Salted Caramel Popcorn

I cannot be the only one that looks for ways to add the magic of Ramadan and Eid to the lives of those around us. I also cannot be the only Mama who looks for ways for her children to share this blessed and magical time with their friends and Teachers either.

As my girls get older they are noticing more and more that a lot of attention is given on a global scale to Christmas. They also notice that gift giving/baked goods and other little items are distributed a lot during the festive period.

So this year I put a bit of effort into my children’s light Dawah on the playground. That’s right; I classed this project as Dawah. Because even though there isn’t any spoken words to this we are paving the way for conversation. And we are also spreading kindness. Dawah in my book doesn’t have to be about preaching. It’s also about creating opportunities to discuss things.

So why am I posting this recipe so close to Christmas? Well I don’t see any reason why you cannot distribute these cones for Christmas too.

So to make 12 cones of pure yumminess (that took me about an hour and a half to actually do) you will need:

Ingredients:

500 grams popping corn (plan stuff available in most supermarkets and is actually quite cheap)
4 TBSP oil (sunflower works-no need to go fancy)

For the caramel:

600 grams sugar (I used a mixture of what I had in the house-which was soft light and dark brown sugars)
550 grams of butter (feel free to use salted)
Sea salt (crushed) to taste.
4 TBSP honey
4 TBSP double cream

To wrap up:
12 x cellophane cone bags (I purchased these in a set of 50 as I have other projects coming up)
12 x wire twists to fasten the cones
Stickers (optional-we bought Eid Mubarak stickers off eBay. I’ll be using personalised ones for the Christmas cones we are distributing too).

Equipment:
2 large baking sheets (or 3 smaller ones). Line with greaseproof paper. I prefer to use the sheets that are used to make tray bakes etc as they have high sides which prevents popcorn falling off.

1) You need to start by popping the corn. I popped the corn in batches. I placed 2 TBSP of oil in a large pan and heated in a large pan and add 150 grams of corn. Give it a quick shake and place the lid on. Now is the fun part. You need to listen to the corn pop. This takes around 5/6 minutes. Give the pan a shake (carefully as it will be hot!) during the 5/6 minutes to stop the popcorn burning. Once the speed of the corn literally dies down (again around 5/6 minutes in). Turn the heat off. Give the pan a shake. Do not remove the lid just yet in case you get hit by a stray popped corn.

2) Repeat step 1 until all the popcorn is popped. Remove any cernals that haven’t popped (chipped teeth are not in vogue). Place the popcorn to one side. Now make the caramel.

3) As there’s a lot of popcorn I make the caramel in TWO batches. I find this the best way to control the situation.

Heat half the butter and half the sugar in a medium pan. Stir the mixture to prevent it burning.

Cook over a medium heat until the caramel is formed. Now by this I mean you’ll literally see a sticky, brown liquid lava in the pan. Now add 2 TBSP of honey and stir in. Reduce the heat to prevent burning. Now add the double cream and stir until combined. Allow to bubble for a minute. Turn the heat off. Allow to cool for a few minutes. It will still be hot and you need to be careful not to scald yourself as hot sugar is dangerous.

4) Now comes the messy yet slightly dangerous part. You need to add half the popcorn to the caramel. Stir well to cover as much of the popcorn as possible. Now divide up the mixture onto the trays and spread evenly. Sprinkle on salt to your taste.

5) Bake in an oven at 170 for 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and allow to cool completely. Don’t worry if you peak at the popcorn whilst it’s warm and the mixture looks like it’s melted. Once its stone cold it’s set and will be yum. Hold the vision; trust the process. Always.

Now repeat the above steps to make another batch of caramel/caramel popcorn.

Once the popcorn is cold you may wish to break up the clusters to bag them up. That’s fine. Place in the bags and fasten. Add labels/stickers as you wish.

Any leftover popcorn will keep well for up to 4 days in a ziplock bag/airtight container.

Distribute with pride.

Enjoy.

Note: this popcorn is high in calories and sugar. In case you were wondering.

Gratitude Jar

This world. It’s great isn’t it. We have all the mod cons. All the stuff our ancestors could never have imagined. All these opportunities we receive, all the love, the recoveries from illnesses….the blessings we have. We often forget them. It’s human nature (unless you actively rewire your brain) to concentrate on negatives rather than positives. Call it society. Call it normal. Whatever you want to class it as it’s an active block in your life.

My personal journey with GRATITUDE is I keep a gratitude diary. I fill out the diary with three things I am thankful for everyday. I’ve been doing this for a while now. It’s been a part of my own personal developmental journey. You see until you can see what the good stuff in your life is you cannot dispel the negative. Your thought process needs to move to positives. You need to concentrate on the good. The light. And then multiply them.

It’s Laws of Attraction. Like attracts like. You think about the good, you concentrate on the good. You focus on the good.

You then manifest MORE of the same/similar.

We’ve all had negative experiences where we’ve got out of bed and the day has started rough. We’ve muttered ‘flippin’ great’ and the next thing you know you’ve poured coffee down your white shirt, your toast is burnt, your car engine has overheated and you are late for your annual review. You then have to combat the rush hour traffic on public transport. You open your post and there’s an invite to your exes Wedding. Because at the start of a less than happy day things started a rough and we were like “what else can go WRONG” and the universe answers your vibes that you are sending out in the way you are manifesting via your attitude.

So to increase goodness we concentrate on GOOD VIBES ONLY.

As a Muslim gratitude is attitude. We’re taught to be thankful for the blessings and also count the lessons. And what doesn’t kill is it teaching something to us and we need to grow from it.

Rather than allow my daughters to get into the habit of concentrating on the negative I’ve introduced a Gratitude Jar into the weekly family activities. The idea is to get everyone in the family to think of at least one thing they are grateful for over the week and write it down. We then place it in the jar. Then when the year is done we will read our slips and put them in an envelop for future reference.

The idea is to get into the habits of expressing gratitude and acknowledging the good in life. It’s also a way of reflecting on our lives (I’m a firm believer in reflection to improve ourselves). And the more we thankful the more we attract of the same good stuff.

It’s a great activity to do as a family and it costs next to nothing to do.

Materials needed:

Paper (we use coloured craft paper. We’ve got A4 size mixed colours. The pack cost £4.00 and will last us more than a year.
A jar-I upcycled a jar by writing on it a verse from the Holy Quran

(If you are grateful I will give you more 14:7).

We use various pens to write out our slips.

And apart from that you don’t need anything else.

So go on; increase your gratitude as a family and see how the positive attitude brings in more positive vibes for you all.

Style Me Sister

Tag: gratitude