Yummy Snacks for Christmas At the Lake - Moose Munch

I don't know about you but I love cooking and making things that my friends and family love.   Especially when it's something they don't expect.  Such is the case with my recent attempt to make home-made moose munch.  If you're not familiar Moose Munch is basically caramel corn with nuts and chocolate.

The idea came to me as I was listening to my hubs order Christmas gifts for his corporate clients.  He was on the phone with Moose Munch headquarters ordering dozens of tins to be delivered to offices all across the country and I started to think how yummy that stuff is.  All of the sudden, I'm on Pinterest and Google looking for recipes.  I needed Moose Munch now!

I found a couple of recipes that looked good and went with the one that matched the ingredients I had on hand.  It was A-MAZ-ING!  Almost as amazing as my husbands reaction when he came in the kitchen to find home made Moose Munch - to die for.

Start by popping some popcorn.  We don't have a popper so I just popped it in a heavy pan that had a lid with a steam hole which worked like a charm.  Two batches - EZ PZ.

Place the popped corn in a deep, oiled roasting pan and put in the over at 250 degrees while you're making your caramel sauce.

If you like nuts, you'll want to sprinkle your preference (I used mixed cocktail nuts) over the popcorn before I put it in the oven.  More or less to your liking.

While it's roasting in the oven....

Make the Caramel Sauce:

• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar 
• 1/4 c. honey

Mix together all ingredients to dissolve, stir until mixture comes to a boil.  Let it boil for 5 minutes - set the timer and let it do it's thing.

At the end of the 5 minutes, bring the popcorn out of the oven and pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn nut mixture.  Stir to coat and place back in the oven for 30 minutes - stirring the mixture at the end of 15 minutes to coat the popcorn and nuts with the caramel goodness.  

At the end of the 30 minutes, prepare a space on the counter by placing two large pieces of wax paper out as a resting place for your hot caramel corn mixture.

Remove the caramel corn from the oven and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips (again, more or less depending on how chocolate you want it) gently mix and spread it out on the wax paper to cool.  

Once cool and crispy eat and eat and eat and eat!  If there's any left,  keep it fresh by storing in a air tight container.

There are tons of recipes out there.  I used THIS ONE from An Oregon Cottage as my road map - taking a few detours along the way to make it match what I had in my head.  

The good news with Moose Munch is that you can't go wrong!  Hope you're enjoying time at the lake house and making Moose Munch this holiday season.

Enjoy!  

Cindy