I grew up on a small farm out in the country with just a few close neighbors. On Halloween when we went treat-or-treating we only had a few houses to go to. The two I remember most the German people across the highway who gave us some yucky baked health stuff and the neighbor next door. She made the best caramel popcorn balls in the whole world! I loved coming home and eating that popcorn ball. So every year I try to recreate it ~ so far no success. This year I received a great kit from Good Cook that included a popcorn baller that helped making the popcorn balls easier. I loved how it worked. I will give you my recipe below – but I want to show you how fun and easy it is to make your own Caramel Popcorn Balls even if they don’t taste as good as Joyce made. 
The first thing I did is pop my popcorn – I used microwave popcorn but you can use store bought, make on the stove or make with an air popper. The one important thing is to make sure that you get all the unpopped kernels out of the popcorn.
One of the fun things you can do is add all kinds of different treats into the popcorn. I added almonds, cashews and dried cranberries. There are lots of things you could add including ~ Gummy Bears, Candy Corn, Chocolate Chips or any flavor Chips, candy bars cut up, pretzels, potato chips, any kind of dried fruit or nuts and you could even add something fun like bacon. I think Bacon and Chocolate chips would be great in a Caramel Popcorn Ball.
The next thing I did was make the caramel on the stove. It is a bit of a process making the caramel just like making any candy is. You make it on the stove top and heat it while stirring until it gets to the soft ball stage. My caramel turned out wonderful.
Once the ca
ramel is done you mix it up with the popcorn and the fun treats you may have added. Once I was done with that I used my new popcorn baller. You must make sure that it is buttered. I used butter spray. When you put the caramel in it is pretty hot so be careful. You put the popcorn ball in the bottom of the baller and then push it together with the top part.
The next thing I did was put on wax paper until they cooled. 
Here is my finished caramel popcorn ball. It might not look that great but – it sure tasted yummy.
One of the things I like best about cooking and making things is the kitchen is how it brings back such good memories. Mine of time when things were simpler and fun.
If you want to make your own memories and make some popcorn balls you can get 25% off your Popcorn Ballers from goodcook.com. Use CODE: POPCORN. Make sure you follow Good Cook on Facebook and Twitter to get more good recipes.
| Caramel Popcorn Balls | Print |
- 5 qts popped pop corn
- 4 tbsp. butter
- ½ c Corn Syrup
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 c add ins - nuts, fruit, candy, pretzels ect...
- 1 c brown sugar
- ½ of 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- Mix popcorn and candy in large bowl
- In 2 quart saucepan, melt butter
- Stir in sugar and corn syrup ~ bring to boil on medium heat
- Stir in sweetened condensed milk
- Boil gently stirring constantly until mixture comes to the soft ball stage (234 degrees) takes about 15-20 minutes
- Stir in vanilla
- Pour over popcorn mixture and stir until well coated
- Butter popcorn baller and make your balls
- Cool on wax paper
- Eat or wrap in wax paper
- Do not store in a closed container
If you have a favorite Popcorn recipe I would love it if you shared in the comments. I am always looking for a recipe.
“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
