Bunny Munch is a fun salty-sweet Easter treat made with caramelized popcorn and lots of pastel Easter candy. It’s great for an Easter party or as a way to use up leftover candy from your basket!
A Fun Easter Treat
My simple Bunny Munch recipe is a fun and easy Easter treat that’s great for making with kids. While you probably won’t want them to help you make the caramel coating, they can absolutely help you pop the popcorn, pick out the kernels (a task I love to outsource whenever I can!) and drizzle the popcorn with chocolate before scattering candy over top.
It’s a simple recipe, a more indulgent (and colorful) version of my caramel popcorn, dressed up perfectly for Easter. This would be great for an Easter or springtime themed party, or just as a way to use up leftover candy from your basket.
Of course, this treat can also be made any time of year, just use candy that’s not pastel colored. Let’s get to it!
What You Need
- Popcorn. You can buy pre-popped popcorn, use microwaveable popcorn, or make your own popcorn (this resource from Simply Recipes would be a good guide). Making your own popcorn is, of course, more effort, but it’s still surprisingly easy, and if you’ve tried my kettle corn you’ve already done this!
- Almonds. If you want to be extra decadent, skip the almonds, make my chocolate covered almonds, and toss these in with the Easter candies. You could also substitute a different nut, like cashews, leave out the nuts entirely, or I’ve even been meaning to swap them out with pretzels and try this Bunny Munch that way!
- Sugar. In the form of sugar, brown sugar, and corn syrup, this is essential for making the caramel for coating our popcorn. We’ll also need butter, salt, vanilla, and baking soda…
- Baking soda. Perhaps an unexpected ingredient, this is key for making the caramel coating porous. While that may seem… strange, or unnecessary, it’s actually not. It keeps the coating from being break-your-teeth firm and makes it pleasantly crunchy. If you’ve ever made peanut brittle or honeycomb, it’s used there for exactly the same reason.
- Chocolate. Once the popcorn is caramelized, we’ll drizzle it with white and dark chocolate then add mini Cadbury eggs and pastel-colored M&Ms. I like to smash up the Cadbury eggs with a rolling pin before adding them to the popcorn, it makes them a bit easier to eat with the popcorn, but this is a personal choice.
SAM’S TIP: Feel free to swap out the candy with your favorite Easter candy, or whatever is leftover in your Easter basket! One caveat: I would recommend sticking with crunchier, chocolate-based candy (rather than fruity, chewy ones, like jelly beans!).
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Bunny Munch
This is a very simple recipe, and despite the fact that we’ll be making caramel, there’s no candy thermometer needed (though you will want a timer). Here’s how you make it:
- Pop your popcorn. If your popcorn isn’t already popped, do this step first. Then, discard any un-popped kernels (you don’t want to bite into one of those unsuspectingly — trust me!). Place the popcorn on a lightly buttered sheet to keep warm while you make the caramel, this will make it easier to coat with caramel.
- Prepare the caramel sauce. You just need a medium-sized saucepan, a timer, and a little patience. Don’t crank up the heat to speed up the process, the sugar and butter mustn’t be heated too fast or the sugar won’t dissolve and you could burn the caramel. Once the caramel is prepped, immediately stir in baking soda and vanilla.
- Pour caramel over popcorn and almonds to coat, then bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add chocolate and candy. Once popcorn has baked, drizzle chocolate and toss candy pieces. Let the chocolate harden before enjoying (unless you don’t mind getting your hands a bit messy!).
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Bunny munch will keep for at least a week, if not longer. Just store in an airtight container at room temperature (once the chocolate has hardened).
Absolutely! You can leave out the nuts entirely (ideally you’d toss another cup of popcorn into the mix, but it’s not a big deal if you don’t). I’ve been meaning to try this recipe substituting the almonds for small twisty pretzels, I think it will add to the salty-sweet factor but haven’t done it myself yet.
Not at all! Skip that step and just use kettle corn or buttered popcorn and jump right to the drizzling-with-chocolate and adding candy step. It’ll be less sweet, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! If you still want to include nuts, you may want to toast them, first (see my tutorial for how to toast pecans, these steps also apply to almonds).
I hope you enjoy this fun and easy Easter treat!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my recipe below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Bunny Munch
Ingredients
- 10 cups (86 g) popcorn, unpopped kernels removed see note
- ¾ cup (115 g) whole almonds
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ¼ cup (60 ml) light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 oz (57 g) white chocolate chopped
- 2 oz (57 g) dark chocolate chopped
- ½ cup Cadbury eggs broken (I just place these in a plastic baggie and smack a few times with a rolling pin)
- ⅓ cup pastel M&Ms
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250F (120C) and line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Lightly grease with butter. Pour popcorn evenly over the pan, scatter almonds evenly over the pan, and place in center rack of preheated oven to keep warm while you prepare candy coating.10 cups (86 g) popcorn, unpopped kernels removed, ¾ cup (115 g) whole almonds
- In a medium saucepan, combine butter, sugars, corn syrup, and salt. Measure out vanilla extract and baking soda and set aside, but do not pour in pot.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (60 ml) light corn syrup, ½ teaspoon salt
- Heat butter/sugar mixture over medium heat, stirring frequently, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.
- Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and baking soda until completely combined.¾ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Remove popcorn from oven and pour caramel evenly over the popcorn. Use a spatula to toss to coat the popcorn and almonds as well as you can to coat them (you will not be able to coat completely, aim for 75%).
- Return popcorn to oven and bake on 250F (120C) for 45 minutes, using a spatula to stir every 15 minutes.
- Once finished baking, remove from oven.
- Melt chopped chocolate in separate bowls and drizzle over the popcorn.2 oz (57 g) white chocolate, 2 oz (57 g) dark chocolate
- Drop candy pieces evenly over the popcorn. Allow chocolate to harden, undisturbed, before enjoying.½ cup Cadbury eggs, ⅓ cup pastel M&Ms
Notes
Storing
Store bunny munch in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Cara
If I was to substitute mini pretzels for the almonds, would it be an even swap? 115 grams of pretzels?
Sam
I’d probably opt for subbing by the listed volume (3/4 cup) if possible, rather than weight, as pretzels are much lighter and you’d probably end up with more pretzels than you need. You could also just eyeball it and add them as seems appropriate, as this recipe is quite forgiving!
Sam
Yes, I’ve heard it by that name too! For such a simple snack it sure does have a lot of different monikers! Thank you, Joleen! 🙂