I know today is supposed to be Wellness Wednesday, but I’m taking a small break until the New Year. No worries — I’ll be back next week with a new WW post; I know I’ve been away for a while! I’m guessing we all probably have. This year is such a wonderful time to just kick up your feet, read a new book, and just enjoy family time. And basically every cookie in sight.

That being said, I’ve done my fair share of eating, drinking, and cooking. Tony’s birthday was last week and I had the pleasure of making him a version of King Arthur Flour’s deep dish pizza, then homemade French Silk Pie for dessert. Swear to goodness, it was the best meal I’ve ever made him. The pie was perfect. I really feel awful about not posting the recipe, but it also seems a bit wrong to throw you a dessert full of butter, cream and chocolate when we’re all trying to eat healthy again. What do you think? If you’d like the recipe, I’d be happy to make it again and photograph it. Let me know!

Next up! I also celebrated my birthday in Chicago last week. (So yes, you can see how I’ve been so busy outside of the blog.) On the morning of my birthday, Tony took me to brunch then we went to a no-kill animal shelter; per usual I wanted to take home all of the cats. He also got me the cutest Michael Kors purse which I wear everywhere now. Later that evening, we went out to dinner and then to a show. Overall, it was a really nice and relaxing birthday.

This next week I’ll be diving back into baking and cooking. I’m trying to shy away from too many baking recipes, but you know it’s my favorite thing to do. Overall I have some really exciting things planned and perhaps some new features on the blog, too!

Okay, so popcorn time. This recipe was apparently so delightful that Tony ate an entire batch in one night. YEP… ONE NIGHT.

I don’t blame him. I’m a HUGE fan of sweet and salty popcorn. When I was little my mom used to drizzled peanut butter on the top of our popcorn, so that’s what really inspired this recipe. It’s a little like caramel corn, except not as crunchy and not overly sweet.  I skipped the corn syrup and opted for honey instead; some bacon is also added to the recipe because hello — peanut butter and bacon is the most magical combination. EVER.

This popcorn would be a wonderful addition to your New Year’s appetizer table, or perhaps even for a little Sunday night football action. Either way, I hope you love it. And of course, the chocolate drizzle is completely optional. If you want to leave it off, that’s perfectly fine. The popcorn is going off the chains. You can also make this a mix by incorporating pretzels and peanuts, or whatever you can get your hands on. I hope you have a safe and happy new year. Xoxo.

Chocolate Drizzled Bacon Peanut Butter Caramel Corn {no corn syrup!}

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Course Appetizer, Gluten Free, Snack

Keyword peanut butter caramel corn

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Serves 8

Easy to make peanut butter caramel corn with bits of chopped bacon pieces and a drizzle of dark chocolate. Plus no corn syrup used in this recipe!

Ingredients

• 8-10 cups air popped popcorn*
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup all natural peanut butter (or almond butter)
• 4 pieces cooked bacon, cooked and finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
• For the drizzle:
• 2 tablespoons chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Instructions

1. Pop your popcorn with whatever method you choose. You can use low fat microwave popcorn or air popped popcorn. Place half of the popcorn in a large bowl.
2. In a saucepan heat honey, brown sugar and coconut oil on medium until all of it is melted and sugar is dissolved. 
3. Add baking soda, vanilla and peanut butter and stir for 30 seconds or until mixture is warm. Stir in bacon pieces. 
4. Turn off heat and pour half of the caramel sauce on popcorn in pan. Add the rest of the popcorn and peanut butter caramel sauce and fold popcorn over until it is mostly coated with sauce.

5. Sprinkle sea salt over caramel popcorn and again fold over. Immediately remove popcorn from baking pan and spread evenly on wax paper.

6. If you choose to do the chocolate drizzle: Place the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe dish for 20-30 seconds, stirring until chips are all melted. 
7. Drizzle melted chocolate all over caramel corn and allow to harden for 20 minutes. You can place the popcorn in the refrigerator for a few minutes to help harden the chocolate a bit. 
8. Popcorn is good for 3-4 days stored at room temperature in a container or plastic bag. Serves 8. About 1 cup per serving.

Recipe Notes

To make this recipe vegan: Leave out bacon. Use brown rice syrup instead of honey, and make sure chocolate is vegan.

You can replace brown sugar with coconut sugar, I'm confident the results would taste similar.

Nutrition

Servings: 8 servings

Serving size: 1 cup

Calories: 244kcal

Fat: 12.9g

Carbohydrates: 25.9g

Fiber: 2.2g

Sugar: 17.1g

Protein: 7.5g