• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Hungry Happenings

  • ABOUT
    • About/Contact
    • Work With Me
    • Featured On
  • EXPLORE
    • Hungry Happenings Blog Posts
    • Travel
    • Readers’ Gallery
    • Hungry Halloween
      • Crafts and Decor
      • Halloween Party Games
      • Templates – Printable Templates for Halloween Crafts and Recipes
    • Roundups
  • MY BOOK
  • CHOCOLATE MAKING COURSES
  • HOME
  • RECIPES
    • ALL 1000+ Recipes (loads slowly)
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Decorated Cookies
    • Decorated Cakes
    • Cheesecake Recipes
    • Everyday Desserts
    • Homemade Candy
    • Everyday Meals
  • HOW TO
    • Chocolate Making Tips
    • Make Modeling Chocolate
      • Modeling Chocolate Recipe and Tutorial
      • How to Color Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Store and Work with Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Fix Greasy Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Fix Dry Modeling Chocolate
      • Use Colored Candy Melts to Make Candy Clay
    • Candy Clay Creations
    • How To Color White Chocolate and Candy Melts and Paint Candy Molds
    • How to Use Food Coloring Markers
  • HOLIDAYS
    • ALL HOLIDAY RECIPES
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Easter
    • 4th of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • New Year’s Eve
    • MORE HOLIDAYS
      • Mother’s Day
      • Father’s Day
      • April Fools
      • Chinese New Year
      • Cinco de Mayo
      • Day of the Dead
      • Earth Day
      • Hanukkah
      • Mardi Gras
  • PARTY FOOD
    • Super Bowl
    • Graduation
    • Birthday Party
    • March Madness
    • Summer Fun
    • Baby Shower
    • Wedding Shower
    • School/Teacher
    • Movie and T.V. Characters
    • Kid’s Treats
    • Fun Party Recipes
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Peanut Butter Popcorn Speckled with Chocolate Sea Shells – Beach Party Popcorn

July 7, 2018 This post may contain affiliate links.

Fill up your beach pail with crunchy Peanut Butter Popcorn that’s coated in sandy looking cookie crumbs and speckled with homemade chocolate sea shells. This Beach Party Popcorn will make a festive treat for your pool party or beach themed events.

Fill up your beach pail with crunchy peanut butter popcorn that's coated in sandy looking cookie crumbs and speckled with homemade chocolate sea shells. This Beach Party Popcorn will make a festive treat for your pool party or beach themed events.

Peanut Butter Popcorn With Chocolate Sea Shells

Post originally published on July 5, 2016. Update with video tutorial on July 7, 2018. 

I made this fun Peanut Butter Popcorn Speckled with Chocolate Shells for my nephew’s beach themed graduation party and it was one of his favorite treats on the dessert table.

I love mixing peanut butter into my white chocolate popcorn. It adds a creaminess and lovely peanut flavor that is heavenly. Being there were so many desserts served at the party, there was still popcorn in the pail at the end of the event. My nephew and his friends finished it off later that night and he told me how much everyone enjoyed it.

What’s not to love about creamy peanut butter blended with white chocolate tossed with popcorn and some cookie crumbs? Oh, and the added sweetness of homemade chocolate sea shells and starfish made the sweet snack even better.

Watch the video tutorial to see how to make this Beach Party Peanut Butter Popcorn…

 

Fill up your beach pail with crunchy peanut butter popcorn that's coated in sandy looking cookie crumbs and speckled with homemade chocolate sea shells. This Beach Party Popcorn will make a festive treat for your pool party or beach themed events.

If you are having a beach themed party or a pool party, then this peanut butter popcorn recipe is a must. The Beach Party Popcorn looks great served in a plastic pail, but could simply be served on a flat tray or in a big bowl too.

It would even be fun to display the sandy looking cookie crumb coated popcorn around a beach themed cake or under a stack of beach cookies.

One of the best things about this recipe is it’s simplicity.

How to make Peanut Butter Popcorn coated in white chocolate blended with peanut butter.

How To Make Peanut Butter Popcorn

To make this popcorn you can use pure white chocolate or white confectionery coating (candy melts.) You can find detailed information about melting these two types of white chocolate on my Chocolate Making Tips page.

