Old-fashioned popcorn balls
Today we joined our 4 y.o. for his preschool’s annual Halloween pumpkin hunt. I dressed as a werewolf, a costume I’d bought at Target. And because I forgot to buy a bag of candy (I wait until the last minute so I don’t eat it all), I distributed adorable tattoos my friend Jilene makes instead.
Our 4 y.o. was a bit shell shocked that he could just walk up to people and they would give him candy.
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But our 2 y.o. pushed his way through the crowd and didn’t stop to question his good fortune.
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A man shot bananas out of his holster as his treat. One of my favorite snack recipes stars bananas.
- 1 banana
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes
All mashed together. (Oh, just to disclose: I had made this as baby food but liked it more than she did. My appetite knows no limits.)
But we steered clear of him. I was feeling nostalgic; I recalled how heartbreaking it was when I was a kid and somebody dropped an apple in my bag. An apple? We got that daily. But Halloween was one of the only times we got treats. We scrambled to unwrap the best pieces before our mother cut us off.
Now, though, after we lugged our bag of candy home, I wished I had taken the banana. Because for our children, this offering of cheap, processed food won’t be just on Halloween. On average, they consume 350 more calories per day than we did as children in the 70s. We need to instill enough good food habits now to crowd out the bad ones they’ll learn later.
What positive changes have you made in your eating habits?
Today we’re making a healthier Halloween treat: popcorn balls, without corn syrup. Because on Halloween we want our children to feel nostalgic for this: dripping honey, the rich scent of molasses, the sounds of popcorn popping, and a family, sitting at a wood table, mashing it all together into balls. That’s what makes a treat special.
Popcorn balls:
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
- 10 cups popcorn
First, we mixed the molasses, honey, sugar, vanilla extract and butter in a pot We brought it to a boil while gently stirring. Then, we left it boiling for 10 minutes while we popped the popcorn. (We make popcorn the old-fashioned way: using kernels in canola oil. Prevention Magazine named microwave popcorn one of the top seven foods you should never eat, due to the chemicals in the lining of the bag.)
When the sugar was done boiling, we removed it from the heat. (Drop a half teaspoon of the sugar in a bowl of cold water; if it forms a ball, it’s ready.) We dumped the popcorn in our mixing bowl, and poured the sugar over it.
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When it had cooled, we shaped it into balls, which we set on parchment paper.
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Gasp–popcorn balls! I haven’t had those in ages, and your recipe looks so good with the molasses. I’ll have to try that. But first, must find air popper.
Thank you so much for posting this. I was just trying to figure out what to make for my daughter’s preschool Halloween party. I wanted to bring a healthier treat so they won’t fill up on candy. This is just perfect!
One change I’m making to your recipe — instead of canola oil, I’ll use coconut oil for the popping. Canola oil is usually genetically modified and from what I’ve read it’s not a very healthy oil.
Thanks again — I’m glad I found you on Twitter!
Mmmm, there’s something about popcorn balls that I just love. This recipe looks perfect!!
I do popcorn the old-fashioned way too, in a stovetop Whirly Pop that I’ve used so much my husband has had to repair the handle twice. I don’t care for the flavor in microwave popcorn, and can’t stand it when someone says ‘Let’s make popcorn!’ and they pull out a box of it. It’s like no one knows how wonderful popcorn can taste anymore. I made stovetop popcorn for my nieces and they couldn’t believe how good it was. It made me sad
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Dear Friends, Happy late halloween(: !!
This is some amazing work and technique I really enjoyed the posting please keep up the good work
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I made these and the kids loved them. It was a nice twist on regular popcorn. However, while it’s probably obvious to most people, I underestimated how hot the molasses mixture actually is and suffered several burns on my fingers from trying to touch the popcorn too soon. Then my fingers hurt so bad I couldn’t make them into balls, so it was more like a popcorn sheet cake than popcorn balls. This didn’t stop the kids and they still devoured it. They’re still reminding me how I failed to actually produce balls of popcorn so I guess I will have to try again!
we’re gonna use agave instead of honey… we’ll see how it works!
has anyone ever used agave instead of honey? I use it alot… its a good alternative.I like your idea of molasses! I’m gonna do this next week… see how long I can wait!
Yay! we’re gonna make the popcorn balls tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we made ‘em today!!!!!!!!! they were OUT OF THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… they had a little trouble sticking… we decided to use honey anyway. HAPPY HOLLOWEEN!:)
Popcorn balls are always a great snack on Halloween. They are both easy to make and tasty. Thanks for the post.
Tip for making air-popped popcorn. Take an ordinary brown paper bag, fill the base with one layer of kernels. Fold bag, place in microwave on 100% power. I set timer for about 3 minutes but generally take it out the minute I hear gaps between the popping sound and what you’re left with is guilt free popcorn.
A great tip I’ve found is that if you don’t want to use oil in the popcorn, use a brown paper bag in the microwave.
Put 2 Tbsp. of popcorn curnals in a brown paper bag. Roll the top to make sure it doesn’t pop out, and put in the microwave 2 minutes. It does really great and doesn’t have the fat from the oil.