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Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls Without Corn Syrup

Food

4 Nov
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Ever since I discovered (and reinvented) this recipe for salted caramel popcorn balls a few years ago, making these sticky, sweet, and slightly salty treats has become a seasonal tradition for my kids and me!

There’s just something about chilly mornings, blustery days, and long, cozy evenings that sort of calls for sticky, chewy popcorn balls, don’t you think?

 

Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls without Corn Syrup | recipe by Kristy @ Little Natural Cottage

These are surprisingly simple to make and sooooo delicious. They have an awesome caramely-sweet-crunchy taste. Perfect for an autumn snack, holiday gift baskets, or even fund raisers!

 

AND, since this recipe doesn’t use corn syrup (I try to stay away from that ingredient) they’re even healthy to boot. 

Well, sort of. 

(We can pretend, can’t we?)

 

Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls without Corn Syrup | recipe by Kristy @ Little Natural Cottage

Food always tastes better (1) when you wear a pretty apron, and (2) when you have cute helpers.

 

To make these yummy popcorn balls, you’ll need

  • a sauce pan
  • a candy thermometor
  • a wooden spoon
  • and a muffin/cupcake tin

 

Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls without Corn Syrup | recipe by Kristy @ Little Natural Cottage

I buy organic popping corn in bulk from Azure Standard. We enjoy it as an evening snack A LOT!

The recipe:

approx 6 cups popped corn
1 C nuts (pecans or peanuts)
¾ C honey
1 C raw, organic sugar 
1 TBSP molasses
½ cup water
¼ C salted butter
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls without Corn Syrup | recipe by Kristy @ Little Natural Cottage

Learning how to make a rich, caramel-y sauce without corn syrup was an exciting discovery for me!

Directions:

Place popped corn and nuts in a large bowl; stir and set aside.


In a medium saucepan, combine honey, raw sugar, molasses, water, and salt. Place over low heat, stirring until mixture begins to boil. Add butter and stir until melted. Add vanilla just as the mixture begins to thicken and foam. Continue to cook until candy thermometor reaches firm ball stage (248 degrees).  (Stir frequently to prevent scorching!)


Remove pan from heat and pour mixture over popcorn and nuts; stir with a wooden spoon until completely coated with “caramel” mixture.

Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls without Corn Syrup | recipe by Kristy @ Little Natural Cottage

One of my early batches of caramel popcorn balls…

 

Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls without Corn Syrup | recipe by Kristy @ Little Natural Cottage

It’s amazing what sweet memories you can make, even in the tiny kitchen of a rent house! The pics in this tutorial are from a few years ago…

To shape into balls: With an ice cream scoop, spoon hot popped corn into greased muffin cups (it’s WAY too hot to candle with your hands).

Press into a ball.

Repeat until all muffin cups are full. Recipe should yield enough mixture to make one dozen balls.

Let popcorns balls cool until set, about 10 to 15 minutes. To remove, slide the flat side of a butter knife around the edges of the balls and gently lift.

So delicious!!!

My little Mr. C always has been our official food tester! ;)

My Colton always has been our official food tester! 😉

 

Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls Without Corn Syrup, recipe by Kristy @ Little Natural Cottage

 

We love homemade goodies around here! 

 

 

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Comments

  1. Angela@mamarosemary.com says

    November 5, 2014 at 8:51 am

    Oh yummy! We loved caramel-ly popcorn! Will have to give these a try soon, I am sure my kids would adore them.

    Reply
  2. DL says

    January 20, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    I tried these last night, after wanting to make my own popcorn balls for years. They were awesome, the kids loved them, and the homemade caramel came out great. Thanks for this recipe! DL

    Reply
  3. Sivjegoose says

    January 18, 2012 at 11:46 pm

    Yay!!!!! Thank you!!! My little one is allergic to corn syrup and I will definitely try this. Looks very yummy!

    Reply
  4. Stephanie says

    November 23, 2011 at 1:42 am

    Thanx so much for the corn syrup free recipe! can’t wait to try it. 
     We make carmel corn often, but didn’t have a recipe w/o corn syrup.

    Reply
  5. Keefer07 says

    November 20, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    this recipe looks great!  something i have found to be a great substitute for corn syrup is brown rice syrup.  It works great in every recipe i’ve tried including peanut butter fudge and is much healthier.  🙂

    Reply
    • Momwithnomemory says

      November 23, 2011 at 1:44 am

      Great to know about brown rice syrup, didn’t know.   Thanx!

      Reply
  6. Hockeyda says

    November 13, 2011 at 5:28 pm

    I added a 2 inch piece of finely grated ginger in the sauce and on the popcorn and spices,1 tsp cinnamon,  1/4 tsp allspice and 1/8 tsp nutmeg in the sauce for gingerbread popcorn balls and they are delicious!  It made 36 mini muffin tin balls and 6 big muffin tin balls!

    Reply
  7. The Shady Porch says

    October 26, 2011 at 7:23 am

    I can’t wait to try these! Love the No Corn Syrup! Your picture makes me want to make them right now!! 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Fall Activities Your Family Will Love - Imperfectly Happy says:
    October 24, 2015 at 11:30 am

    […] house. But as Fall Activities go, this is a super yummy one! I’m going to try this recipe for Salted Caramel Popcorn Balls this […]

    Reply
  2. Caramel Pecan Popcorn Balls | Wholesome Mom says:
    December 21, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    […] I came across this post by Kristy over at Little Natural Cottage. I was excited to give it a try. These turned out […]

    Reply
  3. Favorite Recipes for Autumn | kristyscottage.com says:
    September 23, 2011 at 5:57 am

    […] These Caramel Popcon Balls are pretty simple to make and they taste absolutely delicious!  Since they’re corn-syrup-free, you get the yummy flavor without the junk.  These are always a huge hit with our kiddos. […]

    Reply

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Hi there, I'm Kristy... slightly introverted pastor's wife, homeschooling mom by trade, mentor and writer by heart.

I'm pretty passionate about living and loving well... would you like to learn and grow with me?

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