Buttered Popcorn Cookies

Any recipe that involves popcorn and cookie dough is number one with a bullet in my house.

Buttered Popcorn Cookies
slightly adapted from Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen
Makes 24

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
45g popcorn kernels
1/4 teaspoon fine salt (I used Pink Himalaya)
15g butter, melted
115g unsalted butter, softened
100g light brown sugar
65g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
155g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Make the Popcorn:
Put the oil in a large saucepan, swirl to coat the bottom of the pan and add the popcorn kernels. Make sure the kernels are in one layer. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and heat the pan over medium-high heat. Once the kernels start to pop start shaking the pan and keep moving and shaking the pan until the popping stops. Remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle the salt over the popcorn, add the melted butter, give it a toss to coat and then transfer to a bowl to cool.

Make the Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 180C.  Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, both sugars, egg and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking soda together. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Turn the mixer off and fold in the popcorn with a spatula. It will feel like there is too much popcorn, but continue to mix until the popcorn to coated in cookie dough.

Take heaped tablespoon-size pieces of dough and roll them into balls. Place them on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Take them out of the oven and leave them on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes to firm up before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.