Sweet & Salty Popcorn Bark Valentines

Sweet & Salty Popcorn Bark! This bark gets it’s a savory note from store-bought salted popcorn, and some tart chewiness from dried cherries. Using heart shaped cookie cutters as molds, they turn out to be the perfect little goody to wrap up and give as a Valentine’s treat.

The highlight of your weekend may have been Buffalo Chicken Dip or Katy Perry & her dancing shark friends, but the best part of mine was working. No, I haven’t lost {what’s left of} my sleep-deprived mind these days.

My “job” on Saturday was to attend an event where I was forced to watch an award-winning pastry chef prepare desserts while nibbling samples of various Valentine’s Day themed treats. It’s hard life, I know.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, I have a love related question for you: How do you show love to your spouse or significant other?

Is it by bringing home a bouquet of flowers? Taking out the trash without being asked {HINT, HINT!}? Showering him or her with hugs and kisses? Turning a blind eye to that second serving of ice cream at the end of a long day?

In our house a whole lot of stock is put in food… it’s the way we celebrate, commiserate, and most importantly, show love. It’s what gets us to sit around for more than 5 seconds without a phone or computer glued to our fingertips, and talk. It’s what we both get excited about planning when we’re inviting people into our home.

When Steve is being thoughtful, he’ll pick up half & half if I’m running low to make sure I have some for my coffee in the morning. When he’s being sweet, he’ll bring home my favorite bottle of wine. When he’s trying to get in my pants, he’ll surprise me with a pint of my favorite ice cream. {Ha!}

Basically, our love language is food.

Steve gets to reap the benefits of my blogging pretty often when boxes of food arrive at our doorstep for me to work with or review. A few weeks ago I found him happily snacking on G.H. Cretors Popcorn that was sent to me…before I got to use it for a recipe. {Bad, Steve!}

He is much more of a savory fan than a sweet tooth {think bread, pretzels, pasta… etc.}, so it made perfect sense that he was drawn to the popcorn like a moth to flame. Luckily, I stopped him before he could gobble it all up and had enough left for a homemade Valentine treat for both the salty and sweet lovers in your life!

Candy bark in general is a fun and easy way to make homemade gifts because you can add just about anything that you desire to make it tasty and festive.

This bark gets it’s a savory note from G.H. Cretors Organic Simply Salted Popcorn and some tart chewiness from dried cherries. Using heart shaped cookie cutters as molds, they turn out to be the perfect little goody to wrap up and give as a Valentine’s treat.

Then again, if your sweetheart is anything like mine, the bag of popcorn alone would suffice! A big thanks to my friends at G.H. Cretors for sending over a yummy treat that we both enjoyed. 🙂

Disclosure: I was sent a box of G.H. Cretors Popcorn for review. All opinions here are my own. 

Sweet & Salty Popcorn Bark Valentines

Adapted from a G. H. Cretors recipe

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Course Dessert

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Author Dianna Muscari

Equipment

• Heart shaped cookie cutters

Ingredients  

• 1/2  lb.  dark chocolate chips or bars melted — set some aside for drizzling
• 2  cups G.H. Cretors Organic Simply Salted Popcorn
• 1/4  cup dried cherries
• {Optional} White chocolate or pink candy melts Festive sprinkles

Instructions 

• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
• Place heart cookie cutters on parchment or silicone mat. Pour a few tablespoons of melted chocolate into each one, spreading with a spoon or spatula to evenly distribute.*
• While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with popcorn and dried cherries, pressing down lightly to ensure they stick. Place in the freezer for about 5 minutes to harden.
• Remove from freezer and carefully pop the set chocolate hearts out of the cookie cutters. {You may need to wait a minute or two so they’re easier to separate from the cookie cutters.} Repeat as needed with remaining chocolate and cookie cutters.
• Once hearts are set, drizzle reserved melted chocolate on top. This would also be the time to apply any sprinkles or drizzle with melted colored candy melts, etc.
• Return to the freezer until they’re completely set. Once they’re ready, you can wrap them up in cellophane bags and tie with ribbon or baker’s twine to give as a sweet treat!

Dianna’s Tips

*I made mine about 1/8 inch thick, but you can make them as thick as you’d like — simply add more chocolate to each cookie cutter mold. The yield will vary based on how big your heart cookie cutters are and how thick you make them.