Popcorn Balls

I can barely remember my great grandma, Lucille Evans, who died when I was about 7 years old. I have only a couple memories of her. When we would go over to her house in Montpelier Idaho, she was usually in her backyard, tending her large garden. Christina and I liked exploring her basement, which had thousands of pussy willows and two stuffed animal tigers. But the thing I remember most about her was her popcorn balls. These delicious mounds of rich caramel and fluffy popcorn wrapped in plastic were always handed to us when we came to visit. And now, caramel popcorn instantaneously conjures a picture of my great grandma.

The other day I came across a list of ingredients that makes caramel fit for any recipe. I wondered if it would work with popcorn and tried making popcorn balls this last weekend. Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of brown sugar

1 stick of butter

1 cup of Karo syrup (corn syrup)

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

Sounds pretty healthy, huh? Once you’ve mixed all that in a pan over the stove, you can smother anything with this delectable, heart attack inducing syrup. Pour a little at a time over a bowl of popcorn, carefully stirring the popcorn each time. If you pour all the caramel in at once, it will steep to the bottom and you’ll have a glob of caramel and kernels with popcorn on top. This amount of caramel will be enough for 2-3 bowls of popcorn, depending on how gooey you like your popcorn. Put the bowl in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the caramel to cool. It will be less sticky and messy the longer you leave it in the fridge. This is a great movie or football game treat! For popcorn balls, all you have to do is cut up squares of plastic wrap and pour a little of the caramel popcorn on the square. Then just wrap the gooey popcorn into a ball and stick them in the fridge for 30 minutes. Enjoy!