Fall treats for guests

[JBloggs]

I changed out the tablecloth to the Fall colors and autumn leaves centerpiece and of course at the store there was all sorts of Fall goodies to be had.
I have a wooden pumpkin so I bought a mixed bag of Fall candy (indiv wrapped) for the guest areas. I saw individ wrapped popcorn balls! Cool I thought I will buy those. We have tons of overseas visitors (even one room tonight) who may have never had them before!
Disclaimer I have never bought popcorn balls in my life, and in fact I rarely make them with one kid who has had braces for 3+ years - but now has them off! They had a box of 20 for $5 = .25 cents each. SCORE! So I bought two boxes.
At the check out the clerk says "I wish we could go back to making homemade stuff like homemade popcorn balls!" I said to her "If you want to make 40 of these and individually wrap then I will buy them from you instead."
Sheesh everyone is a critic!
Anyway, the guests can eat them or take them with for a snack on the road.

 

[seashanty]

fun!
just to mention, years ago there was a recipe for making popcorn balls in a "girls" magazine. i got all excited ... showed my mom ... who was a great cook. we made them (i was making she was helping) and what a mess! called for heating corn syrup and sugar and water on the stove to the right temp ... one slop of the goo and i was left to scrape hardened syrup off the stovetop and counter and another slop had me scraping it off a chair and the floor. you had to mix this with the popped corn ... not when it was too hot because it hurt your hands, but wait too long and it cooled too much and then you couldn't spread it over the popcorn and get them rolled into balls before the stuff hardened into other shapes. and cleaning out that pan!! this very ambitious recipe called for hiding little chocolate candies inside the ball. we never got that far.
we never made them again.
i'd happily buy 'em.

 

[Samster]

I made homemade caramel apples for afternoon treats in the Fall from time to time and some guests commented on them in a review. Little did they know that they super easy to make now that you can buy caramel that you don't have to unwrap each piece! Just a thought....

 

[JBloggs]

Yeah now you can make it in the microwave!
The same with the caramel apples, you microwave them and just fold them over the apples, way to go aye! It's CANDY APPLES I do not like. Caramel are great esp with green pippins apples...mmm

 

[Samster]

Yeah now you can make it in the microwave!
The same with the caramel apples, you microwave them and just fold them over the apples, way to go aye! It's CANDY APPLES I do not like. Caramel are great esp with green pippins apples...mmm.

I think the popcorn balls are a great idea....something different from the usual sweet snacks! Yep, I made the caramel apples with the tart apples. Yummy!

 

[JBloggs]

DH just got in and is making a cuppa and saw the popcorn balls. I was vacuuming and he walked in and said "These are weird, how are you supposed to eat them in this shape!?"
Where is the throwing the hands in the air smiley signifying "I give up"

that will do for now.

 

[MTLLodge]

Did you get them at Wally World? If you did I have had them, not too bad. But they're nothing like the homemade ones. There was this one lady on our block where I grew up and every year she would make these for Halloween. Her's were the best!

 

[Pollyanna]

fun!
just to mention, years ago there was a recipe for making popcorn balls in a "girls" magazine. i got all excited ... showed my mom ... who was a great cook. we made them (i was making she was helping) and what a mess! called for heating corn syrup and sugar and water on the stove to the right temp ... one slop of the goo and i was left to scrape hardened syrup off the stovetop and counter and another slop had me scraping it off a chair and the floor. you had to mix this with the popped corn ... not when it was too hot because it hurt your hands, but wait too long and it cooled too much and then you couldn't spread it over the popcorn and get them rolled into balls before the stuff hardened into other shapes. and cleaning out that pan!! this very ambitious recipe called for hiding little chocolate candies inside the ball. we never got that far.
we never made them again.
i'd happily buy 'em..

Here is a link to a super easy and yum yummy way to make the popcorn balls:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/marshmallow-popcorn-balls/Detail.aspx
The comments contain some variations. Nothing tastes as good as fresh!
And BTW, this time of year, I break out our pumpkin pecan praline pancakes, served with maple sausages and a poached asian pear with dried cranberries in the hollowed out middle. LOVE all the pumpkin muffins, tarts, bar cookies etc, but I only make them in the Fall and winter.

 

[sandynn]

I go to the local orchard and buy fresh carmel apples. The guests love them and think they have gotten a big treat.

 

[JBloggs]

Speaking of popcorn... I just blew my kids minds, I made popcorn on the stove.

 

[Emily Spiers]

Speaking of popcorn... I just blew my kids minds, I made popcorn on the stove..

Speaking of popcorn... I just blew my kids minds, I made popcorn on the stove.

That's too funny! Our kids love it when we make popcorn on our woodstove in the winter time.

 

[JBloggs]

Oh yeah they loved it awright. Mom gave me this fancy popper which is so much work to clean and the popcorn is not that great in it, we resorted back to Orville's simply salted again in the microwave.

 

[Samster]

Oh yeah they loved it awright. Mom gave me this fancy popper which is so much work to clean and the popcorn is not that great in it, we resorted back to Orville's simply salted again in the microwave..

Someone gave me JiffyPop popcorn that pops on the stove for my birthday a couple of years ago with some movie passes. I haven't seen that around in awhile though. It actually wasn't bad as I recall.

 

[One Day]

Oh my goodness.................stove top...........I'm gettin flash backs to childhood
Not talking about Jiffy Pop..............big pot 1/8 inch of oil on the bottom, popping corn to the top of the oil...............side pot melting butter..............life was good then.

 

[Samster]

Is it getting to be Fall? You would never know here! Ack!

 

[Morticia]

Oh my goodness.................stove top...........I'm gettin flash backs to childhood
Not talking about Jiffy Pop..............big pot 1/8 inch of oil on the bottom, popping corn to the top of the oil...............side pot melting butter..............life was good then..

Vivid memory from when I was a teen and my brother was maybe 9 or so...I decided to make popcorn for us and got the pan all heated up on the stove. Took the lid off and the pan flashed over, fire shot out. I grabbed the lid, slammed it back on the pan and yelled for my brother to open the door. I ran outside with pan and left it on the gravel patio.
Dumb, I know. I never should have run with the pan but the ceilings in that old house were LOW.

 

[Proud Texan]

Is it getting to be Fall? You would never know here! Ack!.

Is it getting to be Fall? You would never know here! Ack!

I feel your pain! Is it possible to have humidity of 120%? ACK, ACK!