Indulgent, sloth-like weekends are the best.

I’ve been busy for as long as I can humanly remember and since September, every single one of my Saturdays had been booked out until mid-December, which is just all kinds of crazystupid. So when our friend cancelled dinner on us last Saturday night, Panu and I looked at each other and were like OMG DON’T TELL ANYONE! We’re staying in and WATCHING MOVIES!

Staying in is a godsend. Aside from the Saturday night dinner, we didn’t have much planned the rest of the weekend and so decided to catch up on some movies we’d missed on the big screen.

Curled up on the couch, wrapped in our spare double duvet (because holy shit what happened to the London weather this weekend?), snacks in one hand, blackberry in the other (I. Can’t. Not. Tweet.) we settled in and watched a brilliant selection of movies which left me in tears, in fear, and ogling eye candy. Not at the same time. Mostly.

First up was Toy Story 3. It was one of those movies (like Eat Love Pray) which I had all the intention of watching on the big screen but time goes by much more quickly than The Righteous Brothers would have you believe. I finally got around to seeing it and though I still miss dear Wheezy, the other characters do *awesome* at delivering yet another storyline built so strongly (yet not too nauseously) around friendship and the end made me cry 🙁

For something a little (or maybe completely) different, we then watched Paranormal Activity. I had the duvet ready over my eyes but can I be totally honest here? And it’s not because I’m like, trying to sound tough because goddammit, I’ll be the first to admit I’m a big baby, but honestly? It wasn’t that scary. Except for the bit where <SPOILER ALERT… although I’m quite sure everyone else has already seen the movie> the demon pulls her out of bed! WHAT THE FUCK!

We wrapped up our little movie marathon with something a little lighter – The Losers. I’ve adored Jeffrey Dean Morgan since he was Denny on Grey’s Anatomy (ahhhhh, his dying scene with Izzie still pulls at my heart strings!) and Chris Evans is also in it, so I switched off my brain and absorbed the eye candy.

We managed to unravel ourselves from the duvet and leave the comfort of home a couple of times over the weekend in search of food, but mainly I survived on snacks from the fridge which included chocolate, stroopwafels and a big fat juicy mango.

What I so desperately wished I had though were these delicious salted caramel & chocolate popcorn bars! I made them a couple of weeks ago, following Edd Kimber’s recipe (which was borrowed from Marcus Wareing) and they would have made the most ideal companion for a lazy movie marathon at home.

They’re super easy to make and so fricking delicious, I wish I had got off my behind and made some but you know, duvet, warmth… lazy… need I say more?

Anyway, here’s to another week. I hope everyone had a good weekend too! x

Salted caramel & chocolate popcorn bars
1 x 85 gram packet salted microwave popcorn
300 grams caster sugar
150 grams unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
60 grams dark chocolate
  1. Line a 20cm x 15cm x 3cm baking tray with parchment paper.
  2. Cook the popcorn according to the manufacturer’s instructions then remove any un-popped kernels. Place the popcorn in a large bowl.
  3. Place the sugar in a saucepan set over medium heat and cook until the sugar melts. Cook until the caramel is a nice dark caramel, being careful not to burn it. Whisk in the butter and salt.
  4. Pour over the popcorn and mix well. Press into the lined baking tray (make sure you press the popcorn in tightly, otherwise the bars won’t cut easily.
  5. Once the popcorn has cooled melt the chocolate and drizzle over the popcorn. Once set cut into bars.
Makes a lot!

17 Thoughts on “salted caramel & chocolate popcorn bars: perfect for a couch potato weekend

  1. I am making these this weekend! Oh better not we have a a house guest. I shall have to wait untill she pisses off then its me and these babies!

  2. I know exactly how you feel. Now especially more than ever… with exams looming (which may i add don’t actually count for anything becoz i already have a job with a hospital).
    OMG, i’m so making this next time i have a movie night at my house.

  3. You had me at “salted caramel” – gotta love a duvet day (or doona day!)

  4. Hehe I luuurve weekends like these! And yes like you I don’t want to tell anyone about them, just dive under the covers and act like a sloth! 😛

  5. Old Cow: LOL yeah make ’em when you don’t have to share ’em with anyone 😉

    Allan: Well, good luck with your exams! I bet you’re procrastinating like nothing else and watching every movie ever made 😀

    Gourmet Chick: mmmmm salted caramel is something of a wonder. LOL I wrote doona, but I had to correct myself cos everyone else would have been like… “what???”

    Lorraine: I just loooove slothing around the house. as soon as I get home from anywhere, I get into pj’s, even if I have to go out again in an hour! 😀

  6. yum, that looks so delicious. and it’s gluten-free! thanks for the recipe.

  7. jasper c on November 8, 2010 at 3:36 pm said:

    cool easy recipe – thanks for sharing! hehehe i just watched the losers as well. cool movie, dont know about toy story though!

  8. i think u outdid Rice Krispies. I never use this phrase because I had only one reaction when I saw this – ZOMG. I mean like really. I wanna stuff my face with a tub of this and watch Toy Story 3, Iron Man 2 and 300 back to back. xx

  9. Linda at Pink Elephants coffee,LLC on November 8, 2010 at 6:17 pm said:

    Oh yum. Catty, next time you squirrel away for snacks and a movie, ya gotta see
    “Shakes The Clown”.

  10. WOW never thought you can make something like this with popcorn! But then again, I can’t remember when was the last time I ate popcorn… must’ve been years!! It’s nice to have a weekend in (or even Saturday in) every now and then and just relax… 🙂

  11. Envious. I somehow didn’t do anything very exciting but felt completely unrested after the weekend. Blah. Also stroopwafels rule, I’ve been known to eat a whole pack in one sitting.

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  13. thewanderingfoody: Ah, I didn’t even think about it being gluten free, but yay!

    jasper c: LOL well, I’m a sucker for sweet stories and Toy Story 3 always makes me soppy! 🙂

    diva: do you remember my matcha rice krispies? OMG they were yum. I should make those again!!

    Linda: Shakes The Clown? LOL never heard of it 🙂

    Maria: isn’t popcorn like healthy for you? Plain ones anyway, you should eat it lots, you healthy person! 😉

    Sasa: Blah. You need to take the week off 😉 go on! And yes stroopwafels are so super awesome. I can eat a whole pack too. I especially like mini stroopwafels cos we all know awesomeness comes in small packages 😉

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  15. Salted caramel popcorn. I know what I’m making this weekend! 😀

  16. Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…

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