White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn

This white chocolate peppermint popcorn is a quick and easy holiday treat. It’s coated in white chocolate, crushed candy canes, and drizzled with dark chocolate.

This popcorn is a great treat to package up and take as a holiday neighbor gift! We often make it with Peanut Brittle or Peppermint Bark and deliver them to friends and neighbors around Christmas time. 

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn with a dark chocolate drizzle

An Addicting Holiday Treat

Today’s recipe is my version of Angie’s White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn that I became obsessed with last year. It’s sweet and buttery with a hint of sea salt. Oh, and it’s coated in crushed candy cane and drizzled with dark chocolate. Sounds amazing, right?!

Be warned: one batch of this goes a long way (it makes about 6 cups), so if you’re not careful, you could easily end up eating all of it because it’s just that good.

Save some for yourself and then package some up and take to friends and neighbors. They always appreciate it, and so does my waistline. 😉

Popped popcorn for peppermint popcorn recipe

How to Make It

POPCORN. You’ll start with ½ cup of mushroom or jumbo popcorn kernels. Pop them using an air popper or over the stovetop. You don’t need any butter or salt to begin with (we’ll add a little bit of sea salt as a finishing touch).

MELT. Set aside the popcorn and melt the the white chocolate. Tip: I combined a half cup of white chocolate melts with a half cup of peppermint baking chunks (Ghirardelli sells them during the holidays at places like Target and Walmart). Of course, if you can’t find them you can use 1 cup of white chocolate melting wafers and stir in ½ teaspoon of peppermint extract and 2 tablespoons of finely crushed candy canes.

DRIZZLE. Drizzle the white chocolate over the popcorn. Make sure to remove all of the kernels before coating your popcorn in chocolate, we don’t want to waste any of that yummy chocolate on unpopped popcorn!To prevent the popcorn from getting soggy, it’s best to constantly toss or stir the popcorn as you’re adding the white chocolate.

SPRINKLE. Next, you’ll pour the popcorn onto a lined baking sheet. Spread it into an even layer, then sprinkle with crushed candy canes, festive sprinkles (if you want) and a few pinches of sea salt.

Option: You can also drizzle on a bit of dark chocolate at this point. It compliments the peppermint flavor perfectly! But the choice is yours.

CHILL. Place your pan in the refrigerator to chill. After chilling for 20 minutes, it’s good to go!

Break it up and serve it or package it up in cute little bags, tins or boxes. It’s enough to feed a crowd or to give to all of your neighbors, co-workers, family, and friends!

Close up of white chocolate peppermint popcorn

Ingredient Tips

Popcorn: It’s better to use plain freshly popped corn (with no butter) as opposed to the bagged microwave popcorn. That way the popcorn won’t be at all soggy before adding the chocolate. It also helps the peppermint popcorn to last longer—butter flavored microwave popcorn will start tasting rancid after a few days. 

Melting Chocolate: For this recipe and most of the “candy” recipes I make, I like to use high quality chocolate melting wafers (peels or snaps) like Ghirardelli, Callebaut, Merckens, or Guittard. They have a nice sheen to them and they don’t melt in your fingers as much as a chopped block of chocolate would.

  • Chocolate chips? When using chocolate chips you are going to add some sort of oil or butter (You can melt them with coconut oil or ½ stick of butter). This will aid in the melting process so that the chocolate chips don’t stick to the pan or measuring cup.
  • Almond bark? You could also use melted almond bark, which melts pretty similarly to melting wafers.

Candy Canes: To crush the candy canes, you can either place them unwrapped in a ziploc bag and crush them with a rolling pin or place them in a food processor and pulse it a few times until it is roughly chopped. Either method is great and you can decide how coarse or fine you want the pieces to be. You can either make it very powdery, or make thicker pieces for more of a bite.

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn in a tin

Other Toppings

I went with the traditional recipe similar to the store bought version I love so much, but you could also change it up with any of these toppings or additions:

  • Use crushed green candy canes for “grinch popcorn”
  • Add m&ms
  • Mini pretzels
  • Crushed oreos (maybe peppermint oreos)
  • Use pink melting wafers for more of a peppermint look
  • Or dye the melted chocolate for the event!

Closeup of White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn with chocolate drizzle

Storing and Gifting

STORE your white chocolate peppermint popcorn in a container at room temperature. This doesn’t need to be in an airtight container, but that would help the popcorn from going stale too quick. This is a really great treat to bring to a party or for a night with the family. It will be gone in no time!

If you want to gift it to friends and neighbors, there are a few cute ideas for packaging it:

  • Use the metal treat tins (like the one pictured). They’re usually pretty easy to find at grocery stores or craft stores during the holiday months. 
  • Put it in a plastic treat bag tied with a festive ribbon.
  • Fill “Popcorn” tubs (the cute red and white striped ones!) with the popcorn. Use a piece of cellophane to hold it together by placing it underneath the tub, pulling it up around the container and tying it at the top with ribbon. 
  • Use the brown paper treat bags that have a see through “window” on the front.

Peppermint Popcorn in a gift tin

For more peppermint treats, try:

 

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White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn | lifemadesimplebakes.com

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Recipe

This white chocolate peppermint popcorn is a quick and easy holiday treat. It's coated in white chocolate, crushed candy canes, and drizzled with dark chocolate.
5 from 8 votes
Pin Rate
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 cups
Calories: 275kcal
Author: Andrea
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup jumbo popcorn kernels
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate melting wafers - (I used Ghirardelli)
  • 1/2 cup peppermint white chocolate baking chunks - (I used Ghirardelli)
  • 3 tbsp candy canes - crushed
  • 2 tsp festive sprinkles
  • 1/4 tsp kosher sea salt
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate melts - optional

Instructions

  • Using a popcorn maker or a large pot on the stovetop, pop kernels, set aside.
  • Melt white chocolate melts and peppermint baking chunks over a double boiler or in the microwave. Drizzle over popcorn, stirring constantly to prevent the popcorn from becoming soggy.
  • Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, wax paper or a silicone baking mat. Pour popcorn over top and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle with candy canes, sprinkles and sea salt.
  • Melt dark chocolate melts over a double boiler or in the microwave. Drizzle over top if desired.
  • Place popcorn in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to allow chocolate to harden. Remove and break into pieces.

NOTES

- You can buy pre-crushed candy canes during the holidays. I use them in all of my Christmas baking/candy making. They're all the same size and they don't stick together as much as when you crush them at home.
- I purchased my mushroom popcorn online, but I've seen jumbo popcorn (Popsecret?) at local grocery stores and Target.
- Do not use popcorn with butter or salt.

Nutrition

Serving: 6serving | Calories: 275kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 37mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1mg

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About the Author

Andrea

Hi I'm Andrea!

Hotelier turned Food Blogger to help make your life simple, one recipe at a time.

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Comments:

  1. 5 stars
    Your popcorn looks so pretty! Mine looks like a mess. A delicious mess…maybe it’s because the kids helped. But they loved it! Fun stuff. Delicious stuff.

  2. 5 stars
    This popcorn was the perfect snack while we watched Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman with the family! We couldn’t stop snacking on it!