Fall Flavored Crunchy Munch

Autumn keeps chugging along, bringing us luminous sunsets, chilly temps, and rainbow colored trees. In celebration of this beautiful and cozy time of year, I wanted to post another fall-inspired recipe, perfect for entertaining or just keeping around the house for snacking.

I had a few friends over this past weekend and took the opportunity to make this bowl of fun for them to munch on over the several hours we spent together. I hosted this gathering the day after Halloween, so you will notice there is an... um... interesting character present in some of the pictures from an idea I found on Pinterest. And I definitely incorporated the Halloween colors of black & orange into my minimal decorations for girls' night:

[a lil' bar cart styling - notice the bottle of caramel cream I used to make these drinks!]

...but this recipe is not meant to be enjoyed solely around Halloween. I incorporated the quintessential fall sweets - candy corn & candy pumpkins - so that you can make this crunchy munch throughout the autumn season or at any time you can find these fall favs in the stores. Or buy a couple extra bags so you can save them to use throughout the year!

As you know, I enjoy playing around with flavors on popcorn, and the idea behind this recipe is for it to be a spin on the usual caramel (do you say care-a-mel or carmul? I say care-a-mel :-) corn. Adding caramel to salty popcorn not only creates the ever-loved salty/sweet flavor combo, but it makes it a bit hardened, adding that perfect extra crunch. It's an all around winner. Instead of using caramel though, I used maple syrup, another famous fall flavor. With the syrup and the candy already going on, I didn't want to abuse everyone's sweet tooth, so I knew I had to balance out the sweetness with an opposite but complementary flavor or two. Enter cayenne and my buddy: liquid smoke, which you may remember from this old favorite. Spicy and smoky, done and done!

Last but not least, for a final bit of crunch in this munch, pumpkin seeds! My boyfriend and I dressed Milli up in her costume:

[She's a pumpkin! I know she looks miserable, but that's only because... she was miserable! haha]

...and carved pumpkins the evening before my girls' night:

[He carved the ghost and I did the bat. Pretty good, eh?!]

He had the presence of mind to save all of the pumpkin guts, which he diligently went through to dig out all of the seeds, then cleaned them and set them aside for roasting. I 'borrowed' a few handfuls for this recipe and they went magnificently with the rest of the ingredients in the munch.

One last thing before we get started: for some suggestions as to how to modify this recipe for yourself if you are sugar-free like me, check the bottom of the post.

OK, let's get poppin'!

Crunchy Munch
Servings: 1 medium sized bowl
Prep time: 5 minutes + 20 minutes during cooking time
Cooking time: 50 minutes (20 minutes of which are prep time for stuff that isn't getting cooked)

Ingredients:
4 handfuls pumpkin seeds, cleaned and dried
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 5/8 teaspoon pumpkin pie seasoning
4 teaspoons + 1/3 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/16 teaspoon cayenne
1/16 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons butter
1 bag candy corn
1 bag candy pumpkins

Start by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spread the pumpkin seeds on a nonstick baking sheet.

Sprinkle the seeds with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the pumpkin pie seasoning.

Toss the seeds to coat in the spices.

Next drizzle four teaspoons of the maple syrup over the seeds and stir them with a spatula.

Place the pan in the oven to roast for 50 minutes. 

When your pumpkin seeds have been roasting in the oven for a half an hour, start making the popcorn.

Pour the oil in a large pot along with the popcorn kernels and place the pot on the stove over medium high heat.

Add a lid to the pot and make sure to give the pot a shake every minute or so before and while the corn starts to pop.

While the corn is popping, make the drizzles, starting with the maple syrup.

Add 1/3 cup of the syrup in a small pot on the stove over medium low heat. Sprinkle in the liquid smoke, cinnamon, cayenne, and 1/8 teaspooon salt. Stir.

Bring this concoction to a light simmer and then turn the heat down to low.

Next, work on the butter drizzle.

Place the butter in a microwave safe dish (or you can go old school and melt the butter on the stove).

Place the butter in the microwave for 45 seconds to melt.

Add 1/8 teaspoon each of salt and the pumpkin pie seasoning and stir.

By this time, five minutes or so should've passed and the corn should be about done popping.

Take the pot off the heat and set aside for 30 seconds to allow any residual popping to cease.

Carefully remove the lid from the pot and use a spatula to give the popcorn a little stir, starting from the bottom to ensure none is stuck or burnt.

Toss the popcorn with 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Next, drizzle the seasoned butter over the popcorn...

...and immediately stir thoroughly with a spatula.

Now drizzle the maple syrup concoction over the popcorn...

...and immediately stir with a spatula so that the popcorn is evenly coated with butter and syrup.

At this time, the 50 minutes on the pumpkin seeds should be up, so remove the pan from the oven and stir the seeds with a spatula.

Throw the seasoned seeds in with the popcorn...

...and toss to combine the seeds throughout the popcorn.

Next, the fun part! The candy! Throw in the candy corn and candy pumpkins and toss.

If you are making this recipe at any time other than Halloween, you will skip this next, most fun step, unless you just have a sick sense of humor and want to do this part anyway.

 

Add a small fake skeleten to the bottom of your serving bowl. (I was thinking a fake severed hand would be fun as well! Or tossing in some fake eyeballs with the popcorn.)

Pour the popcorn in over the skeleten.

He looks ready for the party, doesn't he?!

Serve to your guests with festive servingware and holiday treats, like this delicious pumpkin cheesecake trifle (bottom left) I found on Pinterest!

Salute!

*I made myself a little bowl of crunchy munch, sans candy corns/pumpkins and all of the maple syrup. I roasted some pumpkin seeds without the maple syrup - only salt, pumpkin pie spice, and olive oil. Then for the popcorn coating, I melted coconut oil, added 1/4 teaspoon maple syrup extract, and followed the same cooking method as above for the maple syrup drizzle. I tossed my popcorn in that plus the same melted butter used above, as well as a little salt. Voila! Delicious, sugar free fall flavored crunchy munch!