Back in September I attended my first food conference, IFBC. It was fun to be at a food focused conference and I’m excited to try a few different ones this year. One of the sponsors was Bob’s Red Mill. I was already a fan of their Shredded coconut so when we got some Sorghum in our swag bags I was intrigued.
On the back of the bag is instructions for popped sorghum… Interesting… So of course I had to try it!
CHECK IT OUT!!!! Awww it’s so cute! It looks like barbie popcorn! Seriously my kids loved making this mini popcorn with me! It was easy, and let’s face it, everything is more fun in mini form.
ANYWAY, I decided I wanted to make caramel popcorn balls with our mini popcorn! I popped about half the sorghum bag and got about 5 cups of mini popped sorghum!! Of course this recipe tastes great on regular popcorn too! I made a half batch for my half sized popcorn!
We let the mini caramel popcorn cool a bit and then the girls helped me make small popcorn balls, it was messy but so much fun! We added skewers to them to make them fun pops! The kids loved eating them and thought they were a super fun after school treat!
Honestly this is my favorite caramel popcorn recipe because it stays soft longer than some that I’ve tried. I don’t like “break-your-teeth” caramel popcorn balls. But these? so cute and little and tasty! The small balls were perfect for just popping in your mouth and I think he ate like 5 of them!
using sorghum to pop mini popcorn and adding caramel to make mini popcorn balls is easy and so fun!
- 3 C sorghum
- 1/2 C butter
- 1/2 C light corn syrup
- 1 C packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 C granulated sugar
- 7 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C at a time add the sorghum to a small paper bag and fold over the top a few times
Cook in the microwave 2-3 mins (listen for the popping to slow down)
- bring butter, syrup, brown sugar and white sugar to softball stage (250 degrees)
add the milk and vanilla and boil 1 more min.
let cool slightly - so it doesn't shrink the popped sorghum
spread the popped sorghum into a large pan, pour half the caramel over.
stir the popped sorghum and add more caramel sauce if you need it
- let it sit a while and ball up if you want (or if you have any left)
Recipe Video
Mmmmm, AND high in fiber (I always try to find something “healthy” I can push when my husband teases me about all the treats I make). HA! Anyway they taste amazing.
Neighbor gifts and goodie plate recipes
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Spinning Cook
Love it!! Great twist on the sorghum, Ashlee, very creative! Will have to try. Wonder if the sorghum would taste good with my brown butter stovetop popcorn method. Ok, wheels turning…
Ryan
Ashlee
ohhhhh brown butter, mmmmm it probably totally would! Let me know how it goes!
Robin O
Great post and result from the popped sorghum. I am going to try the microwave method — the stovetop one did not work for me! I love these little caramel pops. I like the way you think Ashlee and so glad we got to meet in Seattle IFBC!
Ashlee
thanks so much! The microwave method worked so easily (and easy for my kids) that I haven’t even tried the stovetop method! And it was nice to meet you too! It was fun to be among other foodies!!
Kaylynn
Ok, so be honest here — how SOFT is this popcorn? Like, ooey gooey, or just not “break your teeth?” I’m in love with that mini popcorn. Must HAVE!
Ashlee
ooey gooey, they kept falling down the sticks! NOT break your teeth, eww!
Andi @ The Weary Chef
How very cool! I didn’t know you could pop anything but corn! Thanks for sharing this with us. Pinned!
Ashlee
I didn’t either! I was so intrigued when I read the back of the sorghum and found the recipe for popping them! I’m so glad I did! now I’m wondering what else can be popped!