Description
Christmas Crunch is a festive and delicious white chocolate popcorn treat perfect for holiday celebrations. This crunchy snack combines freshly popped popcorn, broken pretzels, colorful red and green M&Ms, all coated in melted vanilla candy melts and topped with Christmas sprinkles for a sweet and salty holiday delight.
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 (to taste)
Instructions
- Pop Popcorn: Pop the popcorn kernels in a popcorn popper into a large bowl according to the manufacturer’s directions, or use microwave popcorn bags as an alternative. Remove any unpopped kernels to avoid biting into hard pieces.
- Combine Ingredients: Toss the popped popcorn with broken pretzel pieces and the green and red M&Ms until well mixed.
- Melt Candy Melts: Place the Vanilla Candy Melts in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on 50% power in 30-second intervals, stirring after each until smooth and fully melted to avoid burning.
- Coat Popcorn - First Layer: Drizzle half of the melted vanilla candy melts over the popcorn mixture and gently toss a few times with a rubber spatula to begin coating the mix.
- Coat Popcorn - Second Layer: Drizzle the remaining melted candy melts over the popcorn and stir gently until the mixture is evenly coated. Be careful not to over-stir to preserve spots for the sprinkles to stick.
- Add Sprinkles: Spread the coated popcorn mixture in a single layer on wax paper and evenly sprinkle with Christmas sprinkles before the candy melts set and harden.
- Cool and Break: Allow the mixture to cool completely until the candy melts have hardened, then gently break into pieces for serving or packaging.
Notes
- 1/2 cup kernels yield approximately 16 to 17 cups of popped popcorn.
- If you don’t have a popcorn popper, microwave popcorn in a brown paper bag or use microwave popcorn bags as an alternative.
- 10 oz bag of M&Ms is sufficient; if you want more, you can add 2 extra ounces from another bag due to bag size changes over time.
- For more visible M&Ms and pretzels, reserve 1/4 of each and sprinkle them on top with the Christmas sprinkles before the candy melts set.
- This recipe fills about 8 to 9 party treat bags (1/2"x4"), about two-thirds full—great for gifting during holidays.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 150 kcal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
