I have a confession – I absolutely LOVE anything that has to do with MINT & CHOCOLATE! I just adore those 2 little ingredients together, and if it’s dark chocolate – even better!! Some of my favorite mint+chocolate treats are: Girl Scout Cookies Thin Mints and the box of chocolate mint wafer cookies from Costco at Christmastime – delish! Starlight mint ice cream. This Candy Cane Christmas bark. Mint Oreo cookies. And I recently discovered a Ghirardelli Mint Chocolate cookie bar that is fabulous!

As I was thinking about what to give some people for Christmas, I settled on making this dark chocolate peppermint popcorn for a yummy neighbor gift. It turned out delicious and I guarantee you will love it (if you love mint, that is). There are few people in my family who don’t like mint, so I totally understand if you’re not into the mint thing like I am!

Peppermint Popcorn Ingredients

12 peppermint candy canes

20 cups of popped white popcorn

2 teaspoons peppermint extract

1.5 lbs almond bark

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1 cup mini m&m’s (optional)

Peppermint Popcorn Directions

Step 1 – Unwrap and crush 12 peppermint candy canes. This will make approximately 1 cup of crushed candy canes.

Step 2 – Pop 20 cups of white popcorn. I used 3 bags of the microwave popcorn pictured above.

Step 3 – Add your crushed candy canes to your popcorn and stir.

Step 4 – Melt 1.5 lbs of almond bark according to package directions.

Step 5 – Quickly stir the 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract into your melted almond bark.

Step 6 – Pour melted almond bark & peppermint over popcorn and candy cane mixture and mix until all popcorn and candy canes are covered.

Step 7 – Spread your popcorn onto 2 cookie sheets covered with wax paper.

Step 8 – Melt 1 cup of dark chocolate chips according to package directions.

Step 9 – Drizzle melted chocolate over popcorn and let harden. Sprinkle mini m&m’s over top if desired. Place in refrigerator to speed up the process.

Step 10 – Break popcorn into smaller pieces & place in your desired container.

I just love those cute Christmas colored mini M&M’s and decided to add some to half of our popcorn – it was very yummy!

You can package your popcorn in almost anything – I used a melamine berry basket, a glass mason jar and patterned paper bags, but you could also place the popcorn in a cellophane bag, a small tin container, or even a chinese takeout container.

I even created a fun little tag to attach to your treats, just to make them a little more special. Use ribbon or baker’s twine to attach your fun printable tag to whatever container you wish!

The post Dark Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Neighbor Gift Idea appeared first on Paper Crush.