Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Coffee Break

Ok peoples, I know you all don't drink coffee but everyone takes a break right?? And what better for a break than popcorn balls? I have a recipe that's definitely vintage courtesy of a childhood neighbor lady. She'd make them for Halloween and it was the only homemade treat my mother would let us eat.
Andrea has a picture of a perfect popcorn ball on her blog along with her recipe and she inspired me to share mine.
1 cup brown sugar firmly packed
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter
Cook in a heavy pan till soft ball stage.
Yup, that's my whole recipe.
Here's where Andrea is so far ahead of me, she give the temperature you cook it to.. my recipe is clearly old-skool. I use my mother's technique for testing, I keep a small bowl of ice water next to the stove and when the syrup looks thick and a thread comes off the spoon when you pull it out it's ready to start testing. I like to test about a thousand times because it's so good. When you pour a spoonful of candy into the ice water it will form a little ball if you nudge it a bit. That's when you know it's ready.
I make a big big bowl of air pop corn to pour the syrup over. It will be a nice caramel color and crazy hot and sticky so be careful. I stir stir stir with a slotted spoon till there's candy on all of it. After letting it slightly cool, spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray and form into balls. They're so yummy.
Ok break is over, time to get back to sewing. Have a happy day peoples! Can you stand it, almost 2009!

9 Comments:

Blogger Anne Sutton said...

This is going on my list of "to dos for 2009. I really like the testing part! Better yet, maybe you can come over and just make them for me! Happy New Year Pam to you, your family and furry friends.

7:06 AM  
Blogger Nanette Merrill said...

I'm old skool too. That is how my mom made candy. The ice water in a small cup trick works for me. I've got a recipe that makes caramel popcorn in a bag in the microwave. I didn't think it would work but it was really good.

9:18 AM  
Blogger Anne said...

You brought back memories of my Mom making candy and dropping the syrup in the cold water. I used to get to eat that part! Your recipe looks yummy and if I ever venture into the kitchen, I might have to try it! Happy New Year, Pam. PS. What cha working on? :-)

9:55 AM  
Blogger Sandy said...

mmm those sound yummy! happy new yr!

11:59 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

OOOOOOOOOh yummy. I gotta make me some of those. I also remember we used to make a taffy of some kind that was put on snow after it was cooked. No recipe for that, but wish I had one.
Very nice blog, it was agreat visit.

12:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Popcorn balls sound SOOOOOOoo good! Yum yum! Thanks for the recipe!

2:28 PM  
Blogger Candace said...

We got some homemade popcorn balls for Christmas and they were so good, we wondered how to make them - now we have recipe thanks to you Pam!
Cheers!

6:53 PM  
Blogger antique quilter said...

oh I haven't thought about these in years
I am going to have to make these very soon
I LOVED these as a kid,my girls probably won't even touch them!!!!
happy new year.
Kathie

11:17 AM  
Blogger *emilie* said...

thank you so much for that ! totally going to try them out !!
em

4:57 AM  

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