Snowman Popcorn Bucket

Craft a 100% edible bucket using white chocolate popcorn then decorate it to look like a snowman. This delicious and adorable Snowman Popcorn Bucket will make a wonderful gift for Christmas or a fun dessert for any winter party.

It has been years since I made my first White Chocolate Popcorn Bowl. I crafted a large bowl using white chocolate popcorn for a movie night we were hosting for friends and I filled the edible bowl with Peanut Butter Twix Popcorn. It was a huge hit!

In the past, I’ve shared tutorials to make a Jack-O-Lantern Popcorn Bowl for Halloween and a Chocolate Football Popcorn Bowl for Super Bowl and I thought it was time to revisit this idea and create something fun for Christmas.

The edible snowman popcorn bucket is easy to make using just two ingredients. Once created, the bucket can be easily decorated using modeling chocolate or fondant. Let’s see how!

How to make a Snowman Popcorn Bucket?

You’ll start by popping some popcorn using an air popper (my preferred method), a pan on the stove, or in a bag in the microwave. You can even buy popped popcorn from the grocery store.

You can use salted or unsalted popcorn but do not use buttered popcorn. It will be too greasy and the white chocolate won’t stick well to buttered popcorn.

No matter how you make your popcorn, be sure to separate the popped popcorn from any un-popped kernels. You don’t want to coat un-popped kernels in the white chocolate.

What white chocolate to use?

When making white chocolate popcorn, I prefer to use compound white chocolate which is made using palm kernel oil as opposed to cocoa butter (used to make pure white chocolate) because it melts and hardens easily with little fuss. It has a pleasant vanilla flavor that tastes great with popcorn.

I personally use Peter’s IceCap wafers which are available at cake and candy shops but you can also use Merckens White Wafers, Ghirardelli White Melting Wafers, Wilton Candy Melts, White Candi Quik, or any white almond bark you can find in the grocery store.

If you use pure white chocolate it must be tempered (heated and cooled to specific temperatures) due to the crystal formations in the cocoa butter so that it will harden properly. You can learn how to melt and temper pure chocolate by checking out my chocolate-making tips page.

Melt white chocolate then mix with popcorn.

Melt the white compound chocolate in the microwave or on the stove. Use 30-second bursts of high power, stirring after each until melted or melt using a double boiler over LOW heat on the stove.

Reserve about a little over an ounce of the melted white chocolate, then pour the rest over the popcorn and toss it quickly until well-coated. Don’t overmix or the white chocolate will begin to harden.

Shape the popcorn bucket.

Use a 3-quart popcorn bucket to make this snowman. If you can find a cardboard bucket, that will work great. I used a plastic popcorn bucket and lined it with non-stick tin foil.

Working quickly, start by spooning some of the white chocolate popcorn into the bottom of the bucket. Pack the popcorn into an even layer. It’s best to use food-handling gloves to do this if you have any on hand.

Then, build the outer walls by adding small amounts of white chocolate popcorn around the edge of the bucket. Press it into an even layer. If the popcorn falls, just pick it up off the bottom and press it back in place.

Continue to layer the popcorn until it comes up to the edge. Use any extra white chocolate popcorn or some of the reserved white chocolate to fill in any gaps. Freeze the popcorn bucket for 15 minutes until the chocolate hardens.

Remove the white chocolate popcorn bucket by lifting up the tin foil and pulling it out. Peel off the tin foil and use any remaining white chocolate to fill in any more gaps.

Decorate your Snowman Popcorn Bucket.

Pinch off pieces of black modeling chocolate and roll them into balls. Flatten into two large coal-shaped eyes and seven smaller pieces of coal for the smile.

Use a larger piece of orange modeling chocolate to create the carrot nose.

Modeling chocolate is easy to make using just two ingredients and I think it tastes better than fondant but you can use store-bought or homemade fondant if you prefer.

Attach the decorations to your popcorn bucket using more melted white compound chocolate.

Fill the popcorn bucket snowman with more popcorn.

I have shared lots of white chocolate popcorn recipes that you can use to fill your popcorn bucket. Make 1 batch of popcorn using any of the recipes listed below.

• Winter Wonderland “FROZEN” Popcorn with candy snowflake sprinkles (pictured above)
• Peppermint Popcorn – white chocolate popcorn drizzled in dark chocolate and topped with candy cane pieces
• Peanut Butter Popcorn – crunchy popcorn coated in a creamy peanut butter fudge topping is topped with dark chocolate and mini peanut butter cups
• OREO Popcorn – white chocolate popcorn loaded with OREO Cookies
• White and Dark Chocolate Popcorn – white chocolate popcorn drizzled with dark chocolate
• S’mores Popcorn – white chocolate popcorn tossed with graham crackers, chocolate chips, and marshmallows
• Candy Bar Popcorn – white chocolate popcorn speckled with an assortment of candy bar bites
• Salty and Sweet Popcorn – white chocolate popcorn tossed with peanuts, pretzels, and potato chips

More snowman-themed recipes:

• Snowman Hot Chocolate Bombs
• Snowman Cupcakes
• Snowman Cakesicles
• Snowman Cookies
• Snowman Truffles
• Snowman Pretzel Craft
• Snowman Pretzels
• Skilled Dip Snowman