Popcorn Balls
Fresh popcorn bound with a hot marshmallow and butter syrup, shaped into balls while warm and left to set.
Photograph credit: Popcorn, ball by WikimediaImages · Pixabay Content License · Pixabay
The Method for Popcorn Balls
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Pop the corn and discard any unpopped kernels. Put it in a very large greased bowl.
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Melt the 60 g butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir for 5 minutes until completely smooth. Stir in the vanilla and salt.
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Pour half the syrup over the popcorn and fold with a buttered spatula. Add the rest and fold until coated.
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Butter your hands. Working quickly, press the mixture into 10 balls about the size of a tennis ball. Place on baking paper and let set.
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What Can Go Wrong
- Butter your hands generously before shaping.
- Shape the balls while the mixture is warm, as it stiffens quickly.
- Sift out unpopped kernels before coating.
About This Recipe
The secret is butter on your hands. Popcorn balls are sticky work, and a thin film of butter on your palms means the warm marshmallow coating clings to the popcorn instead of to you. Work quickly, because the mixture sets as it cools and becomes impossible to shape.
The binding is a simple syrup of melted butter and marshmallows, stirred over low heat until smooth. It sets to a soft, chewy coating, not the hard crack of caramel corn. Use freshly popped corn, with the unpopped kernels sifted out, because a single hard kernel can break a tooth. About 3 litres of popped corn, or 80 g of kernels popped, is enough for ten balls.
Pour the syrup over the popcorn in two additions, stirring gently with a buttered spatula to coat each piece. Press the mixture into balls the size of a tennis ball, using light pressure, and set them on baking paper. They firm up within 15 minutes. Wrap them in cellophane for gifts, or eat them within the day.
To Go With It
Hot chocolate · Cold milk · Fresh apples · Cider
Keeping Popcorn Balls
Keeps wrapped in an airtight container for 2 days.
Popcorn Balls Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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