Stop the press, the baby likes popcorn. To be honest with you it hadn’t really occurred to me that popcorn was a good baby led snack option. I dont really know why, maybe i thought it was too crunchy or to hard to chew. It turns out that I was wrong! Popcorn is a great snack option for little hands. Its easy to pick up, its easy to transport, its budget friendly….and I love it too!

I decided to let her have a try after I had popped some ready for a ‘baby is in bed there is new episodes of Cold Feet sofa session’. I gave her a couple of pieces to play with whilst I got her dinner ready…and she wolfed them down. So today I popped a load and have been playing around with flavorings.

There are so many things that you can do to popcorn that elevates it. Simple things like dusting it with cinnamon or cocoa will give it a sweet boost. If you fancy a savoury option then a handful of grated parmesan and some freshly chopped rosemary or even just a sprinkle of salt and pepper or a drizzle of spicy sauce.

This pumpkin spiced version is a little celebration of the flavours of autumn. As September comes to a close there is bounty of harvest foods ready to arrive in our kitchen. Two of my favourites are pumpkin and apple. This popcorn uses pumpkin spices and dried local apples to give it a delicious taste. To make the dried apples I simply very finely sliced layers of apple and dried them in a low heat oven for a few hours  but you can easily use apple crisps or dried apple slices. The pumpkin spice is a homemade mix of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. If you don’t have the time to make your own mix then I can really recommend the Steenbergs range. They have beautiful flavour combinations. I added a spoonful of date syrup to this to make it extra sweet as an afternoon treat but it is just as yummy without. This popcorn is sweet and moreish, slightly sticky and super delicious. I hope you all enjoy snacking on it as much as we are.

Ingredients
75g popcorn kernels
2 tbsp coconut oil
0.5 tbsp pumpkin spice
1 tbsp date syrup
8 chopped apple rings

Method
Place one tbsp of the oil into a heavy bottomed pan and heat up
Pour in the kernels and place on a lid
Once the popcorn popping stops remove from the heat
Stir in the coconut oil, the spices and the date syrup
Add in the apple and stir through everything with a fork
Enjoy!