I have not had popcorn balls in forever! When one of the bloggers I follow posted this idea, I thought they would be the perfect treat to send with J to work tomorrow, on Halloween!
I saw them posted by Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman. You may have heard of her– she has a little show on The Food Network. 😉 She just released her Holiday Cookbook and has been posting recipes that are included in the book. So, go read her blog post about it, and then come back here and I’ll tell you my trial-and-error tips to make them perfect!
Ok, first, I used Orville Redenebacker’s microwave kettle corn. It was a box of 10 individual serving bags, and I used all 10 (it made about 2 dozen balls). For the small bags, I microwaved for 1minute 20sec. and then poured the bag into a large bowl, making sure to pick out all the unopened kernels.
Which brings me to tip #1— work in small batches! It’s tempting to do it all at once and save yourself washing the pan, but its too difficult to mix a large batch quickly, and try finding a pot big enough! I used my 6qt dutch oven and I did 3 bathes.
So one batch for me consisted of 3 bags of popcorn (about 9-10 cups popped), with 2 Tbsp butter and half a bag of mini marshmallows. In total, I used 1 bag of mini marshmallows, and half a bag of giant marshmallows. Tip #2— use mini marshmallows! The big ones take too long to melt down, and they don’t melt evenly. Melt over medium heat. I recommend using a dutch oven, or other cast iron pot because they hold their heat longer and will give you more time to work. You will need to turn off the heat when you are forming the balls or else the bottom will start to burn.
So there is my ratio– half a bag of marshmallows melted in 2 tablespoons butter for 9-10 cups of popcorn. You will heat the marshmallow until it’s free from lumps, then add food coloring. Orange (yellow and just a tiny bit of red), yellow, and I used some green.
I didn’t use peanuts in my recipe, and found out quick that there is a technique to adding the candy corns! If added to the pot, they would all clump together in the bottom, so I ended up with balls with very few candy corns in them, and ones that were almost totally candy corns! Plus, they are so sweet! About 5 candy corns in one baseball size popcorn ball is the sweetness threshold for me. Any more and they were way too sweet! So tips #3, and 4— add in pieces of candy corn as you are forming the ball. I used my parchment lined sheet to pour some candies on so I would not be reaching into the bag with my nasty hands. Just insert a few pieces as you are forming the ball. I also sprayed a good amount of cooking spray on my parchment paper so I could just rub my hands in it. Your hands will get super sticky and greasy….so this is easier and cleaner that trying to use the can to add more spray to your hands! Oh, and one bag of candy corns is plenty! I have a lot left over!
Tip #5–These balls stick better as they cool, so if you are having a hard time getting them to stay in a ball, let them cool a bit and try again. I went back and squeezed them into tighter balls a couple of times as they sat and cooled.
I had planned on wrapping these in some cute gift bags that I bought, but the darn things wouldn’t fit through the opening! So tip #6, get large mouth treat backs, or decorative holiday wrap! I ended up just using a parchment paper base and wrapping in saran wrap. It works, but is not ideal. 
There you have it! Popcorn Balls! 🙂
Tuck & Sundry 
I chuckled to myself when I saw that you made popcorn balls since you're not a big fan of popcorn. I haven't had one in forever, but I think I'll stick to buying them instead of making them. Too tedious for me. Lol
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I'm not keeping any of them if that tells you anything. lol! They were more work than I anticipated since I had to make them in 3 batches. One batch only make 8 balls.
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I chuckled to myself when I saw that you made popcorn balls since you're not a big fan of popcorn. I haven't had one in forever, but I think I'll stick to buying them instead of making them. Too tedious for me. Lol
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I'm not keeping any of them if that tells you anything. lol! They were more work than I anticipated since I had to make them in 3 batches. One batch only make 8 balls.
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