Gabby's Eats: Autumn Harvest Popcorn Bars

Being that October is National Popcorn Popping Month and Halloween is also right around the corner, I decided I had to celebrate both these occasions.  When I saw that SkinnyPop was gluten-free and kid friendly,  I was inspired to develop a recipe that puts a fun “Halloween spin” on popcorn. 

My daughter Gabby LOVES popcorn and I do too, so we were both very excited to work together to create a recipe for the challenge! We have done snack mixes using popcorn in the past, which were super yummy but this time around we wanted to do something different… Gabby and I decided to try our luck with using popcorn in a bar recipe with some Autumn inspired ingredients as "mix-ins" like apples and cranberries.  We used almond butter and a touch of honey as the base, added some sea salt and vanilla to go along with the popcorn, and the combo worked perfectly!  These bars are easy to make, have just the right amount of sweetness and a nice texture.   They are great for a snack, dessert or as a fun treat to bring to a party/gathering.  We hope you will give them a try!

Ingredients:

½ cup creamy or crunchy unsalted natural almond butter  (or sunflower butter for those with nut allergies)

3 tablespoons honey

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla 

¾ cup chopped dried apple rings

¼ cup dried cranberries
2 cups air popped or store bought light popcorn (plain or lightly salted)

Wax or parchment paper

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, combine the almond butter, honey, sea salt and vanilla together  and mix well.  Stir in the chopped apple, cranberries and popcorn. Press mixture into an 8 by 8 inch pan. (Lining the pan with a large rectangular piece of parchment paper, placing the mixture on one side and then folding the paper over to press down works nicely since the dough is so sticky.) Chill in the freezer for one hour or the fridge for several hours until firm. Cut into 8 squares and serve. Store in the fridge.

Makes 8 bars

Serving size: 1/8th of recipe  Calories 170 Protein 4 g Carb 22 g Fiber 4 g Sugars 16 g Fat 9 g Saturated fat 1 g Sodium 40 mg