Of all the homemade treats at Halloween, my favorite has always been popcorn balls. I usually foist these on my co-workers at Halloween, and give them to my friends’ children. Please note that The Critic Who Counts would never endorse giving out homemade Halloween treats to trick-or-treaters… that’s just lame. We give out the full sized candy bars around here.

These popcorn balls are just sweet enough to be truly satisfying without having that awful fake-candy taste of store bought popcorn balls. They’re messy but lots of fun to make with children or you can put the kids to bed early and have a little buttery grown-up fun.

Casey’s Popcorn Balls

1. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. Combine butter, honey, and sugar in a pot over medium heat; cook, stirring with a wooden spoon. When the mixture begins to boil, stop stirring, and cook until dark amber around the sides of the pan, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in milk and marshmallows until melted all together.

2. Pour caramel over popcorn in a huge bowl (or split among two). Mix with a wooden spoon to coat. Let the popcorn cool for a few minutes. Spray your hands with cooking spray and shape the mixture into 3-inch balls. Place on the baking sheets to cool for at least 15 minutes.

3. It’s nice to drizzle some melted chocolate on the balls, in my humble but deadly accurate opinion. Gild the lilly…

You can store the balls in an airtight plastic container, or wrap them individually in plastic wrap (orange is great, if you can find it!)

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