Pumpkin Popcorn Balls

by Melody Thacker, in Recipes (No Comments)

Need to make a Halloween treat that’s gluten-free? Popcorn balls are gluten-free and can easily be made to look like pumpkins. Simply add food coloring to the sugar syrup and your popcorn ball can be any color you like. Since orange is a color associated with Halloween, it is a great way to make pumpkin-shaped snacks.

Children who have celiac disease, or gluten intolerance, often feel left out when it comes to party food. This is a gluten-free treat you can make that can be enjoyed by those with gluten intolerance as well as all the rest of your guests. This is a treat that was once commonly eaten during the fall months. Here is a great recipe for you to try.Let your children help with the decorating, they have great imaginations.

Pumpkin Popcorn Balls

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup of butter
•  1/3 cup of water
• Watkins red and yellow natural food coloring to create the right shade of orange
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of Watkins vanilla extract
•  3 cups of air-popped popcorn
• Icing, candy, Watkins chocolate sprinkles if desired

Instructions:

Using an air popper, make three cups of popcorn and set this aside.

In a heavy saucepan, add the sugar, corn syrup, butter, water, food coloring, and salt. Set the temperature to medium. Stir this constantly until all of the sugar dissolves.

Allow the mixture to come to a boil. Let the syrupy mixture boil until it reaches 228 to 230 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer. This is called the “soft ball” stage.

Once it has reached this stage, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Next, pour the mixture over the popcorn you had prepared earlier. Stir this until all of the popcorn is uniformly covered.

Allow the popcorn to cool until you can easily touch it without being burned. Take some of the popcorn and roll it into a ball. Set it aside. Repeat this until you have all the popcorn shaped into balls.

You can decorate each ball with black icing, candy,  chocolate sprinkles, or whatever you like. Create jack-o-lantern faces that are either scary or funny or let your imagination go wild.  Let the kids help with the decorating!

Children, or adults, who suffer from celiac disease, may not be able to eat all the same things as their friends and family who don’t have this disease. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy Halloween treats. Making pumpkin popcorn balls will allow them a treat they can eat as well as something you can give share with others.