Skittles-Flavoured Tutti-Frutti Popcorn! (w/ Bonus VEGAN Version!)

How did I come up with this TUTTI-FRUTTI POPCORN recipe? Well, when I was younger I used to love the multi-coloured and multi-flavoured popcorn one could buy at the popcorn store in the local mall. My sisters and I would buy it as a gift for each other on birthdays. Somewhere along the line, I stopped eating it, why I don’t know. (Adulthood, maybe? Eh.) Then last week someone gave me a whole bunch of skittles packages and I was trying to figure out how to use them. Suddenly it hit me…I could make TUTTI-FRUTTI POPCORN at home! Childhood regained!

This TUTTI-FRUTTI popcorn reminds me of the double-glazed kind I would buy at the local popcorn shop, glossily glazed in mouth-watering sweetness, yet with a hint of tartness and lots of crunch. One batch is just enough for a v. indulgent Netflix binge-watching session for one, or perhaps a couch and movie night for two.

Have I piqued your interest yet? Let’s get to making some!

TUTTI-FRUTTI POPCORN 

• 10-12 c. popped popcorn (about 1/2 c. unpopped + 1/4 c. oil)
• ¼ c. brown sugar
• ½ c. butter plus 5 tbsp. butter
• ¼ c. corn syrup
• 7 regular-sized packs of skittles (or approx.. 1/3 c. skittles of each flavour)

1. Melt and mix brown sugar, corn syrup, and ½ c. butter over medium to high heat and stir until boiling. A light sauce will form (as opposed to butter running separate from sugar. You’ll know what I mean when you see it). Continue stirring caramel sauce and let it boil until it has become a slightly thicker caramel sauce.
2. Put 1/5^th of the caramel mixture in a separate pot and add in one flavour of skittles plus one tbsp. butter. Stir over medium heat until skittles have dissolved into the caramel and it has become a homogenous sauce (it will take a bunch of continuous stirring and smushing of the skittles). Stir in 2 c. of popcorn, until thoroughly coated, and spread on a half a cookie sheet in a 250 degree oven. Do the same with the remaining 4 flavours, one at a time.
3. You’ll end up with two cookie trays in the oven, one with two flavours of popcorn on it, and one with three flavours of popcorn on it. Every time you add one of the 5 flavours of popcorn to the oven, stir the other colours to re-coat with flavoured sauce (it has a tendency to melt off). Be sure to keep the flavours of popcorn separate on the trays.
4. Once all the flavours are made, bake both trays in the oven at 250 degrees, for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie trays. Once cool, break up any chunks that have formed, and mix together in a large serving bowl. Then…dive in! Try each flavour separately, then try them together! You really can taste the separate flavours. Yum-o!

Often I bake and cook and bring in my creations to my workplace, or send it in with the DH to his, but this? This popcorn is all mine, my friends!  I’ll be honest, the process is a bit finicky to do with all the different flavours, but the final result is worth it.

BONUS VERSION: If you use a vegan margarine instead of butter, it’s…VEGAN because skittles are vegan. (Did you know that? I didn’t until recently.) Impress your vegan friends and be the life of the vegan party. Or just eat it because something this delicious will probably not make it out your door, just sayin’!

NEXT POST: I’m thinking either Cinnamon Swirl Bread (yes, I’m all about the swirl lately) or maybe something with veggies. I could do with some nice green veggies right about now! Mmm…nutrients. Veggies may not sound delicious when compared to candy-covered popcorn, but I always feel better after eating a veggie-based meal, and that sense of well-being and vitality is just as great as a bowl full of candy popcorn. (Yea or nea? Let me know in the comments!)

Linking Up at Meal Plan Monday (x2) and at Happiness is Homemade! And at Full Plate Thursday! Plus, at Southern Bite!