Poppin’ Into Cinnamony Goodness

I have mentioned Pinterest several times lately. I am in love with it and in love with how it’s changing my life. Not in some huge dramatic
“OH I’M A CHANGED WOMAN!”
while celestial choirs sing the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus in the background
kind of way, but in subtle, creative,
“Wow! I can create this now,”
while a soft breeze rustles the leaves of an aspen tree
kind of way.

I love some of the crafts I’ve been able to create because of pictures I’ve seen on the website.
I saw this:

and decided to make this to put in a care package for Flynn:

This was an inspiration for a photo display at Belle and Beast’s wedding reception.
This:

Became this:

And can we talk about the food idea that are floating around Pinterest?
How about ‘Foil Pack Chicken and Broccoli Dinner’

or
’Baked Ziti’

or our new family favorite
’Bacon Ranch & Chicken Mac & Cheese’

(I included the link for all this yummy goodness. Just click on the photo.)

One of the yummiest bits of goodness I have found recently is

Cinnamon Bear Popcorn
Oh goodness me.
Holy Cow.
For the love of everything good and sweet.

I wasn’t sure I would like it.
Cinnamon bears are okay, but I prefer chocolate covered cinnamon bears.
Sometimes, plain ‘ole cinnamon bears just are either
too hot,
TOO BLAND,
or just Plain BLAH.

But I was putting together a care package to take to Flynn, and I wanted to put something
YUMMY
in there.
This was something different from the cookies or brownies that I usually make.
One of Flynn’s favorite treats is caramel popcorn,
and I thought this might be a fun alternative.

Cinnamon Bear Popcorn

1 cup unpopped popcorn (abt 24 cups popped)
1 – 16 oz bag cinnamon bears
1 cup butter
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups mini marshmallows
red food coloring

1. Pop your corn and lightly salt it.
{I always pop mine into a clean paper grocery bag. Then, when I transfer it into a bowl, I can usually glean out the unpopped kernels, which can hurt when an unsuspecting person bites down on them!}

2. Cut your cinnamon bears into small pieces and set aside. {I used scissors. Much easier than cutting with a knife that gets stickier and stickier with every slice.}

3. In a medium sized sauce pan, combine the butter, sugar and corn syrup. Cook on medium to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Remove from heat and add vanilla, marshmallows and food coloring. Mix it well and make sure the marshmallows get melted all the way through.

{I got this yummy gourmet vanilla for FREE! Woo hoo! I love free!}

5. Stir in the cinnamon bears. They’re squealing with delight over being made into such a delicious treat!

6. Now add the mixture to your popcorn.
I suggest you work quickly on this part. With the marshmallows in there, it sets up quickly got hard to stir. My carpal tunnel began screaming bloody murder as I diligently stirred, trying desperately to coat each popcorn kernel. It got a little messy, with kernels trying to escape out of the bowl, so I ended up mixing it in two separate bowls. For me, it kept the mess smaller.

This is where I diverted slightly from the recipe: I didn’t want the popcorn to harden into one rather large, sticky ball, so I ‘poured’ the popcorn onto some waxed paper that I put on the counter and spread the still warm popcorn out on that. My goal was to keep it as separated as possible while it cools.

And this is where I pulled my loved for chocolate into the recipe. Uh huh. Oh yeah…..
I drizzled melted milk chocolate over 1/2 of the recipe.

When I gave it to Flynn and he started eating it, it was worth every painful minute of stirring. He kept saying,

“Oh! This is sooo good!”
and
”Mmmmmm…..”
and
“Betty!….. Seriously!…… This is delicious!”

With or without the chocolate, it was a wonderful treat.
Sure, we can’t make it every weekend, but on a few special occasions throughout the year, I think we’ll definitely be making it again.