Christmas Kettle Corn In a Jar (Recipe ReDux)

This month's Recipe ReDux theme is riiiiight up my alley. When I read the November theme - "From hostess gifts to holiday gifts, it's the season for DIY offerings from your kitchen" my brain immediately started churning with ideas. We were challenged to come up with innovative homemade mixes to share with others during the holidays, so I wanted to do something beyond the classic bread mix-in-a-jar (which I love by the way, and give out to neighbors and family nearly every year).

For some reason I couldn't get the idea of sweet & salty kettle corn out of my head.

So I went with it. And it was not only super easy to put together, but seriously snackable. I of course had to make a batch to taste test the measurements, and I couldn't keep Matt and Riker out of the kitchen for more than 2 minutes at a time while I was playing around and snapping photos. Those two were like hungry little birds snatching handfuls every time I turned my back.

The recipe, if you can call it that, calls for the simplest of ingredients: popcorn (I use organic, and that's really about the only healthy thing in here - but come on, it's the holidays after all), sugar, salt, pretzels and red & green M&Ms.

When you give it to your neighbor/friend/coworker/babysitter/anyonewholovespopcorn, all they have to do is melt a half stick of butter from their own fridge, dump in the jar of goodies and they're good to go. They have a whole bowl of the perfect movie snack to munch on while watching Elf. Or whatever's on the ABC Family Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas (which, um, started last night and you know will be on in our house for the next 30 days straight).

Plus how cute are they?

I adore.

Christmas Kettle Corn in a Jar

Makes 1 Jar, or 1 large bowl of popcorn (can easily be multiplied for additional jars)

Ingredients
1 12 oz. mason jar
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup red & green M&M's (I use peanut M&Ms)
1 cup mini pretzels
1/2 stick butter (recipient will have to supply this)

Place the popcorn kernels in a snack size plastic baggie. Remove all air and seal tight.

Mix together the sugar and salt in a small bowl, set aside.

To layer the jars, place the sugar & salt mixture on the bottom; then add the M&M's, then the pretzels, and finally the baggie of popcorn kernels. Screw the lid on tight.

The gift tag should read:

Christmas Kettle Corn

You'll need: 1/2 stick butter

Pop the corn kernels in an air popper or on the stove top with 1 Tbsp. oil.

Melt 1/2 stick of butter, and pour over the popped kernels. Toss to combine.

Pour the contents of the jar into the popcorn, toss and enjoy!