S’mores Popcorn Balls

File under: “We Know, We Know, The Diet Starts Tomorrow”

It’s January. It’s New Year’s Resolution time. Well, guess what? These are about as far as you can get from any New Year’s Resolution unless said resolution is to “eat more butter and more marshmallows and more chocolate.”

Wait, that’s not your resolution? Oh well, SORRY I’M NOT SORRY.

Look, I get it, you want all the healthy recipes. So do I. And I promise, they’re coming. Later this week we’ll be talking about kale, and then next week we’ll be making homemade Larabar-esque treats. But not yet. No, first we have something to take care of, and that something is S’mores Popcorn Balls.

But hey, before you yell at me, let me share the wise words of Andrea, our lovely GTIYM photographer: “POPCORN IS A WHOLE GRAIN!”

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S’mores Popcorn Balls

Original recipe: Heat Oven to 350

Ingredients
10 cups plain popped popcorn
2 cups chopped graham crackers
1 cup chocolate chips
16 oz bag regular-sized marshmallows
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 oz melting/candy chocolate (I find this easier for melting & drizzling, but regular chocolate works too!)
pinch of salt

Take a large roasting pan (seriously, the largest one you have) and coat it with cooking spray. Then, toss the popcorn, graham cracker pieces, and chocolate chips together in the pan and set aside.

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter, marshmallows, and salt together and stir until smooth. Once it’s melted, remove it from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and then pour it over the popcorn in the roasting pan. Stir it all together so that the popcorn is as evenly coated as possible, and then set aside until it’s cool enough to handle without burning your little fingertips with super hot marshmallow sauce. This happens pretty quickly though, so don’t leave them for too long!

Once the popcorn mixture is cool enough to touch, coat your hands with cooking spray or butter, shape it into balls, and place the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Don’t worry too much about the size of your balls – I promise, there’s no magic ball size (TWSS?), so just make them however big you like!

After the popcorn balls have cooled completely, melt the remaining 2 oz of chocolate and drizzle it evenly over the balls. Let them sit at room temperature (or in the fridge) until the chocolate has set, after which they’re officially ready for mouth-shoveling.

Yes, mouth-shoveling.

Shhhh.