Almond Butter Popcorn Balls

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.