I never used to like the taste of Kettle Korn. The sugar, the butter, the strange combination of salt and sweet with a poufy, crunchy chew that too often melted into stale gumminess by the time you got to the bottom of the bowl - it just didn't appeal to my younger palate. Times changed, I grew up and fell in love with the flavour of the Scouts' microwave variety - nowhere near a nutritious choice, but the rich, balanced flavour made it worth every calorie. Eventually I found mini bags of it which sated my cravings, but those disappeared from our stores quickly, leaving me with only one bag left. Thankfully (in a way) the high oil content in the snack meant I couldn't eat it anymore anyways, but that still left me with the problem of this extra bag. Then I saw this post on SugarHero for Kettle Corn Cookies a la Trader Joe's. Never having been in one of those superstores myself, I didn't have a point of reference, but I did know what I wanted in my cookies. Or rather, what I didn't want. The economics of our house right now meant butter and eggs are reserved for meals, rather than baked goods - especially considered that the end product wasn't going to be around for family nosh (not that it would matter, nobody here is willing to eat baked goodies anymore). I also wanted to minimize or eliminate the amount of white flour and sugar that went into the batch, since kettle corn is by nature sweet!
After a few Googles, I came across the Amazon blog Al Dente's recipe for Popcorn Cookies, which were not only completely whole grain but vegan! I had a few problems getting the mixture originally posted to come together into anything other than sandy crumbs, so I modified along the way until I was rewarded with a sticky batter ready for the pan. I also got far fewer cookies than Sidra Forman's original recipe dictated, but that wasn't too big of a deal. Because the originals also only used plain popcorn (and weren't really designed to be sweet from what I could see) I played around by using a mixture of raw sugar, Krisda's stevia baking blend and Nature's Agave delicious, rich amber agave syrup and doing away with white sugar altogether. I actually really loved the caramelly flavour the agave gave to the fine-grained mixture, especially around the edges where it added a little bit of toffee crunch. I can only imagine how delicious it would be in a smoothie or pudding where it's not cooked out at all!
Kettle Korn Cookies
Makes 10
5 cups popped kettle corn (1 mini bag)
1 cup large flake oats (use GF if needed)
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
3 tbsp raw sugar
3 tbsp Krisda Blend for Baking
1 1/2 tbsp Nature's Agave amber agave nectar (or other agave nectar, or honey)
2 tsp baking powder
pinch nutmeg
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- In a food processor, combine all the ingredients and run the machine until a dough forms
- Drop by tablespoonfuls on parchment or silicone lined cookie sheets (5 per sheet).
- Bake 12 minutes and cool completely on the sheets.
Calories: 131.9
Total Fat: 7.0 gCholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 99.1 mg
Total Carbs: 16.4 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.3 g
Protein: 1.3 g
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