave popcorn. This was actually the first time I bought microwave popcorn in years as we typically pop our own on the stove. A huge shout-out to both Joy the Baker and Deb from Smitten Kitchen for originally creating this recipe. They are two of my all-time favourite food bloggers, so serious props need to be given to them. I highly recommend you check out their blogs. They are stunning.
You will need:
4 cups buttered popcorn (I used microwave buttered popcorn but you can pop and butter your own)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Using an electric mixer, cream together your brown and white sugar along with softened butter.
Beat until mixture is pale yellow, about 3 minutes.
Next, add your egg.
Then add your vanilla.
Beat for another minute until completely combined.
Mix together your flour, baking soda and salt together.
Slowly add it into your wet ingredient mixture.
Mix until just combined.
Should look like so.
Fold in your delicious buttered popcorn using a spatula.
It will seem like a lot of popcorn, but keep mixing it into the dough.
It will break down.
Fold in your dark chocolate chips.
Roll dough into heaping tablespoon-sized dough balls.
Place on a parchment paper or baking mat lined cookie sheet.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Place racks in the centre and upper 1/3 of your oven and bake in a 350 degree fahrenheit oven for 10-13 minutes, or until the tops and edges of the cookies are golden brown.
Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Chewy and sinfully delicious.
Try to share with your friends. I won’t judge you if you keep them all to yourself though.
Enjoy!
Recipe adapted slightly from: Joy the Baker
- 4 cups buttered popcorn (I used microwave buttered popcorn but you can pop and butter your own)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- Coarse sea salt for sprinkling
- Using an electric mixer, cream together your brown and white sugar along with softened butter. Beat until mixture is pale yellow, about 3 minutes.
- Add your egg.
- Add vanilla and beat for another minute until completely combined.
- Mix together your flour, baking soda and salt together. Slowly add it into your wet ingredient mixture. Mix until just combined.
- Fold in buttered popcorn using a spatula. It will seem like a lot of popcorn, but keep mixing it into the dough. It will break down.
- Fold in dark chocolate chips.
- Roll dough into heaping tablespoon-sized dough balls.
- Place on a parchment paper or baking mat lined cookie sheet.
- Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Place racks in the centre and upper 1/3 of your oven and bake in a 350 degree fahrenheit oven for 10-13 minutes, or until the tops and edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy!