Chocolate Chip Popcorn Cookies

Are you bored of the regular chocolate chip, peanut butter or oatmeal cookie? This recipe hits all your cravings in one simple scrumptious cookie; salty & sweet. If you haven't found the blog by "Joy the Baker" at www.joythebaker.com you are missing out on some amazing recipes! Each day I visit her site to see if there are any new recipes/ideas. The things she comes up with are incredible. This recipe is taken from her website; she adapted it from the "Smitten Kitchen". These are great movie snacks or late night snacks as the girls at work enjoyed them during our night shifts.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup yellow corn kernels
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate (chips or chunks)
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Method
 

To make the popcorn: 

Place oil in the bottom of a medium saucepan.  Heat over medium heat.  When oil is hot, add corn kernels in a single layer across the bottom of the pan.  Cover the pot but keep the lid ajar to let a bit of steam out.  Listen to the popcorn as it pops.  Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the burner once the popping has subsided.  Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with butter.  Toss to coat all of the popcorn in a bit of butter.  Piece through the popcorn to remove any unpopped kernels.  Set aside to cool.  You’ll have about 4 cups of popcorn.

To make the dough:

Place a rack in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.  Cream until butter is pale and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla extract for one more minute.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low until just combined.  Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a spatula to fold in the popcorn.  It looks like the large amount of popcorn will not work with the amount of cookie batter but it does.  Continue to fold, the popcorn will break down as you go and finally, add in the dark chocolate.

Scoop dough by the heaping tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with coarse sea salt.
Bake for 10 to 13 minutes.

 http://joythebaker.com/2013/04/buttered-popcorn-chocolate-chip-cookies/#more-11246