Making Robin Caramel Popcorn Balls

When I bought my Christmas hamper online, using shopping vouchers that I'd won in a competition, I had a few pounds left over so I used them on a fun-looking kids' cookery kit from Pelican Bay for Robin Caramel Popcorn Balls. It was the perfect entertainment for a wet, windy Wednesday afternoon.

Inside the kit, I was impressed to see there were lots of interesting looking ingredients : some mini marshmallows, mini chocolate drops, candy beaks, red sugar, brown sugar, popcorn kernels and plastic sticks.

First you need to make the caramel by melting the brown sugar, marshmallows and a little butter. This made a lovely gooey sauce, but it sets quite quickly so, with hindsight, I'd have done better to pop the popcorn first, rather than follow the order on the instructions. Although we quite often make popcorn in the microwave, this was the first time we'd done it properly in a pan which the kids thought was hilarious !

Once the popcorn is ready, you just add the caramel, mix it up then squish it into balls and insert the sticks. (Easier said than done !)

This is the illustration on the pack.

And this was our best attempt. Very cute but the caramel holding the popcorn balls together was all on the inside so there wasn't enough stickiness for the red sugar to stick to.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating though and these little critters certainly didn't hang around for long - they were scoffed within minutes !

It's a fun little project and one that you could easily recreate even without the kit. I'm wondering what other animals we could make out of popcorn now !

Head on over to the fabulous Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons linkie for more ideas :)

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Making Flowerpot Bread from The Kids Only Cookbook

Book review : Make Your Own Woodland Creatures - Clare Youngs

Interplay My Style Pick 'n' Mix Jewellery kit review