On holidays, be it Christmas or Halloween, attending as well as organizing parties becomes the rule of the day - something that cannot be avoided. While going to a party is not too difficult, since all you are required to do is shop for gifts and look good, the same cannot be said for hosting parties. In fact, the latter requires a lot of planning, right from the invitation part to the decoration to the menu. Talking about menu, the first thing that comes into mind is snacks.
Whether your party is full of kids or oldies, you need to include the snack item that every one would love to munch on. If you haven’t hired caterers for the party, then you should resort to the recipes that are easy to prepare. When it comes to making quick snacks for parties, popcorn balls top the list. Not only are they loved by all, but are also quite simple to make. Read on to get the perfect recipe for making popcorn balls.
How To Make Popcorn Balls
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups Sugar
- 1¼ cups Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Light Corn Syrup
- 2/3 cup Water
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 3½ quarts Popped Popcorn
- 1¼ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper, freshly ground (optional)
Instructions
- Take a saucepan and place it over medium heat.
- Once the saucepan gets a bit warm, add sugar, brown sugar, light corn syrup and water to it.
- Keep on stirring the mixture, until the sugar is dissolved.
- The moment the sugar starts turning into thin syrup, add butter to the mixture.
- Continue cooking, but this time without stirring, until the mixture reaches a temperature of 240 F. You can measure the temperature of the mixture by dipping a candy thermometer in it.
- Simmer the heat, cook the mixture for a while and then turn it off.
- Take a large bowl and put popped popcorn into it.
- Sprinkle the popcorn with salt. You can also add ground black pepper to the popcorn, if you need a hot flavor.
- Pour the hot syrup over the popcorns and mix thoroughly.
- Leave the mixture for a minute.
- Now, apply some butter on both of your hands and shape the warm mixture into small sized balls.
- Transfer the popcorn balls into a serving plate and serve!
Tips
- In case you do not want to use brown sugar for the recipe, you may double the amount of white granulated sugar (because you are using both the types of sugar in the original recipe). In this case, ensure that the sugar syrup turns brown in color.
- Do not allow the popcorn-syrup mixture to cool for a long time, because if it is cooled more than needed, you won’t be able to make balls out of it.
- If the hotness of the popcorn balls leaves a burning sensation in your palms, wash your hands in cold water, immediately after making them.