Old-School Halloween Treats: Popcorn Balls

Old school Halloween popcorn balls aren’t so hard to make from scratch.

My granddaughter, Jayden, helped me with most of the prep, but when it came to shaping the popcorn balls, she balked at getting her hands all gooshy and sticky.  I was surprised, as that was my favorite part as a kid.

From what I remember, my mom usually made a clear Karo-and-sugar syrup to go over the popcorn, often dyed orange with food coloring. After we made the popcorn balls, we could create a  jack o’lantern face by sticking on candy corn.  Puffed rice was sometimes used instead of popcorn. It had one advantage: no worries about breaking a tooth on an unpopped kernel. I’m not sure if puffed rice is still around; I haven’t looked for it in years. It was made by Quaker and came in the same cardboard cylinders as Quaker oats.

For this post, I used the same caramel recipe as I did for making caramel apples (see here). It came from “Candymaking,” by Ruth Kendrick and Pauline Atkinson. I cut the recipe in half, to make 8 medium-size popcorn balls (and a little caramel left over for licking and tasting). I guess you could use melted store-brought caramels or use a sweetened condensed milk recipe to make your caramel  — it would probably take less time. But I wanted to go totally old-fashioned, from-scratch.

Maybe it’s not exactly how your mom or my mom used to make it, but SOMEONE’S mom made it that way, right?

CARAMEL POPCORN BALLS

10 to 12 cups of popcorn (preferably air-popped)

1 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1 cup sugar

Pinch baking soda

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1 cup candy corn

In a heavy saucepan, combine corn syrup, water and sugar. Place over medium heat and stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil. Add soda and stir well. If sugar crystals are present, wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush.

Clip a candy thermometer to pan. Add butter and stir until thoroughly incorporated. Stirring constantly and without allowing mixture to stop boiling, slowly add milk. Continue cooking over medium heat, stirring constantly to keep mixture from scorching. When temperature reaches firm-ball stage (232 to 234 degrees F for Utah’s altitude), remove from heat and allow caramel to cool to 200 degrees.

While caramel is cooking, sift through the popcorn for unpopped kernels.  Place the popcorn in a large, shallow bowl to allow lots of room to mix the caramel.

Add the candy corn.  Pour the caramel over the top of the popcorn and candy corn. Use a large spoon to mix evenly. When caramel seems cool enough to handle, spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray, or spread with butter, to prevent sticking.  Form the popcorn into balls. Makes about 8 medium-size balls.