There’s a reason my purse is the size of international travel luggage.
I lug around a lot. There’s my giant makeup bag full of the two things I actually use and the 87 things I sort through in search of my favorite two items. There’s my camera, because I never know when I want to ignore it to take pictures with my iPhone. There’s a bag of smoked almonds because you do not want to see me hangry. There’s that calligraphy pen you gave me last week… tucked safely away in a zip lock bag.
There are three pens that don’t work, one pencil, and two lip glosses. I totally have a band-aid if you need one… I just hope you’re not in a hurry because it will take me a few moments to find it. Safety pin? Yes. Toothpick? Maybe. Pair of shoes for spin class? Duh.
You know what giant purses are also great for? Smuggling a massive amount of treats into movie theaters. Yea… I’m that girl. With my giant bag, you’d never know that I’m smuggling a gourmet picnic (with wine).
You’d also never suspect that I’d be smuggling my two favorite movie treats (popcorn and chocolate) in one very snackable cookie shape. Just for future reference… you definitely want to sit next to me at the movies. You’ll recognize me as the girl carrying her purse luggage across the aisle. I apologize in advance. Have treats; will (most likely) share.
Let’s pump the brakes. Did we properly celebrate the fact that we’re folding buttered popcorn into chocolate chip cookie batter? This little gem of cookie genius is brought to us by Deb from Smitten Kitchen. She now reigns supreme as Queen of Snacks.
Think about the goodness of a sweet brown sugar cookie batter, combined with a salt buttered popcorn. Dreams!
I have a taste for salt (because I also have a taste for sugar), so I added a bit of extra grey sea salt into the batter and onto the tops of the cookies.
I had a hard time deciding whether or not to add chocolate to this cookie batter.
Wait… a hard time trying deciding on chocolate!?
You’re right. That’s madness. In goes the chocolate!
Buttered popcorn, dark chocolate chunks, and coarse sea salt. Oh yes please.
If you’re thinking white chocolate is a good plan, I would support you in that endeavor!
These cookies are crunchy around the edges and soft in the center. Dark chocolate works really nicely with the buttery popcorn and extra salt. The popcorn gives the cookie a definite chew.
Here’s a mega tip! I was talking with Deb about these cookies and she suggested they be made with microwave popcorn! Yea. Seriously. Let’s just all admit that sometimes microwave popcorn is sometimes the bee’s knees.
Milk. Spilled.
Deb’s Buttered Popcorn Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 24 cookies
adapted slightly from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup yellow corn kernels
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate
coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Let’s make the popcorn first. Place oil in the bottom of a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat. When oil is hot, add corn kernels in a single layer across the bottom of the pan. Cover the pot but keep the lid ajar to let a bit of steam out. Listen to the popcorn as it pops. Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the burner once the popping has subsided. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with butter. Toss to coat all of the popcorn in a bit of butter. Piece through the popcorn to remove any unpopped kernels. Set aside to cool. You’ll have about 4 cups of popcorn.
Next we’ll make the dough. Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Cream until butter is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla extract for one more minute. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low until just combined. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a spatula to fold in the popcorn. It might seem like a disproportionate amount of popcorn considering the cookie batter. Keep folding. The popcorn will break down a bit as it’s folded in. Fold in dark chocolate.
Scoop dough by the heaping tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with coarse sea salt. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until the edges and tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven, allow to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
Emma
I did this exact thing with Deb’s recipe :) Delicious! Added some extra salt sprinkled on top right before baking.
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Kristin
Hi Joy! I’ve been reading your blog for awhile, and drooling over all the fantastic recipes. This time, I actually made one…shocker! (I’m more of a recipe reader, than a recipe follower) :) My daughter’s soccer team had a bake sale and we were all asked to bring something. In my head I said ‘AHA! I’m making those popcorn cookies!’ Had I declared that out loud, people may have looked at me funny. They did look at the sign in front of our cookies, and say ‘Popcorn? Huh?’ but mostly out of curiosity, bought them. I thought they were quite tasty, although, after they had cooled you really couldn’t taste much popcorn, but there was just a nice crunch to them.
Thanks for your lovely recipes, pictures and letting us into your life.
Kristin lion
I just made them. They’re resting on the tray! I can’t wait! Mmmmm!
Ladotyk
I wanted to like these but the popcorn came out rather stale once the cookies were baked. The raw cookie dough was amazing though, a perfect combo of sweet and saltly and buttery. Any tricks for protecting the texture of the popcorn?
Cate
Same! The popcorn just wasn’t a pronounced flavor. Not bad, but not special either. Oh well, it was fun to try.
Naomi
I agree! I made the original recipe last year when I first bought the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I liked them but didn’t love them (and that’s hard for me to admit since I usually think Deb’s recipes are perfection). When I saw this chocolatey version, I thought “now why didn’t I think of that?!”
Anyway, I made them this week, and although I loved the flavour combination of the sweet buttery dough, chocolate, and salt, I didn’t love the weird chewy texture of the popcorn in the cookie. My husband, however, clearly disagreed as he inhaled 4 cookies in a row without stopping to breathe. Thanks for a fun recipe!
Desiree Bennett
Trader Joe’s actually has popcorn cookies that are pretty good, but these look WAYYY better and way more chewy (theirs are crispy cookie crackers almost).
Martha Tompoulidou
Salty popcorn with chocolate! What a balance!!!