Description
Christmas Crunch is a festive white chocolate popcorn treat combining crunchy popcorn, pretzels, and colorful green and red M&Ms, all coated with smooth vanilla candy melts and topped with Christmas sprinkles. Perfect for holiday snacking or gift-giving.
Ingredients
Scale
Popcorn Mix
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels (104g)
- 1 1/2 cups broken pretzel pieces or baby pretzels (75g)
- 1 (10 oz) bag green and red Milk Chocolate or Mint M&Ms
Coating
- 1 (12 oz) bag Vanilla Candy Melts
- Christmas sprinkles, as desired
Instructions
- Pop the popcorn: Use a popcorn popper to pop 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels into a large bowl according to the manufacturer's directions, or alternatively pop microwave popcorn bags. Remove any unpopped kernels to avoid biting into hard pieces.
- Mix popcorn ingredients: Add the broken pretzel pieces and green and red M&Ms to the popped popcorn. Toss gently to combine evenly.
- Melt vanilla candy melts: Place the Vanilla Candy Melts in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt them at 50% power in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until fully melted and smooth without lumps.
- Combine popcorn with melted candy melts: Drizzle half of the melted vanilla candy melts over the popcorn mixture and gently toss with a rubber spatula a few times to coat.
- Coat evenly: Drizzle the remaining melted candy melts over the popcorn and gently stir until the mixture is evenly coated, being careful not to over-stir or the coating will begin to harden and sprinkles won’t stick well.
- Add sprinkles and cool: Spread the coated popcorn mixture in a single layer onto wax paper. Immediately sprinkle the Christmas sprinkles evenly over the popcorn before the candy melts harden. Let the mixture cool and harden completely.
- Break and store: Once hardened, gently break the popcorn mixture into pieces and store it in an airtight container until ready to serve.
Notes
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels should yield approximately 16 to 17 cups of popped popcorn.
- If you do not have a popcorn popper, use the microwave method with a brown paper bag or microwavable popcorn bags as alternatives.
- The M&M bag size has decreased over the years; 10 oz works well, but you can use a bit more for extra color and crunch if desired.
- To have M&Ms and pretzels more visible and less coated by chocolate, set aside 1/4 of each and sprinkle them on top along with the sprinkles.
- This recipe fills about 8 to 9 party treat bags measuring approximately 1/2" x 4", each filled about two-thirds full, ideal for gift-giving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 100 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 6 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
