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PrintPapa Dean's cinnamon-sugar popcorn
The popcorn shop's little treat that you can make at home.
- 1 cup uncooked corn kernels
- ¼ cup corn oil
- About ½ cup sugar
- About ¼ cinnamon
Tara Staglik says she used to make this blend even before she got into the popcorn business.
"I highly recommend a light — or heavy — sprinkle of a cinnamon-sugar mix on your steaming hot oil-popped home corn," she says. "Some days, even our fancified stuff doesn't do it for me, and I crank it up at home with a little cinnamon and sugar. My daughter calls it 'French toast.' She's 4 — go figure.
"Here's what you do: Cook your popcorn on the stove first of all. No self-respecting popcorn snob even has the microwave crud in their hooch. Use 1 cup of uncooked kernels in about ¼ cup of corn oil. We love coconut oil, but corn oil is just easier since it's liquid. All you need is a medium saucepan — with a lid, of course.
"For the cinna-sugar, I sometimes use the pre-mixed container from the spice aisle if I need to be super quick. I like Fiesta-brand Extra Fancy Sugar and Cinnamon. It comes in a 6.5-ounce shaker, and I use over half of the container on a cup of fully cooked crunchy stuff. You'll need to pry off the sprinkle-top to the container because the steam from the popcorn will clog the holes. It's better to just pour it on and shake afterwards.
"Usually I take the 10 extra seconds to mix my own sugar and cinnamon, just be sure you use a 2-to-1 ratio, heavy on the sugar. Use a ½ cup of sugar to a ¼ cup of cinnamon for 1 cup of uncooked kernels as a baseline.
"You want to pour it on heavy and directly over the still very hot popcorn, immediately secure the lid (I use a big Tupperware bowl), and shake it like a Polaroid picture! Some of the sugary stuff will melt into the popcorn and have this crunchy, toffee-like result which is the very reason I like this simple treat at home. The key, though, is the hot-pop because the reward is the melted-then-crunchy candied sugar!
"The Papa Dean's gourmet version closest to this is our Snickerdoodle, to which we add lots of real butter and cream of tartar in the bigger in-store batches. We adapted this flavor from an actual Snickerdoodle recipe my Grandma Dot had and we make it from scratch. Other pop shops may have a version of some snickerdoodle flavor, but I guarantee it's some turn-key, no-brain pre-mix designed exclusively for popcorn shops who don't have the inclination or the ability to actually create anything remotely original.
"Tip: I don't like to sprinkle until it's in the big bowl and out of the popper, because I don't like to have to wash my Whirley Pop too thoroughly and the sugar gets sticky. It's the best thing I've found for popcorn at home the old-fashioned way."
• Slideshows: Papa Dean's Popcorn and Alamo City
