Homemade Popcorn Balls Recipe for Halloween
Pop Up Some Corn and Coat with a Sugar Mixture for a Sweet Treat
Aug 18, 2009
When the fall fog rolls in (or when you make you own homemade Halloween fog), it’s time for goblins of all ages to start thinking about rich and yummy cool weather treats like candy apples and popcorn balls. Although such goodies can be purchased ready-made, it’s much more fun to carve out a couple of hours for family fun and make your own fall sweets.
Popcorn Ball Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 quarts popped popcorn (best with minimal oil or butter)
- 2 cups chopped pecans
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/3 cup sugar
- ½ cup light colored corn syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla flavoring
Directions:
- In a large mixing bowl (or clean plastic tub or cooler), mix together popcorn and nuts.
- In a small heavy saucepan, melt butter.
- Add sugar and syrup to melted butter and bring to boil while stirring continuously.
- Stir butter mixture at light boil on heat for 3 minutes.
- Pour butter mixture over popcorn and nuts while stirring with a big spoon.
- Let mixture cool about 2 minutes or until cool enough to work with.
- Dip hands in cold water and shake (repeating as needed to prevent sticking).
- Make 2 to 3 inch balls with popcorn mixture. Don’t press together too tight. Popcorn balls taste better with a loose pack.
- Place on a baking sheet or piece of wax paper and let popcorn balls set and cool.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and store in a cool and dry area.
This Halloween recipe is fun for homeschoolers and can be coupled with history information on popcorn. Popcorn goes back a long way in history and has been especially popular during times of economic hardship, since it's a very inexpensive snack. A number of lesson plans could be built around the popcorn theme including a fun overview of the history of cinema.
More Fun Fall Recipes:
Halloween Spooky Hands - Enjoy another popcorn recipe that is fun for kids to help make. This one is easy enough for pre-school ages. Mom pops the corn, and the kids help stuff the plastic gloves. Eveyone smiles when they see these fun treats.
Homemade Party Mix with Chex Cereal - They sell this mix in the store now, but the homemade is much tastier and is also easy to make. This recipe makes a large batch and is terrific for snacking in the evenings when the sun goes down earlier.
Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies - These are oldies but goodies. Kids love to make these stove top cookies and also love to eat them.
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