Brown sugar and almond popcorn

So we are back. We have good excuses for being away for quite a few weeks…I think getting married is a good excuse for having a little annual leave, right?!?!

Especially when you are the bride and the wedding planner. My family were a huge help the night before – and Karla drove from Germany to be my bridesmaid! They did the flower arrangements, set up the dessert table and ironed the linen.

But now it is back to normality. It is exciting to be married, I want to do exciting things every night, and obviously life can get in the way of that sometimes. One thing we have always loved doing is going to the cinema together. It is not cheap to go to the cinema though and the food prices are astronomical. And I can’t not munch on something whilst watching Matt Damon go to Mars.

So I always pit stop at the supermarket before hand to get ingredients for my favourite cinema food combination: minstrels and salty popcorn. Minstrels are crispy coated chocolate drops and I mix this with popcorn I pop at home.

This time I decided to do something different: my own popcorn. It is my go to cinema snack now. And the husband approves.

Brown sugar and almond popcorn (serves two greedy cinema goers)

1/2 cup corn kernels

1tbsp olive oil

140g butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

Pinch of sea salt

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g almonds, roughly chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 120C. Heat the olive oil in a lidded pan and place 3 corn kernels, once they start popping add the rest, shaking the pan slightly to coat all kernels with the oil. This will stop your popcorn getting burned. Once ready put the popcorn on a heatproof bowl together with the chopped almonds.

2. Start making the caramel by melting the butter in a heavy based pan on low heat, add the sugar and mix it well with the butter before turning up the heat to medium high. Let it bubble for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly so that the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom. Take the pan off the heat and add the bicarbonate and the salt and stir well until the sauce turns glossy

3. It is time to slowly add the sauce to the popcorn and almonds and stir constantly so that you get even coverage. Divide the popcorn onto two non-stick baking sheets and bake for 1 hour, mixing it every 15 minutes to break up any clumps. Let it cool completely before serving it. It keeps for up to a week in an airtight container.