I had to make one super fun snack for baby girl's Rainbow Birthday Bash. In my search for rainbow hued homemade snacks, I came across this recipe from The Yummy Life for Homemade Microwave Colored Popcorn. I then realized that I still had some fun popcorn bags leftover from our May 2011 wedding and it was a done deal! (Yes, we had a gourmet popcorn bar at our wedding reception. ;) )
What you will need for each colored batch:
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp liquid food coloring (or more or less depending on how dark or light you want the color to be)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup unpopped popcorn
You will need something to microwave the popcorn in. Originally, I was using the nifty glass microwave popcorn maker you see pictured above. But then I broke it after making the first color batch.
Yep, this is the second one of these that have broken. I give up.
So, I opted for a microwave safe glass bowl & a plastic vented microwave cover. You know, the kind you use to cover your plate of leftovers so as you are heating them up they don't splatter all over the place? Yep, I got creative... but it worked!
Start by placing the butter in the bowl and microwaving it for 30-40 seconds until it is melted. Then stir in the oil, corn syrup, food coloring and salt. Mix well. Pour in the unpopped kernels and stir well, making sure each kernel is coated well.
Put your vented cover over the bowl, and then microwave on high for 4-5 minutes. I stopped it after about 3 minutes to stir around the kernels, and then continued popping for another 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.
Once popped, pour out the popcorn on a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper and allow it to cool.
Once cooled, I just dumped the first colored popcorn into my larger bowl. I then let the glass bowl cool slightly and washed it before starting the next color of popcorn. Just repeat the above steps for each color popcorn that you would like to make.
I made red, yellow, green, and blue. You could get more creative and try the orange and purple, but 4 batches was enough for me for one evening. I dumped them all in one large bowl and then tossed to mix the colors.
This would also be great for doing team colors for a tailgate or sports party. :)
I set out the bowl of rainbow colored popcorn with a scoop and the popcorn bags and allowed my guests to serve themselves.
The party guests may have loved this popcorn... Just saying. ;)
This recipe was 100% inspired by Homemade Microwave Colored Popcorn from The Yummy Life.
I found my popcorn bags at a Michael's craft store... but that was over 2 years ago. I am sure that most craft stores may have something similar.
The rainbow placard I used for the popcorn bowl was a free printable that you can find here on Mess for Less.
Well, this was the last post in my week long Rainbow Birthday Bash Extravaganza. Be looking for a recap of all my colorful posts from baby girl's first birthday party tomorrow morning on the blog. :)
