Sweet and Salty Popcorn Cookies

These sweet and salty popcorn cookies are so satisfyingly tasty. You get crunch, you get sweet, you get saltiness, and you get chocolate, all in the guise of a little mini popcorn ball of a cookie. 

The best part of these cookies is that you can have five or six of them, as opposed to one or two "regular" cookies. They are pretty much all air, right? That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Another advantage to making these cookies is that you don't have to fire up your oven! The only cooking involved is making browned butter and melting the marshmallows that hold the goodness together.

Browned butter you ask? Just about the best secret ingredient to add a tasty nutty flavor to your treats.

There are several ways you can eat these cookies. You can pull them apart piece by piece, and eat each component. You can just bite into these and play "salty sweet lottery." OR, you can grab little bits of each component, making sure you get popcorn, chocolate, and pretzel in each bite. I leave it up to you my friends.

You can air pop the popcorn, but I prefer popping it in a pan or a wok with oil. For cooking popcorn in a pot, check out this post. When I made the popcorn for these cookies, I ended up with only 3 unpopped kernels using this method. Woo!

After the recipe, there are more links to delicious no-bake cookie recipes from the members of the Creative Cookie Exchange.

Sweet and Salty Popcorn Cookies

Recipe very slightly adapted with permission from the wonderful blog Foodie with Family by Rebecca, who just happens to be coming out with her own canning book! 

Makes about 24 to 30 cookies

Ingredients

3 cups (4 ounces) of thin salted pretzel sticks

1/2 cup popcorn kernels plus 3 tablespoons of oil for stovetop popcorn

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 ten ounce bag of marshmallows

2 cups (15 ounces) candy coated chocolate (such as M&Ms)

Spray oil for your hands

Instructions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat and set aside. 
2. Roughly break the pretzel sticks into three or more pieces each and add them to a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Pop the popcorn and pour it into a bowl. Using your hands, gently break up some of the popcorn so that about 1/3 of it is in smaller pieces. Add the popcorn to the bowl of pretzel pieces, making sure you are not adding any unpopped popcorn kernels. 
4. In a 3 quart sauce pan, melt the butter over medium low heat. Continue to cook until the butter just begins to turn golden brown. Add the marshmallows and stir them into the butter. Lower the temperature and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the marshmallows are fully melted and incorporated. The mixture should be smooth. 
5. Pour the marshmallow mixture over the popcorn and pretzel mixture and stir to coat everything thoroughly. 
6. Add the chocolate candy and stir until evenly distributed. 
7. Spray your hands with spray oil and gently form 1/3 to 1/2 of a cup of the popcorn mixture into a ball and then flatten slightly into a thick cookie shape. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Continue forming cookies until the mixture is gone. 
8. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. 

To hot to turn on your oven? The theme this month for the Creative Cookie Exchange group is No Bake Cookies! If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links. You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes--be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). We all post on the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! Also, if you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking (or this month "no baking"), check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

• Coconut Apricot Slice from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• No Bake Almond Joy Bars from 2 Cookin Mamas
• No Bake Cookie Butter S'mores Bites from Live...Bake...Love
• No-Bake Fruit Balls from Magnolia Days
• No Bake Nutella Cookies from flours and frostings
• Slow Cooker Cocoa Peanut Butter Oat Cookies from Food Lust People Love
• Sweet and Salty Popcorn Cookies from Karen's Kitchen Stories