Easy White Chocolate Gingersnap Popcorn
This easy white chocolate gingersnap popcorn recipe is ridiculously simple to make and so tasty! Just 3 ingredients (plus sprinkles) and about 10 minutes of prep, this is a perfect treat for a last-minute holiday party or to make in batches and give out as mason jar gifts. Makes for such a fun Christmas party dessert!
I’m a HUGE fan of candied popcorn. It’s one of my go-to sweet treats year-round because it’s just so easy to make and you can make so many variations of it.
The base recipe for the candied popcorn I always make just calls for two ingredients: microwave popcorn & white baking bark (that I always call white chocolate because that’s easier to communicate, but it’s really more vanilla flavored). Then, you just add in whatever you want to customize it to the season or the occasion!
I wanted to try a new variation for Christmas this year…so, I tried adding the crushed gingersnap cookies to my base recipe and oh man…needless to say, it was tasty enough for me to share on here.
You can just see the tastiness in this white chocolate gingersnap popcorn! I can’t even tell you how easy it is to make this!
Actually, I can, and I’m going to. You’ll only have to carve out about 1 minute for me to talk you through the recipe. This fun candied popcorn is SO easy to make!
And just look how festive it is! This is so perfect for a Christmas treat to serve up at Christmas parties, Christmas potlucks, and as a fun homemade gift to hand out to others this holiday season.
Want to see how easy it is to make this yummy white chocolate gingersnap popcorn?! The full recipe is at the bottom of the post, but I’ll walk you through the simple steps here.
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Kitchen tools you’ll need:
- Food chopper or processor (this is the one I’ve had for YEARS, and I LOVE IT.)
- Large mixing bowl
- Microwave-safe bowl (I used a cereal bowl)
- Large baking/cookie sheet (the one and only type of cookie sheet I use for all of my baking)
- Aluminum foil
Let’s get going!
Step 1: Crush gingersnap cookies in food processor/chopper
While you certainly can do this part by hand, it is FAR easier to crush the gingersnap cookies in a food processor! My Ninja food prep is the one and only tool I use anymore for fine chopping/blending/processing. I love it!
You can tell I didn’t do a completely fine crush. I pulsed a few times to crush them, but I wanted to leave some small chunks of gingersnap in there.
Step 2: Pop the microwave popcorn
Yep – just follow your typical routine when popping the popcorn! I used a light butter version. I like the sweet/savory blend with the white chocolate.
Step 3: Add popcorn to large mixing bowl
Here’s a BIG tip for adding the popcorn to the mixing bowl – before transferring it from the bag to the bowl, give the bag a little shake up and down a few times to get the hard kernels to the bottom of the bag. It is NOT fun to bite down on the kernels when you’re munching on this popcorn!
Once you’ve shaken the bag up and down a few times, then use your hand to scoop out the popcorn and add it to the bowl. This really will minimize those unpopped kernels from escaping the bag.
Step 4: Microwave the white chocolate (baking bark)
Add the cubes of baking bark to a microwave-safe bowl, microwave for about 40 seconds, stir, and then microwave again for another 40 seconds. Stir again, and if you need to go one more round for it to get completely melted, go ahead and do so.
It is super, super important to follow that process for microwaving the chocolate if you want it to be really smooth when you add it to the popcorn. If you don’t microwave & stir in increments, it gets really clumpy for some reason!
Step 5: Pour the white chocolate onto the popcorn
Pour the white chocolate onto the popcorn and stir it around quite a bit to evenly coat the popcorn in the melted chocolate.
Step 6: Stir in the crushed gingersnaps
Once you’ve got the popcorn evenly coated with the white chocolate, it’s time to pour on the crushed gingersnaps! Just pour a bit at a time, then stir, then pour some more.
Stir it all up until it’s totally coated with the cookies.
Step 7: Pour onto foil-lined baking sheet, drizzle with more chocolate, & add sprinkles
If you don’t want to add the Christmas sprinkles at this point, you’re just about finished making the popcorn! However, if you do want to add sprinkles, I’d recommend adding a little bit more melted white chocolate to a plastic baggie, cutting the tip out of the baggie, and then drizzling it onto the popcorn. This will help the sprinkles stick better.
Since the gingersnaps covered so much of the melted chocolate on the popcorn, that extra drizzle adds more coverage for the sprinkles to stick.
Step 8: Allow popcorn to set
I typically put the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes to let the candy completely harden, but if your house is cool, you can just leave it out on the counter and the candy will harden there. It’ll just take a little longer, but it’ll still set in a cool room.
Step 9: Serve it up!
Pull the foil up on both sides and easily funnel the gingersnap popcorn into a bowl. Easy, easy!
Such a fun and festive Christmas party dessert! Have fun making, eating, and sharing this white chocolate gingersnap popcorn with others this holiday season!
Love this idea and want to remember it for later? Be sure to pin it to your favorite Pinterest board!
Easy White Chocolate Gingersnap Popcorn
Equipment
Ingredients
- About 10 gingersnap cookies
- 1 bag microwave popcorn
- 6 oz white chocolate or white baking bark
- Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
- Crush the gingersnap cookies in a food processor or food chopper. Pulse a few times to crush & also leave some little gingersnap chunks.
- Pop the popcorn as you normally would in the microwave.
- Transfer the popped popcorn from the bag to a large mixing bowl, doing your best to avoid pouring unpopped kernels into the bowl* (see my notes on this!)
- Melt the white candy bark in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave it for about 45 seconds, stir, and repeat until fully melted.
- Drizzle about 1/3 of the melted candy bark onto the popcorn, stir, and continue drizzling and stirring until the popcorn is evenly coated.
- Add crushed gingersnaps to the popcorn in intervals and stir until the popcorn is fully coated.
- Line a large cookie sheet with foil and then pour the candied popcorn onto the foil. Spread it out with the spoon/spatula you used to stir it.
- If you want to add Christmas sprinkles, go ahead and add a little more of the melted white chocolate to a plastic baggie with a tip cut out at the end so you can quickly drizzle the popcorn with more melted chocolate. This will help the sprinkles to stick.
- Add the sprinkles.
- Place baking sheet with popcorn in refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes to allow the candy bark to fully harden.
- Remove from fridge, pull up both sides of the foil to make somewhat of a funnel and pour the popcorn into your serving dish(es).
- Enjoy with family and friends!
Notes
- When you're moving the popcorn from the bag to the bowl, first, lightly shake the bag of popcorn up and down to help any un-popped kernels fall to the bottom of the bag. Then, using your hands, move the popcorn from the bag to the bowl so you can keep those kernels at the bottom of the bag and avoid transferring them to the bowl.
- You'll definitely want to melt the chocolate using the process I suggested - microwave for a short time, stir, repeat. If you don't microwave in short increments, and if you don't stir between increments, the white chocolate/baking bark doesn't melt correctly. It just gets clumpy!
- This recipe is only for one bag of popcorn, but when I make any version of white chocolate popcorn, I always make at least 2-3 bags of popcorn (so, I would always make at least 2-3x this recipe). I can pour about 3 bags' worth of candy-coated popcorn onto my baking sheet before it starts to overflow, so it's very easy to make this in bulk!