Okay, so my first attempt at making caramel popcorn balls didn't go so good, and I'm out the door heading towards the grocery store at 10:30 p.m. the night before my church's big chili cook-off and annual trunk or treat. I like to cook. I didn't say I was any good at it. I have discovered the necessity of a candy thermometer when making home made caramel. Just heating and stirring the boiling mixture for 20 minutes, doesn't guarantee it is going to form a ball. I supposed the mixture balls up...mine never did. My husband and I thought it balled up in cold water when we dropped some into a glass of water; however, when I poured the mixture onto my air popped popcorn, it thickened immediately into clumps.
This time I decided to use Kraft Caramels. The biggest effort in making this caramel sauce was unwrapping the individual pieces before I nuked them in the microwave. I like that a lot more than stirring constantly for 20 minutes. I poured the melted Kraft caramel mixture over the air popped popcorn and it looked like what I had expected out of the first batch. Now how do I store them?
Please excuse me, I'm heading to the kitchen to roll up my sleeves, butter up my hands, and form some popcorn balls. I think next year, I'm just going to bake some cookies and hand them out during trunk or treat.
