Delish Cookies
I need a better name for these cookies! I adapted this recipe slightly from the Smitten Kitchen Buttered Popcorn Cookie recipe from her book. If you have followed any of my sweets posts in the past, you know she is my go-to for anything food related!We returned from Disneyland yesterday. I am still working on that post, but as a thank you to our neighbor who collected our mail while we were gone, I decided to bake her some cookies. I have been wanting to try this recipe, so it was the perfect excuse.
Ingredients
Popcorn:
1/4 cup popcorn kernels (or about 4 cups popped)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon table salt + 1 pinch
1 tablespoon melted butter
You could used popcorn from an air popper or microwave popcorn, in which case, you may want to adjust your oil/butter/salt levels.
Batter:
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
Steps:
Make your popcorn!If you're making it over the stove, coat the bottom of a pan with the oil and layer the kernels in a single layer. Cover the pan and heat over medium/high heat. Make sure you are constantly moving the pan to prevent any burning. Listen closely and remove from heat once it's finished popping.
You can either move it from the cooking pan to a bowl checking for un-popped kernels, or you can sift though the pan you cooked it in. Either way, you don't want to be mixing in un-popped kernels.Pour your melted butter and salt over the popped corn and let sit
I found that the majority of my salt ended up on the sides of the bowl, which is why I adjusted the ingredients slightly to also add a pinch of salt to the batter. I really wanted more of a "salt" flavor with the popcorn. You can adjust as you see fit
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Prepare batter:
Cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla together
If you have let your butter sit long enough, this shouldn't take long. On the off chance that you forgot you needed softened butter, try "grating" the butter with a cheese grater to soften it and make it easier to mix. Just be sure to use a little more than the recipe calls for to account for all the butter than ends up on the grater (and your hands).
Whisk together flour, baking soda and your pinch of salt
Once whisked, pour dry ingredients into your mixer and combine with the butter batter
By hand, mix in the butterscotch chips
By hand mix in your cooled popcorn
Once you pour in the popcorn you are going to think something is wrong. There is SO MUCH popcorn and, seemingly, so little batter. Don't worry, it will mix together well. Some of the popcorn will break while you're mixing, and that's okay!!Spoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for ~10min
If you are not already aware of the magic that is parchment paper, buy some at the store. Just this once and you'll be hooked. No extra spray is needed, cookies won't stick and clean up is a BREEZE (unlike wax paper, which is NOT the same).
The original Smitten Kitchen recipe didn't call for butterscotch chips, and I added the extra pinch of salt. If you want more of a popcorn flavor, I suspect that you could use microwave popcorn with more of a butter flavor. I want to try these with a good kettle corn, I think that would be even better. I think I would omit the butterscotch if I used Kettle Corn. Oh my, or caramel corn... The possibilities are endless!!
I think the biggest surprise to these cookies was the texture of the popcorn. I am not sure what I expected from them, but it was great!! Try them and let me know what you think.
