Homemade Toffee Popcorn

This is a cheap alternative to packs of butterkist or cinema popcorns. It's easy to make, delicious and free of additives like lecithins and sulphites. When you make your own, you can use organic butter and fairly traded sugar and you are guaranteed not to get the stale tasting leftovers that cinemas seem to think it is acceptable to sell for £4 or more.

Measure out 75g of popcorn, pour a glug of light olive oil or other flavourless oil into a saucepan and chuck the corn in. Give it a quick stir to coat with the oil, put the lid on and leave it on a medium heat until the corn has all popped. Pour it out onto a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Depending on how many calories you want to consume, and how sweet you like your popcorn, either make the amount of toffee below or double it. The original recipe by Rachel Allen calls for twice the ratio of toffee to popcorn that I use.

Put 40g brown sugar, 40g butter, 2 tablespoons of golden syrup and a large pinch of salt into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and keep it bubbling for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. I use a peice of greaseproof paper to occasionally drip some of the mixture on and test it, like jam, to see whether it will set.

Use a spoon to drizzle the toffee over the cooked popcorn and leave out to cool and harden slightly. The best thing to transport it in are those plastic containers you get with takeaways or any tupperware.

Links
Times article with a popcorn price peice at the bottom (145g popcorn = £4 at the cinema, 26p homemade)
Lecithin Wiki
Sulphite Wiki