Popcorn Balls - a Special Treat for Halloween!
"this is real 50s food - great to give out to older kids for Halloween [i print out my name and address on labels before wrapping in saran wrap]
rice krispie treats are great for the little kids -"
photo by Marg (CaymanDesigns)
- Ready In:
- 35mins
- Ingredients:
- 7
- Serves:
-
14
ingredients
directions
- Mix sauce ingredients [EXCEPT THE VANILLA!] in a saucepan.
- Cook to 250 degrees on a candy thermometer for popcorn balls [or until a few drops form a hard ball when dropped into cold water].
- This can be cooked to a lower temp if you are just going to drizzle this over popcorn in a pan for smaller bite-sized pieces - and don't want to break a tooth on the hard-ball caramel.
- Remove from heat.
- NOW stir in 1 tsp vanilla.
- Pour in a thin stream over the popped corn, stirring constantly to mix well.
- Shape into balls, if desired.
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Reviews
-
This was a really good recipe. We made these for a church festival and they sold out! I used 9 cups of popcorn per batch and they turned out slightly chewy, so I added a little more. Also, I heated the candy to 250 degrees (as directed) and they didn't turn out too hard at all. A good recipe. Thanks for posting! -
A good recipe but I think it needs just a little tweaking. I cooked the sauce to 250° and I think that was too high. The popcorn balls were hard to bite into. Next time I'm going to try cooking it just to the soft ball stage like the other reviewer and see if that is better. Also, I read through the recipe before making it, like you are supposed to, but if someone doesn't they are going to probably make the mistake of adding the vanilla on step 1 (mix sauce ingredients in saucepan) when they aren't supposed to until step 5. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to keep stirring the sauce while it cooked. Some 'candy' you need to and some you don't. This added information would be very helpful, especially if it is necessary (I stirred it constantly to be on the safe side.) I used 8 cups of popcorn and only got 10 very small popcorn balls. It probably would have only made 7 or 8 if I had made them the size my mom always made them. I dyed them orange for Halloween and the flavor was very good. One tip: Greasing your hands to form the popcorn balls is a big help. Thanks for sharing! -
Excellent recipe! And so simple! My son and I made two batches for a sports bake sale. Sometimes popcorn balls are yummy but nothing special, but THIS recipe made a nice tasty popcorn ball! We cooked to soft ball stage and on half the batch added blue food coloring to the sauce so we would have blue and white Team Colors!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
56, an Army brat who has lived in 20 different locations [born in germany, went to kindergarten in japan] including new york city, palo alto CA, maine, georgia, chicago, after growing up in small-town kansas...
have some fabulous recipes from well-traveled army people...
recently started adding just a splash of bourbon or brandy to real maple syrup - and it really gives french toast or pancakes a special, more sophisticated flavor...
a friend jokes that bourbon is my new "secret ingredient" that i'll be adding to everything - it's not true but i'm telling you - you should try it! it's really very good [for adults, anyway]
sugarpea's apple pancake recipe is a deadringer for Walker Brothers Pancake House in north shore Chicago - i've searchd for this for 34 years - and it's easy as well as To Die For!!!
the Dutch Baby pancake is a huge seller there too - with the same gooey comfort-food but elegant batter...
also if you search for lettuce wrap - the 2 recipes for PF Chang's come up... this is also SO GOOD, truly a memorable entree...
for cookbooks: With a Jug of Wine, More Recipes With a Jug of Wine were written by the San Francisco Chronicle food writer decades ago - and most everything in them is superb - and i learned a lot as a new cook, young wife, from reading through them in the late 1970s... i got a [very French] sense of food as a way of life
