This is
your appetite on craic.
For starters, it’s pronounced “crack”, an Irish term that means crazy fun times with friends. Well this here is some good times in a bowl meant to be shared, and it’s pretty addictive too, hence the name.
Think fresh popcorn, crunchy sourdough pretzels, silky homemade caramel and roasted almonds drizzled with semi-sweet and white chocolate. Umm hmm. Want to really send folks over the edge? Add some crispy bacon to the mix. Oh yeah, now we’re talkin’.
Trust me, you want this for your Super Bowl party. It’s easy to whip up, more or less. You can do it the gourmet way (yes you can) or the quick way (if you must) – see my recipe below. Enjoy some good craic!
The Ingredients:
5-7 cups plain popcorn.*
15 Pennsylvania Dutch-style sourdough hard pretzels with salt, smashed into bite size pieces.
1 cup roasted, unsalted nuts (almonds, pecans, peanuts, macadamia or a mix – the choice is yours; nuts optional).**
5-6 strips of crispy cooked bacon, crumbled into tiny bits (optional).
Caramel***
½ a bar/2 oz./6 squares semi-sweet chocolate (Ghirardelli chocolate works great for this and is widely available). ****
½ a bar/2 oz./6 squares of white chocolate (Nestle’s Premier White Baking Bar works well for this and is widely available).****
The
How-To:
1) Line a baking sheet with
parchment paper.
2) Place broken pretzel pieces into a very large bowl.
* 3) Popcorn
Quick Way: buy a bag of naked, salt-free popcorn
if you can find it.
Gourmet
Way: make your
own.
1/4 cup
popcorn kernels
1 Tbs.
vegetable oil
Add kernels and oil to a 3 qt. pot and stir to coat the kernels with oil. Place a tight-fitting lid on the pot and heat over a medium flame. Shake, shake, shake the pot vigorously until kernels start to pop and keep shaking until it sounds like most of it has popped. This will take about 5 minutes, more or less.
Add to bowl of pretzels and combine.
** 4)
Roasted Nuts
Quick Way: buy a can of
roasted, unsalted nuts
Gourmet
Way: Roast your
own.
Heat oven
to 350°F. Place raw
nuts on baking sheet in one layer and roast for 10 minutes or until browned and
fragrant.
Add to bowl of pretzels and popcorn and combine.
*** 5) Caramel
Quick Way: unwrap a 14
oz. package of caramels. Place
caramels into a microwaveable bowl and heat on high for 3 minutes or until
caramels are melted, stirring after each minute.
Gourmet
Way: make your
own (adapted from “Barefoot Contessa”)
1/2 cup
sugar
1/4 cup
light corn syrup
1/4 cup
water
1 cup
heavy cream
5 Tbs
unsalted butter
1 tsp sea
salt
Add the
cream, butter, and sea salt to a small pot and bring to a simmer. Once butter
has melted stir to combine, remove from heat and place a lid over the pot to
keep it warm. Set aside.
In a deep
pot combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water. Bring mixture to a boil over medium flame and continue to
cook until the sugar turns to a golden color. Swirl the mixture, don’t stir,
and stay close as it can go from gorgeous golden to burned brown quickly.
Once the sugar mixture turns golden, slowly add the cream mixture (note that it will bubble-up vigorously). Add the vanilla and combine.
Add a
candy thermometer to the pot and cook the caramel until it reaches just a bit
beyond 248°F (the “firm ball” stage).
Once the
caramel has cooked to the firm ball stage, slowly and carefully pour it over
the pretzel-popcorn-nut mixture in a large bowl (add the bacon bits now if
using). Carefully toss like a salad to combine.
Spread everything onto the prepared baking sheet and press into one layer.
**** 6) Semi-Sweet Chocolate & White Chocolate
Start with the semi-sweet chocolate. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring between each interval until chocolate is completely melted. Then, using a fork, drizzle the chocolate all over the pretzel-popcorn-caramel mixture.
Repeat same process with the white chocolate.
Place baking sheet with mixture into fridge and let cool for about 30 minutes. Once cooled, break into pieces and serve!
