by Caroline Gentile ’17

Growing up, my dad was obsessed with popcorn. Every time my family got together to watch a movie, he made an obscene amount of it, but only made it plain. As a result, I love popcorn, but I always thought that plain popcorn was well, plain. Even buttered popcorn can get pretty boring, too.

On my most recent visit home, my younger sister had her friends over for a slumber party, and they all wanted popcorn. This was the perfect opportunity to test some more flavorful popcorn recipes!

The girls and I decided we wanted to do two sweet recipes and one salty. After looking at what we had in our pantry, we were inspired to make cinnamon toast crunch, nacho, and Oreo-flavored popcorn. Even though we ultimately made all of these popcorn recipes in my home kitchen, a kitchen isn’t necessary at all. As long as you have a microwave, these popcorn recipes are completely dorm-friendly!

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

1 bag of popped, plain popcorn

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 T granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Pour butter over the popped popcorn, either in a bag or a bowl. Toss.  Add sugar and cinnamon, and toss again.

Nacho

1 bag of plain, popped popcorn

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 cup Fritos

Pour butter over popcorn, in a microwave safe bowl.  Toss.  Add chili powder and Fritos, and toss again.  Sprinkle the cheese over the popcorn.  Put bowl of cheesy popcorn back into the microwave for a minute, or until the cheese is melted to your liking.

Oreo

1 bag of popped, plain popcorn

4 oz. sweetened condensed milk

14 Oreos, crushed (you can use any kind of Oreo you’d like!)

Pour sweetened condensed milk over the popcorn, either in a bag or a bowl. Toss. Sprinkle the crushed Oreos over the popcorn and toss again to make sure the popcorn is evenly coated in Oreo deliciousness.

Enjoy!