  • Melt and temper pure white chocolate or simply melt white confectionery coating.
    • Use any brand of pure white chocolate if you are practiced at tempering.
      • If you do not temper pure white chocolate it won’t harden properly and your peanut butter popcorn will be a bit sticky.
    • I personally don’t bother tempering white chocolate when making my peanut butter popcorn. I like to use Peter’s White Caps. It has a lovely white chocolate flavor and can be melted in the microwave.
    • On occasion I will melt Nestle White Morsels and use them instead. They have a very similar flavor to the Peter’s White Caps. Once melted they are quite thick though, so if you use them in this recipe, you might want to add another 1/2 – 1 tablespoon peanut butter to thin it out.
    • A few other options would be to use Wilton White Candy Melts, White Almond Bark, Merckens White Coating, or Ghirardelli White Melting Wafers.
  • Once you’ve melted the white chocolate, you’ll stir in creamy peanut butter and a pinch of salt.
    • Use your favorite creamy peanut butter. I chose JIF.
    • A pinch of salt will help intensify the peanut butter flavor if you are using air popped popcorn.
    • If you are using microwave popcorn that is already salted, you can leave the salt out.
    • You’ll need to reserve a small amount of the peanut butter “chocolate” for later, so scoop 2 tablespoons into a small bowl.
  • Then pour the rest over the popped popcorn, and quickly, but gently, toss to coat.
    • I use air popped popcorn, but any plain popcorn will work just be sure it isn’t loaded with greasy butter as that makes it difficult for the white chocolate to adhere.
    • Just mix until the popcorn is evenly coated.
    • If you mix too much the white chocolate will start to harden making it difficult to spread out onto the pan.
  • Pour the popcorn out onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and spread it into an even layer.

Peanut Butter Popcorn Sprinkled with Cookie Crumbs can be used to make Beach Pail Popcorn that looks like a sandy beach.

  • Immediately, while the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle cookie crumbs all over the popcorn.
    • I crushed up some store bought butter cookies to sprinkle over my popcorn, but any tan colored cookie or graham cracker will work fine to create the look of sand.
    • If you want to really intensify the peanut butter flavor of this popcorn, you can crush up peanut butter cookies.
  • Pop the pan in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes until the candy coating hardens. Remove it and break the popcorn into chunks.

Pool party snacks - peanut butter popcorn sprinkles with sandy cookie crumbs topped with chocolate shells.

  • Use the reserved peanut butter “chocolate” to attach either homemade chocolate sea shells and starfish or store bought candy shells to the popcorn.
    • You may need to reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds if it has hardened.
  • You may wonder why I didn’t just attach the chocolate shells to the peanut butter popcorn while the white chocolate was still wet. There are a few reasons…
    • I’m not that quick. The white chocolate coating will begin to harden quite quickly and I couldn’t get all the shells attached and sprinkle on the cookie crumbs while the chocolate was still wet.
    • I wanted to break the peanut butter popcorn up into small pieces before attaching the shells so  the shells wouldn’t pop off as I broke up the popcorn.
    • I realize it takes time to attach each individual shell, but I think you’ll like the look if you do.
    • You can even pile the peanut butter popcorn in your pail before attaching the shells if you want to really arrange them perfectly.

Chocolate Sea Shells

You can find the recipe and step-by-step tutorial for making the chocolate sea shells, here.

If you don’t want to make them by hand, you can use candy coated chocolate sea shells instead. They are available on Amazon.com along with other items you will need to make this popcorn. (commission earned for sales)

Beach Party Popcorn - Peanut Butter White Chocolate Popcorn Sprinkled with Sandy Cookie Crumbs and Chocolate Sea ShellsBeach Party Popcorn – Peanut Butter Popcorn Sprinkled with Cookie Crumbs and Chocolate Sea Shells

5 from 1 vote
Print
Beach Party Popcorn - Peanut Butter Popcorn Speckled with Chocolate Sea Shells
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
2 mins
Total Time
12 mins
 

Creamy peanut butter white chocolate coated popcorn sprinkled with cookie crumbs makes a fun sandy beach on which to attach chocolate sea shells. This yummy treat is perfect for a beach or pool party!

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: beach, beach party, chocolate, parties, peanut butter, pool party, popcorn
Servings: 12 servings
Author: Beth Jackson Klosterboer
Ingredients
  • 8 cups popped popcorn
  • 14 ounces melted and tempered white chocolate or melted white candy melts*
  • 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1/3 cup tan colored cookie crumbs
  • 30-40 small chocolate sea shells
Instructions
  1. Pour the popped popcorn into a large mixing bowl.
  2. Stir in creamy peanut butter and a pinch of salt into the white chocolate.

