Microwave Toffee Popcorn, My Blogiversary, and Meal Plan Monday Week 45

A recipe for buttery Microwave Toffee Popcorn to celebrate my birthday and my 2nd Blogiversary!

Happy Monday y’all! Today is my birthday, and my 2 year Blogiversary passed us by during Croctober last month so I thought I’d celebrate both of those things today with a fun recipe for Microwave Toffee Popcorn! I started to try baking a birthday cake and going all out, but then I remembered that I don’t really like many cakes (tragedy I know) and I also don’t need to eat some crazy 3 layer cake by myself, so I thought a fun sweet treat snack would be a better choice.

This recipe is a combination of two other super popular recipes that are already here on my blog – my microwave toffee and my homemade kettle corn. My good friend Sarah was telling me a few weeks ago that she loves caramel corn, but it always takes so much work since you have to pull out the candy thermometer, make the caramel, pour it over the popcorn, then bake the popcorn again to set the caramel. My recipe making gears started turning, and I figured it would be a pretty simple job to take my no-fuss microwave toffee and pour it over my favorite Whirley Pop popcorn to make a version of toffee popcorn without all the work. (Okay, it’s not *quite* caramel corn, but I think it’s close enough. Fiddle Faddle is just as delicious as Cracker Jacks isn’t it?) Sarah, if you’re reading this, this recipe is for you! 

I will attest that this microwave toffee popcorn is definitely as addicting as caramel popcorn. There are a number of friends who are on their way over as I write this to have an impromptu early birthday celebration with me and watch The Walking Dead with us as is our tradition on Sunday nights. It’s taking all my willpower to not inhale the whole giant bowl of this popcorn. If you see me later with a tummy ache and no popcorn in the bowl, you will know that I welcomed my 29th year around the sun in style with fist fulls of toffee popcorn goodness.

What about the microwave part you ask? Well that’s where this recipe really stands out. My family has long had a secret recipe for making toffee in the microwave. It’s pretty brilliant because you really just dump all the ingredients into a glass bowl, toss it in the microwave for 8.5-9 minutes, and then pour out a beautiful bowl of toffee without any stirring or crazy candy thermometers. I don’t even own a candy thermometer. (Have y’all realized that I’m a lazy cook yet? I’m a firm believer in work smarter not harder. Best thing I learned from my electrical engineering degree!)

I had to make a few test batches of this popcorn to figure out the best way to get the toffee distributed without needing to spread it on a metal pan or having it stick endlessly to foil or parchment. (Total fail!) And the best method I’ve come up with is to grab a rubber spatula and have a helper. Put your hot popcorn in a giant bowl, and then make your toffee in the microwave. As soon as the toffee has turned that beautiful paper bag golden brown, one person with oven mitts pours out the boiling hot toffee, and the other person stirs the bowl of popcorn with the rubber spatula as you pour toffee over the top to help the toffee get evenly distributed.

I chose to use 8 cups of popped popcorn since that’s how much I make in my Whirly Pop at once, and the toffee is spread a bit thinner than normal caramel corn would be coated. I like it that way because then it’s not quite so intensely sweet and was a bit easier to work with. If you want your popcorn fully coated, you may want to use 6 cups of popped popcorn to concentrate the toffee a bit more.

Oh and I almost forgot, Happy Blogiversary to Sustaining the Powers! I’ve officially been sharing recipes and meal plans with you for (over) 2 years now. When I started this little corner of the internet, I thought it would be a fun thing to share with family and friends and grow as a photographer and cook. You shared with others who shared with others, and there are now a combined 3,256 of you who follow me along with over 22,000+ pageviews per month! I am so blown away!! Every little like, share, and comment means so much to me, so thank you for being here! I’d love it if, for my birthday and blogiversary today, you’d leave me a comment here or on social media and let me know how long you’ve been following my blog, how you found me, and what your favorite Sustaining the Powers recipe is to date!! 

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Microwave Toffee Popcorn

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• Author: Stephanie Powers
• Prep Time: 2
• Cook Time: 10
• Total Time: 12

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 6–8 cups lightly salted popped popcorn (I use the basic popcorn recipe here This is approximately 1 bag of microwave popcorn.)

For the toffee coating

• 1/2 C Butter (1 stick)
• 1 C Sugar
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 C water

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Instructions

1. Pop your popcorn and place it in a very large bowl. Read through the whole recipe and notes (yes, I mean it), and prepare your area and tools so you can work quickly once you’ve melted the toffee.
2. Coat the top 2″ of a 2 quart pyrex measuring cup (or other microwave safe bowl) with butter.
3. Add butter, sugar, salt and water to the bowl – but DO NOT STIR!
4. Microwave on high 8 1/2 – 9 minutes, or until the mixture just begins to turn light brown (paper bag color). You can always quickly add an extra minute if you need to, but can’t undo burned sugar and once it starts turning, the color changes quickly.
5. Carefully pour toffee mixture over the popcorn in the bowl immediately from the microwave while stirring popcorn with a rubber spatula to coat evenly with toffee. (Mixture will be *VERY HOT*)
6. Once toffee has begun to form strings, it has begin to cool and can’t be stirred any longer.
7. Allow to fully cool then gently break up larger clumps with your spatula.
8. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week.

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Notes

• Gluten-free: This is gluten free.
• Vegetarian: This is vegetarian.
• Vegan: This works with vegan butter.
• Please use extreme care when working with molten toffee as it can stick to skin and burn you. This is not a recipe for kid helpers. It also helps to have an extra set of hands to help with the pouring while stirring phase. Since microwaves vary, it may also take a bit of trial and error to get the microwave toffee to the color you want it. Note that cook time for future batches.
• Clean up any cooled toffee by re-melting it with extremely hot water.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 8

Meal Plan Monday 11/9-11/15:

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This meal plan is designed to feed approximately 4 adults at each meal or two adults with lunches left over. Feel free to double or add to it as needed.  **You’ll need to open it with the free Adobe Reader App (Android or iOS) to be able to use the check boxes on mobile, so install that first if you don’t have it already.**

Monday: It’s my Birthday! Date Night – Eat Out.

Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner (A favorite!) with Customizable Eggs Baked in a Bread Bowl from Perfecting the Pairing (vegetarian, gluten-free if using gf rolls) 

Wednesday: My Mushrooom Rosemary Potroast (gluten-free)

Thursday: Stuffed Zucchini from Kayotic Kitchen (gluten-free, vegetarian option, vegan option)

Friday: Pizza Night with my Perfect Pizza Dough and toppings bar (gluten-free if you swap in your favorite gf dough)

Saturday: Slow Cooker Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Maple Cream from A Savory Feast (gluten-free, vegetarian) 

Sunday: Y.O.Y.O. (You’re on your own.)

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