I had a totally strange obsession with this cookbook when I was a kid. I would read it for hours. I’m not sure why. It has some amazingly retro photos. There are also some really cool recipes. Needless to say as an adult I begged my mom to give it to me. Thankfully she said yes. (Or I took it from her without asking…really, at this point who knows?) One recipe I remember well is for fruit flavored popcorn balls.
Start with a bowl filled with nine cups of hot air popped popcorn. (You can totally use regular microwave popcorn but we’re using corn syrup and sugar here. Save your calories where you can…)
Check your popcorn for unpopped kernels. I cannot stress this enough. You do not want unpopped kernels in this. (I’m so not responsible for your dental bills if you fail to heed my warning!)
Take 1 cup of light corn syrup and 1/2 cup of sugar and bring to a boil on your stove top. Stir constantly. Once it starts to boil remove it from the heat and add one small package of Jell-O in the flavor of your choice. (I used strawberry.) Do not use the sugar-free Jell-O for this. Stir well, making sure the Jell-O dissolves completely.
Pour the mix over your popcorn, coating everything well. Now you’ll want to start forming your popcorn balls. Apply a light mist of cooking spray to the popcorn baller when you start.
If your balls start to fall apart that means they’re still too warm. It’s an easy fix. Just place them back in the popcorn baller to reform. Once they’re cool they’ll maintain their shape.
‘How easy was that? (Seriously, air popping the popcorn was the hardest part of this…)
Ready to try this yourself? You can save 25% on GoodCook Popcorn Ballers with code POPCORN. You can find more Popcorn Ball tips and tricks on the Good Cook Blog.
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 small package Jell-O
- 9 cups cooked popcorn
- Bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil on your stovetop.
- Remove from heat.
- Add package of Jell-O and mix well.
- Pour over popcorn and coat.
- Form into balls using GoodCook Popcorn Baller.