  3. Reserve 2 tablespoons of peanut butter chocolate mixture for later use.
  4. Pour the remaining chocolate over the popcorn.
  5. Toss to coat.
  6. Spread into an even layer on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
  7. Sprinkle with cookie crumbs.
  8. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.
  9. Remove and break popcorn into chunks.
  10. Reheat the reserved peanut butter chocolate then use it as glue to attach chocolate shells to the popcorn.
  11. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
  12. *See melting instructions on Hungry Happenings' Chocolate Making Tips Page

Embrace the beautiful weather that we are having and make some of these gorgeous and scrumptious Summer Fun Recipes.

Make a big splash at your party by serving these amazing Beach Themed Party Treats. See the recipes at HungryHappenings.com,

Sugar Coated Sea Horse Cookies • Chocolate Beach Pails • Butterscotch Crunch Starfish
Sandcastle Lollipops • Caramel Rice Krispie Turtles • Beach Party Popcorn
Under the Sea Popcorn • Beach Ball Cheesecakes • Under the Sea Gumdrops
Caramel Rice Krispie Treat Starfish • Chocolate Sea Shells • Rice Kripie Treat Dolphins
Sugar Coated Sea Horse Cookies • Sugar Coated Sea Horse Cookies • Palm Tree Cookies

Fill up your beach pail with crunchy peanut butter popcorn that's coated in sandy looking cookie crumbs and speckled with homemade chocolate sea shells. This Beach Party Popcorn will make a festive treat for your pool party or beach themed events.

If you recreate this Beach Party Popcorn be sure to link to this post
and/or tag @HungryHappenings on Instagram and send me a picture so I can share it in my Readers’ Gallery.

Filed Under: Homemade Candy, Summer Fun Recipes Tagged With: beach party, beach party food, chocolate shells, pool party, popcorn, snacks, Summer

The Sugar Academy Chocolate Making Courses
Previous Post: « Red, White, and Blue No-Bake Cheesecakes in Mini Mason Jars
Next Post: STARFISH S’MORES – Fun Summer Treats »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle

    July 5, 2016 at 10:43 pm

    Wow! This turned out amazing, love it! The cookie crumbs are such a great touch.

    Reply
    • Beth

      July 10, 2016 at 9:28 am

      Thanks so much. The cookie crumbs not only add the sandy look to the popcorn, but they add a nice flavor too.

      Reply
  2. The Partiologist

    July 6, 2016 at 9:09 am

    What a FUN idea, I love the look of the popcorn, not to mention the fact it’s peanut butter. I just made a bag of sugar cookie sand for a project and now I know what to do with the leftovers!

    Reply
    • Beth

      July 10, 2016 at 9:27 am

      Thanks! This is my new favorite popcorn recipe. I hope you give it a try.

      Reply
  3. Allison

    July 30, 2016 at 7:56 pm

    One question: the recipe above says 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, but the directions say to “reserve 2 Tablespoons.” How much pb do you stir into the white chocolate?

    Reply
    • Beth

      August 2, 2016 at 3:23 pm

      Add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to the white chocolate then reserve 2 tablespoons of the peanut butter white chocolate mixture to use later. Enjoy!

      Reply
  4. Karen @ Sugartown Sweets

    July 14, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    I love anything beachy and your popcorn is perfect! Your video tutorial is great and I love the way you painted inside the bag to mimic the look of a real shell! I can see why this was your nephew’s favorite!

    Reply
    • Beth

      July 15, 2018 at 7:38 am

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the video. Painting in the pastry bag is a clean and easy way to swirl the colors. I hope you give it a try!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

WELCOME!

See all recipe categories

The Sugar Academy Chocolate Making Courses

Footer

Popular Kid Friendly Recipes

Halloween Mickey Mouse Oreo Cookies decorated using candy clay are fun to make for your Halloween parties.
Turn Reese's Cups into sweet little otters then use them to create some adorable Sea Otter Cupcakes. These treat will be perfect for you Finding Dory Party.
Mickey Mouse Galaxy Cookies - chocolate cookies topped with chocolate ganache and galaxy sprinkles.
Decorate this cute Olaf Mickey Cake for your Disney Frozen party. It's easy to create using a simple cake decorating technique.
This Winter Wonderland White Chocolate Popcorn speckled with candy snowflakes and blue sprinkles would make a great treat for a Frozen party, a nice gift for Christmas, or a wintertime snack.
Movie Night Snacks featuring Disney and Pixar Toy Story 4 Mozzarella Shapes from Farm Rich

Hungry Happenings is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and occasionally writes sponsored posts which will be disclosed within the post. We value your privacy. Please read our Privacy Policy, Disclosure, and Terms of Service.

Search Hungry Happenings by Category

Copyright © 2021 Hungry Happenings