Monday, July 8, 2013

Pinterest in Practice: S'mores Popcorn

For Independence Day, the hubby and I were invited to two barbeques, so I made a couple of Pinterest inspired desserts to take - Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, which I reviewed previously, and S'mores Popcorn.

I found the recipe for S'mores Popcorn on Pinterest from the Nest of Posies blog.  The recipe sounded delicious and was too good to pass up with only four ingredients!  I already loved to add chocolate chips and marshmallows to my popcorn, so adding Golden Grahams to the mix sounded like a perfect addition to make something resembling s'mores.

And who doesn't love s'mores?  

Pros:

  • Super easy: This recipe is uncomplicated and requires almost no cooking skills.
  • Attractive: The end product looks yummy.
  • Taste: Overall, the taste of the s'mores popcorn is, in fact, yummy!
Cons:
  • False advertising: Even though this tastes great, it does not taste like s'mores, at all. It tastes like popcorn, marshmallows, and cereal with some chocolate.
  • Unclear instructions: The recipe seems simple with only 4 ingredients, and it is. BUT, you'll notice that there are no quantities of ingredients listed.  So I just had to guess on how much to add because the recipe is not clear on what size the box of cereal should be, what size the bag of chocolate chips should be, etc.  
  • Kernels: Simply mixing the ingredients is not enough, which I guess goes back to the clarity of the instructions, but I found that it is extremely important for the success of the recipe to remove each and every unpopped kernel of popcorn prior to adding any other ingredients.

When I was preparing this recipe, I found that the lack of clear instructions was quite frustrating, especially since I was trying to tweak the recipe just slightly.  Instead of just using normal semi-sweet chocolate chips, I also used white chocolate chips to which I added food coloring, resulting in some red and blue drizzle for Independence Day!  It worked great to add the food coloring, but I was unsure how much total chocolate drizzle was needed.  Also, drizzling the chocolate was harder than it looked.  I didn't know how long to microwave the chips to get them to the correct consistency to pour.  It turns out that I never found the magic number and ended up adding a small amount of vegetable oil to the melted chocolate to make its smoother.  Even then, it was difficult to get it smooth and melty enough to drizzle like in the photo.  Adding the oil also introduced another problem - the chocolate did not set up and harden as expected.  Instead it stayed in a liquid-like form, which made the final product very, very messy.  Finally, the popcorn kernels presented a problem.  Since I did not think about picking each one out before spreading the dry ingredients on the sheet pans, the melted chocolate stuck to the kernels along with the other ingredients.  Then, when the dessert was served and eaten, the kernels were also served and (not) eaten.  In other words, I had to spit out kernels with each bite.  


Overall Grade for this Pinterest in Practice Project: B-


Pinterest in Practice

While the flavor of this dessert was yummy, it did not taste like s'mores as expected and the unclear instructions resulted in a product that I wish I would not have served to friends.  

If you try this recipe, heed my cautions and learn from my mistakes!


Alternative Recipes

Alternatively, I think the ingredients of the recipe could be combined in other ways to create better dessert options.  


S'mores Bars 

Melt the marshmallows and mix with the Golden Grahams (with or without the popcorn) to make Rice Krispie-like treats.  Then melt the chocolate chips and spread on top for a chocolate icing.  Don't forget to remove the kernels if using popcorn!


S'mores Chex Mix 

Follow the original instructions, but Nix the popcorn and add Chex to the recipe instead. 


S'mores Popcorn  

Instead of melting the chocolate chips, simply mix them in with the marshmallows, popcorn, and Golden Grahams.  


photo credit

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