Easy To Make Cocoa Popcorn Balls
You can jazz up the traditional popcorn balls with a great chocolate flavor. You can get a wonderful chocolate flavor from the blending of real cocoa, unsalted butter and evaporated milk in this recipe. Other ingredients that you will need include cider vinegar, corn syrup, salt and popped popcorn.
Less Salt For A Better Flavor
Use the right butter for this recipe. It is important to use unsalted butter if you want to get a sweet chocolate flavor. If you use a salted butter, you will get a chocolate flavor that is not as sweet and slightly salty. The little salt that is added to the coating recipe will enhance the dull flavor of the popcorn and will not overpower the cocoa flavor at all.
Pop The Popcorn
- Pop 1/2 unpopped popcorn according to the manufacturer's instructions. This will give you approximately 8 cups of popped popcorn, enough for this recipe. Remove the unpopped popcorn. Set aside the popped popcorn in a large bowl that will be large enough to use your hands to form balls from the coating syrup and popped popcorn.
Cocoa Coating Ingredients
- 1 1/4 Cup Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Cocoa
- 2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- Tiny Pinch Salt
- 3/4 Cup Corn Syrup
- 2 T Melted Butter
- 1/4 Cup Evaporated Milk
Instructions For Making The Cocoa Coating
- Blend the first five ingredients in a heavy saucepan.
- Turn the heat on to medium and add the melted butter. Continue to stir the mixture as it heats up.
- Gradually add the evaporated milk when the mixture comes to a boil.
- Continue to heat and stir the mixture. Do not let it stick to the bottom of the saucepan.
- Have a glass of cold water nearby. When the mixture becomes a syrup, drop a small bit of the mixture into the cold water. Take it out of the water and if the dropped mixture is a hard ball, the mixture is finished cooking. At this point, remove the coating mixture from the heat.
- Pour the hot mixture over the popcorn. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to coat all the popcorn.
- Use your buttered hands to form small balls from the coated popcorn.
- Wrap the finished cocoa popcorn balls in baggies or cellophane.
You will enjoy making this for your family and friends for those special occasions or just for a fun delicious treat. In addition to the popcorn, you can add raisins for a blend of chocolate and a fruit flavor. For a great variation on this recipe, use this cocoa coating on your favorite granola mixture for a fiber filled version.
