We are in the holiday spirit here at My Clean Kitchen! Today we shopped, pretty much all day. It was cold and wet here but that didn’t stop people from flooding the stores. It was pretty crowded out there! It was such a nice treat to come home and reward ourselves with a delicious popcorn ball. We actually made these to give away for holiday gifts but decided to sneak one for ourselves. They are so good.
Neither of us had really ever had a popcorn ball before, but I do consider myself to be a popcorn connoisseur. If it’s popcorn, I’ll eat it. I adore all things popcorn so I was excited to try this recipe. I can’t believe I’ve lived my life this long without having a popcorn ball. We decided to make them into “pops” because they are a creative way to package for gifts but also (as a mom) to keep the mess to a minimum. Sticky hands are a pain!
We started out by air popping the popcorn. We also tested making the popcorn on the stove in a pot. Either would work for this recipe but if you have an air popper we suggest using it because it’s cleaner. If you don’t have an air popper, this is what we did – coated the bottom of a pot (at least a 3 quart pot with a tight fitting lid) and then add 1/4 cup of the popping corn kernels. Made sure the lid is on. It made about 2 quarts of popped corn. To make the 4 quarts needed for this recipe we made two batches this way. But, it only took a couple of minutes for each batch. Once it started popping, we shook the pot so the kernels didn’t stick. DISCLAIMER: DO NOT OPEN THE TOP while its popping. It can burn you.
So, once the popcorn was ready, we put the almond butter mixture in a large stock pot (big enough to hold all 4 quarts of popcorn.) Once it was ready we took it off the heat and poured in the popcorn. Using a long handled wooden spoon we mixed it all together until the popcorn was coated. To make the balls, you need to work pretty quickly. Lightly coat your hands with some kind of oil, we used olive oil, but coconut oil would work too. Pick up about a palm full of popcorn and form it into a ball and place the stick in! Its pretty simple and doesn’t take much time.
Ingredients
4 quarts of Popped Popcorn (Air popped is best)
1/2 cup Honey
1/2 cup Almond Butter
1/8 or a pinch of Sea Salt
1/8 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Cake Pop Sticks
Instructions
- Add almond butter, honey, salt and vanilla extract to a large stock pot over medium heat. Stir the mixture to combine.
- Allow the mixture to heat until it just begins to bubble then turn the heat down. Allow to stay on heat for another 2-3 minutes. While the almond butter mixture is heating line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Remove from heat and add all the popcorn.
- Using a long handled wooden spoon stir the popcorn and almond butter mixture until all the popcorn is coated.
- Its easiest to coat your hands in some kind of oil. We used olive oil but coconut oil will work as well.
- Pick up a palm full of popcorn and form it into a ball.
- Place the ball on the parchment paper and hold firmly with one hand and insert the stick with the other to make a popcorn ball pop. Repeat until all the popcorn is gone.
[…] ingredients that are simple, easy and fun to make! Check out their latest Holiday recipes such as; Almond Butter Popcorn Balls, Dark Chocolate Holiday Bark – Sea Salt, Toasted Coconut, & Almond and Simple Caprese […]