Popcorn Balls & Halloween Fun
Don’t you feel like Fall in general is a time to gather together? It seems to be the season of all sorts of gatherings, from tailgating at a sporting event or building bonfires for s’mores making. Or pumpkin painting/carving parties, as well as costumed get-togethers for Halloween.
As Halloween is upon us, I always think about how we spent the holiday when my sister and I were young. We grew up in a conservative church where celebrating Halloween was not generally considered a good thing, but an annual Fall Festival was acceptable and fun. The church would put together booths with games and prizes and candy for families to enjoy. We would go from booth to booth, gathering goodies, or enjoying other activities like the cake walk or bobbing for apples.
Before going to the fall festival but after we had gotten all dressed up, we would go to visit our great grandparents to show them our costumes. I grew up in the Long Beach area where my Dad was born. His parents met in high school and their parents lived in the same houses for years and years. I never questioned that I grew up with my great-grandparents attending my church plays and recitals and that we often spent holidays at their houses. It was just how it was, and I didn’t realize it wasn’t normal for everyone else.
I distinctly remember my Great-Grandma Goossen would always have popcorn balls waiting for us on Halloween. It was a special treat that we didn’t get any other time of the year. She would make a special popcorn ball for each of us and they seemed to be huge mounds of sugary yumminess that were almost impossible to imagine eating. I remember thinking they were huge but in retrospect, they must have been quite normal and my hands were quite tiny.
This year I have been thinking about Grandma Goossen and craving popcorn balls for Halloween and I tried making them for the first time. I don’t have her original recipe but I used this recipe as a starting point and made it my own. I hope you love these fall popcorn balls as much as I did!
Fall Popcorn Balls
Ingredients
One bag of lightly salted or unsalted popcorn, popped
6 tablespoons of butter
1 and 1/2 bags of mini marshmallows OR 12 ounces of mini marshmallows
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
½ a tablespoon of vanilla
Dash of cinnamon
Directions:
In a large pot, melt butter over medium/low heat. As butter melts, add brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Mix together.
Add in the marshmallows, stirring from time to time as they melt.
Once the mixture is melted, remove from heat and stir in popped popcorn with a wooden spoon. Set aside to cool.
Once cool, butter up your hands and form the popcorn balls. Place on wax paper.
Let me know what you think in the comments! Do you have any memories you come back to every fall? What are the recipes that make you think of this time of year?