Day 9: Peanut Butter-White Chocolate Popcorn

There's a funny story how today's 'cookie' came to be. Last night, I was all set to make Butterscotch Haystacks. (No worries, they will come another day. I promise!)

I had melted the butterscotch chips, and was just getting ready to pour in the chow mein noodles to stir and combine, when I decided to taste the butterscotch mixture. Because it's no fun to bake without tasting!

And then, I realized I hadn't melted butterscotch chips. They were definitely peanut butter chips. How can you make BUTTERSCOTCH Haystacks with PEANUT BUTTER chips?? Now, I could have thrown away the peanut butter mixture and just started over. But I'm not one to throw away a $2 bag of baking ingredients!

So, I thought, "What could I do with this melted peanut butter stuff?"

And then I thought of my very favorite kiosk at the mall in the Bean Town. It is a popcorn kiosk, based out of Bluffton. Shirley's Gourmet Popcorn makes the absolute best flavored/chocolate-coated popcorns. And they always have free samples. My favorite is the 'Buckeye'. (can you guess what that's named for?) The 'Buckeye' is a combination of chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel. Gosh, it's so tasty.

So, I had an idea, a brilliant one in my opinion. I decided to make my own version of a gourmet popcorn. I popped some popcorn, and spread it all out on a cookie sheet. I scattered some Christmas M&M's throughout to be festive. And then I drizzled the melted peanut butter chips all over. And then I decided to melt some white chocolate and add that to the mixture, too, along with some Christmas sprinkles.

My Business Man even helped! It was actually his idea to add the sprinkles.

This would be super-cute all packaged up in a little tin. The perfect gift for a neighbor, co-worker, or mail-person.

Or for that jolly old man who comes just once a year!

And did I mention that it's pretty addicting? That salty-sweet combo that you just can't stay away from.

Speaking of salty-sweet combos, I keep seeing recipes for baked goods with bacon in them. (Brownies with a layer of bacon in the middle, maple-bacon cupcakes, ...) Has anyone out there tried anything like this? Is it good?

My favorite salty-sweet combo would have to be dark-chocolate covered pretzels. Trader Joe's makes a dark-chocolate pretzel 'slim' which is my absolute favorite. The ratio of chocolate:pretzel is much greater than the normal ones.

Question: What's your favorite salty-sweet combo?

Servings/Yield

8-10 cups

2 packages microwave popcorn, popped
1 bag peanut butter chips
6 oz. white almond bark
1 cup m&m's
sprinkles

Method

Spread out popcorn onto foil-lined baking sheets. Remove any unpopped kernels. (To avoid anyone breaking a tooth.) Scatter m&m's throughout popcorn.

Melt peanut butter chips on MEDIUM in the microwave until melted, stirring about every minute. Drizzle melted peanut butter chips over popcorn. Sprinkle with sprinkles.

Melt white almond bark on MEDIUM in the microwave until melted, stirring about every minute. Drizzle melted almond bark over popcorn. Sprinkle yet again with sprinkles.

Let chocolate set up. Break into small-ish pieces and store in an airtight container. Perfect for holiday gifts!

The Arrival of Something New...

Woo hoo for the last Friday of the school year! And only one more day of school next week. (And then a couple teacher workshops...) Another reason to be excited? Our fridge came today!! Isn't she a beauty? It is so nice to have a fridge again. You don't realize how much you miss a full-size refrigerator until you go a couple weeks without it. A bit bare... but that can be solved easily. Bottom-drawer freezer, containing the essentials: moose tracks & Diet Dew trying to get cold asap. Anyways, I'm just popping in to share my beautiful new appliance. The baking monster has taken over, and I'm in the midst of making 150 cupcakes for a graduation party tomorrow. First big baking project in the new kitchen! I'm loving all the counter space. Mmm... chocolate buttercream! Making good use of the baking nook! :) Adios!

The Essential Summer Dessert

Last weekend, my Business Man and I hosted a fiesta for some of our friends in the Bean Town. While everyone enjoyed the food, I think dessert was the biggest hit. (Surprise, surprise.) We had brownies (from a box, the horror!) topped with chocolate ganache, and fruit pizza . Fruit pizza is most definitely my "go-to" summer dessert. Since it's the official 1st day of summer, I thought I'd share the recipe! It's delicious without being too heavy or rich. And it's most definitely healthy, because you are eating fruit, right? The recipe I use is my mom's... she's been using it for years. It starts with a basic sugar cookie base, topped with a cream cheese-whipped topping, and then all the fruit your little heart desires! I usually go with strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, pineapple, and mandarin oranges. But raspberries are really good, too. Even better when you pick the fruit yourself! (Picking berries on our honeymoon last July.) ...

2011 Flying Pig Marathon Race Recap

Marathons are hard. But before we get to the actual marathon, let's rewind a bit to Saturday afternoon. We arrived in Cincy around 2pm, and hit up marathon expo. Goodness sakes, I had never seen a room so large filled with so many runners. Everyone was so excited, you could almost feel the energy. We weaved our way through the exhibitors and what they had to offer. (Think free dark chocolate almond granola samples! Yum! I also might have snagged some info on the Disney Half & Marathon in January... we shall see.) We also stopped for a few fun photo ops. Posing with a balloon flying pig. These were everywhere! Flying pigs with all sorts of themes. They were so cute! After the expo, we headed to our early-bird dinner. We had the luxury of dining at Maggiano's Little Italy (major carb-loading!), and it was a fantastic dining experience. The service was great , and the food was delicious as well. None of us had ever eaten there, befo...

Livin' the Dream in Lima

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