This is a spicy, Tex-Mex version of a traditional dish. Everyone who eats this will smile while doing so. Play some Zydeco music while serving corn bread, rice, and a chilled drink over a bed of rice. Doggie, thank God you’re still alive and raise a glass to all of us Texicajuns!
| Servings: | 14 |
| Yield: | 12 to 14 popcorn balls |
Ingredients
- 2 cups unpopped popcorn
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup molasses
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to a 4 quart saucepan, and heat over high heat. When oil is hot, add 1/2 cup of popping corn. Keep pan moving constantly. When corn stops popping, remove from heat. Repeat until all corn has been popped. Place popped corn into a buttered bowl.
- In 2 quart saucepan, melt butter. Stir in sugar, molasses, and salt. Insert a candy thermometer in saucepan and boil sugar mixture on medium heat until the thermometer reads 260 degrees F(126 degrees C).
- Pour syrup over corn, while stirring popcorn thoroughly. Butter hands lightly. Shape popcorn into 12 to 14 balls.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 271 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 53 g |
| Cholesterol | 2 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 98 mg |
| Sugars | 28 g |
| Fat | 6 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
After reading several comments, and rereading the recipe, I noticed that the suggested thermometer temp was to 260°F/126°C. Take it off at a lower temp. 215°F- 230°F Anywhere up to the softball stage. Or they didn’t like the molasses flavor. Don’t use blackstrap molasses! Just get Grandmas regular kind. OR use Karo, light or dark, or marshmallows, or fluff, or Just 2 sticks of real butter melted in sugar. or a combination. You can even use maple syrup, but it will be milder and take longer because it has a lot more water content. Its not baking, play with it., find a caramel sauce that is they way you want it and try it with popcorn. The best sticky kind is the same as you’d use for apples.
These turned out perfect. The balls were practically making themselves. It was like making balls out of brand new play dough.
Popped 2/3 cup corn instead of the 2 cups and doubled the butter. Also added 1/4 tsp cream of tartar to keep from crystalizing. Texture was good and balls were easy to shape, but my problem with this recipe is just way too much molasses for my liking. the molasses flavour was overpowering.
Made them just as the recipe calls for and got delicious popcorn balls! This is going to be a new favorite at home! I might try adding some peanuts next time.
Made it with 3 bags of microwave popcorn. I also only heated it to 238 degrees F. This made them stick together better and have the not so hard to break your teeth. But the are great!! Just like Grandma’s.
I use this recipe and add 1 envelope of koolaid or jello to the syrup before making into balls. Family likes Black cheery koolaid or strawberry jello powder. The taste is awesome. Try your favorite flavor of either and enjoy!
Ok, the one thing that i noticed that this recipe did not have was any water. I used 3 quarts of popcorn 2/3 cup Sorghum (molasses), 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup WATER, 1/3 tsp salt, 1/3 tsp vinegar, 2tbs butter and 2 tsp vanilla.
I just tried this. I used 1 C un-popped corn in air popper( I had 2 cups popped corn left over.)For the syrup,Iused 1 C un-sulphered black strap molasses and 1 tbs. water, 1 C sugar and 1Tbs.butter I Cooked until it formed a firm. but pliable ball in cold water. Grease hands before forming into balls. It made 50 mini balls. If you like Cracker Jacks, you will love this recipe. Add peanuts for the complete taste of Cracker Jacks.
For those like me without a candy thermometer-boil the ‘sauce’ at bubbling & stir for several minutes, until a drop in a cup of cold water makes a gooey ball, then it’s ready to drizzle on the popcorn and they will hold together when packed by hand (after cooling a bit). I used just 1 cup corn, but 1 1/2 c sugar and 1 1/2 c molasses, and got a yummy batch of 22 (24 if I hadn’t eaten some on the way to the wax paper!).
made carmel corn not pop corn balls, I agree with the other womans review who said the same thing. It was good but next time I Am going to only use 1 cup of popcorn instead of 2. I also used the colored sugar to make it colored and it worked really well but it absolutely makes carmel corn not popcorn balls!
its a good fun one to do with the kids…. beware its STICKY…. we had a good time.. a great homemade snack!
AWESOME! I loved it! I used more syrup and it turned out great.
Was looking for recipe for carmel corn to use up the left over popped corn – used this recipe because I don’t use corn syrup at all – had about 6 cups leftover popped corn (organic, already seasoned with coconut oil/butter/salt mixture) – Mixed 1/2 TBLS butter with 1/2 cup of raw organic cane sugar and 1/2 cup unsulphured molasses, no salt. Brought to boil, and since I don’t have candy thermometer, dropped drops of mixture into cold water until hard, pliable (but not sticky!) ball formed – poured over corn, mixed and layed out on wax paper to dry – YUMMY!
This was okay. I halved the recipe (because I only had 1 C of molasses). Like other reviewers stated, there wasn’t enough sauce for all of the popcorn. It only covered about half of it. The flavor was pretty good… not exciting though. Oh, and there was no way I could turn the bowl of popcorn into balls… there just wasn’t enough sauce to make them stick together.
WARNING: This doesn’t make popcorn balls… it makes CARAMEL CORN. It’s yummy, but I tried to shape it into balls and it just didn’t work. It’s very crunchy, and not gooey/sticky like I wanted. If you like caramel corn, try this recipe, but if you’re wanting popcorn balls, look elsewhere.
They turned out perfect!! Thanks for your receipe!!
They tasted very good but next time I’ll use half the popcorn or double the syrup that goes on it. The problem may have been that I used a hot air popper instead of popping it on the stove. I ended up with more popcorn than syrup to hold it all together.
This is very similar to the recipe my family has handed down for generations. A Christmas tradition!
Great recipe for the holidays. Next time I may make it with unsalted microwave popcorn to shorten the process. I added salted peanuts which gave them a great flavor! The kids loved them!