Are you going nuts about the New Year? Maybe you have been trying to figure out what your New Year resolution will be? Well, one suggestion is, make sure you make this yummy popcorn mix to ring in the New Year! You won’t regret it!
We are going nuts over a few new recipes that I have been trying out over the Christmas break. Over the next several weeks, we will bring you a recipe each week using pecans. However, if you are allergic to pecans or nuts in general, you can always omit them from the recipe, and it will still taste just as yummy as ever! The pecans are just an added bonus!
If I had to choose a favorite nut to bake with it, it would definitely be the pecan. Although, it is one of the most expensive nuts to buy in the store, in my opinion, it has the best flavor. If you are lucky and have a pecan tree, then it makes it even better for you because you can have an abundance of pecans to cook and eat with! This past summer, we planted pecan trees, so I’m hoping they continue to grow and thrive. However, I believe it’s about 15 years before you really have good successful pecans growing and falling. So, the plan is to have my grandkids pick up pecans for me to have lots to bake and eat when I get older!
We planted our trees on some family land. The trick to growing pecan trees it always planting two together. You cannot just plant one. You need two to pollinate together. Pecan trees have both male and female flowers. They will not blossom at the same time either. So, you when you go to purchase the pecan trees, make sure they have two different types of flowers blooming hence the male and female flowers. This way, they will pollinate, and your trees will flourish.
But, now on to the yummy recipe! How about a yummy snack to ring in the new year? This snack is easy, fast, cheap and great for any party time. I even made little snack bags of this yummy snack and passed them out at Christmas time to my coworkers. It’s so delicious!
Ingredients:
- 5 Bags Of Popped Microwaved Buttered Popcorn
- 2 cups of Powdered Sugar
- ¼ cup of Cinnamon
- 2 Cups of Chopped Pecans
- Nonstick Cooking Spray
- 1-gallon Ziplock bag
Sweet Cinnamon Drizzle Sauce:
- ½ cup Melted margarine
- 2 tablespoons of Cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons of Milk
- 2 cups of Powdered Sugar
Directions:
Pop the microwave popcorn as directed on the box, and place in a large bowl. In the Ziplock bag, add 1 cup of powdered sugar and 2, tablespoons of cinnamon. Seal the bag and then give it a shake. Now, scoop out some of the popped popcorn and put inside the Ziplock bag. Seal and shake again.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Now, lay the popcorn out evenly on the cookie sheet. Drop 1 cup of the chopped pecans evenly throughout the popcorn.
In another bowl, mix the margarine, milk, cinnamon, and powdered sugar to make the sweet drizzling sauce. Drizzle the sauce over the popcorn and then place the popcorn mix in the oven. You will bake this for 15 minutes; however, you will need to stir the popcorn every five minutes. So, bake for 5 minutes and remove from the oven. Use a spoon to toss the popcorn in the sauce and return to popcorn to the oven. Bake for another 5 minutes, and then remove and toss the popcorn again. Return to the oven for 5 more minutes. After this last five minutes of cooking, remove from the oven, sit the popcorn to the side and let it completely cool before placing into a bowl for your party friends to enjoy!
Extra yummy add-in: White Chocolate Covered Pretzel Sticks
In one batch of the popcorn, I added white chocolate covered pretzels to the mix. I made the white chocolate covered pretzels with white almond bark according to the directions. Once they had cooled and harden, I broke the pretzel sticks in half before adding to my popcorn mix.
