During the years of my early childhood I was very skinny. My sister, Yammie, called me "Beanpole". I can remember getting very, very upset that she called me such an awful name. Now I would give a thousand cookies to hear her call me that again.
At age 13 I started binge-eating popcorn. I couldn't get enough of it. Hungry betwee
n meals? Make a bag of popcorn. Can't find anything to eat for lunch? Make a bag of popcorn. And every single night before I went to bed, I would make an entire bag of buttery, greasy, salty popcorn and stuff my face will I watched tv. I gained twenty pounds.
Well, a few years later I went through that horrible stage all girls go through where I actually gave a rat's toot about my appearance. Which stunk. The popcorn had to go. I lost some weight, bought some clothes that weren't from Christopher and Banks, and that lasted for about 2 years.
Popcorn remains my favorite snack, and I've found a much better solution than dieting. You just have to learn to suck in your tummy. Even when no one's looking. Even when you're sleeping. So you can hide the truth from everyone, even yourself. That you're a big, fat, popcorn loving animal.
Well, I decided to go the extra mile and make a popcorn ball. It's really very healthy, if you think about it in the right way. I mean, cinnamon is a very healthy spice. And it's made with a vegetable: Corn. See? You suck in that stomach and lie to yourself about what food group you're eating from, and you're well on your way to pretending to be fit!
But now, let's really dig into to these gooey, sweet and salty, succulent, cinnamon popcorn balls.
Cinnamon Chex Popcorn Balls
What you will need...
3/4 Cup Corn Syrup
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 Cup Butter (Room temp)
5 Cups Popcorn (1 microwave bag)
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
3 Cups Cinnamon Chex
What you will do...
Lay out a sheet of wax paper.
Pop the popcorn and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon over it, shake it up in the bag.
Measure out 3 cups of Cinnamon Chex, set aside.
In a medium/large pot melt together corn syrup, sugar, fluff, salt, and butter on high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and scraping bottom of pot with spatula.
Remove from heat.
Pour popcorn and Chex into pot and fold in with spatula until coated thoroughly.
Butter up your hands and form balls (If it's too hot and burns your hands, wait a minute, it won't run away.) place on wax paper.
Enjoy!
They make a really cute gift too! This is how I served them for debate night. (Which btw was way better than the Super Bowl. Hilarious)
