Catherine + Dan of Man St. Kitchen are back with another ADVENTURE SNACK! For your backpack. This time it’s salty-sweet divinity in the shape of a chilli-chocolate popcorn bar. No baking involved in this one, just melt, mix, refrigerate and EAT!

Get into it.

Man St. Chilli-Chocolate Popcorn Bar

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

Bar base:

• 3tsp Coconut Oil (for cooking popcorn)
• 45g (9tsp) Coconut Oil (for base)
• 60g popping corn
• 230g crunchy peanut butter (preferably not Palm Oil-based)
• 130g brown rice syrup (optional*)
• 1tsp vanilla bean extract

Chocolate topping:

• 400g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) broken
• 30g salted roasted peanuts, chopped
• Chilli flakes (as much or as little as you like!)

Yield: Makes about 12 bars

Method

Melt 3tsp Coconut Oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat; once hot, add popping corn, cover with lid and POP! Shake the pan occasionally, until popping stops (2-3 minutes). Tip into a bowl and remove any unpopped kernels.

Stir peanut butter, brown rice syrup (if using), vanilla extract and remaining coconut oil in a saucepan on low heat until melted & combined. Remove from heat, add popcorn and mix well.

Line a 15cm x 32cm cake tin or 20cm square tray with baking paper. Press mixture into cake tin or tray and refrigerate 1 hour to set.

To make the chocolate topping, place chocolate into a bowl over a saucepan of just simmering water (like a double-boiler), stirring occasionally until smooth.

Pour evenly over set popcorn mixture, sprinkle with peanuts and chilli flakes and refrigerate to set for 1-2 hours.

Cut into desired bar sizes when set.

These come with the same advice as the jerky - definitely not for sharing. In all honesty, we would actually really advise not even telling anyone you made this recipe because these popcorn bars are freakin’ delish and there’s no way they’re going to stick around for long if anyone else knows they’re there.

Basically, hide them or eat them all.

*Brown Rice Syrup is available in most health food stores and is a great alternative sweetener. That said, these popcorn bars are delicious without any added sweetener and Catherine says it’s really up to you and your taste preferences if you choose to add it or not!