Our family never had a lot of sweets around the house, so a chance to eat this popcorn always felt super special. I hadn’t thought about this recipe for decades until my brother recently asked my mom for the recipe. As soon as she sent it, the memories came flooding back, and I had to make it. My mom’s recipe calls for corn syrup, but because we don’t live in the 1980s anymore, I decided to update things and use honey instead. I now make it for my own kiddo, and now every movie night he puts in a special request for “the honey popcorn.”
~ Heather Lin, Wellspent Marketing Manager, Designer & Photographer
Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, toss in a few corn kernels and cover with a lid (if you have one, splatter guards work great instead of a lid). Once the few kernels have popped add in the remaining kernels; cover and shake regularly throughout the popping process. Once popping has stopped, move the popcorn into a large bowl.
In a small saucepan add 4 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons honey. Over low-medium heat, slowly bring the mixture to a boil.
Boil for 3 minutes, then pour evenly over the popcorn. Immediately mix until evenly coated and sprinkle with a pinch of flake salt.
Cleaning tip: At this point I highly recommend that you get water in that saucepan as soon as possible because that sugar mix hardens quickly!
Place parchment paper (or a silpat) on your work surface and spread out the popcorn so it doesn’t stick into large clumps. Allow a few minutes for the popcorn to cool completely, and enjoy!