The Mexican stone ground chocolate from Taza is exciting enough in its purest form, but as they say, it’s what you do with it that counts. This crunchy, creamy salty-sweet dessert just about knocked our socks off. What makes everyday caramel popcorn ball out-of-this-world sensational? It’s the liberal coating of Taza 85% organic stone ground dark chocolate. It doesn’t matter if you’re 9 or 99, you’ll have a ball mixing and crunching and coating and sprinkling. Then grab yourself a skewer, stab a chocolate caramel popcorn ball right where it counts and stuff it in your mouth with glee.
Makes 15 popcorn balls
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
pinch of salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 stick butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 bars of your Taza chocolate, chopped
Wood skewers or popsicle sticks
Sprinkles, to garnish
To Prepare:
1. Grease a large mixing bowl with oil or kitchen spray. In a large lidded pot with the lid on, heat vegetable oil, popcorn, and pinch of salt over high heat with while continuously shaking the pot and listening for popping. Remove from heat when popping is less frequent than every 3 seconds and pour into greased bowl.
2. In a saucepan combine sugar, brown sugar, honey, and butter over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until temperature reaches 300 degrees measured on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and carefully add baking soda (be careful, the sugar will bubble and expand!), then pour over popcorn carefully using a spatula to toss and coat the popcorn.
3. When popcorn is cool enough to handle, but still warm, wet hands and form the popcorn into balls, sticking each one with skewers or popsicle sticks.
4. Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl, then place on top of a bowl of simmering water until chocolate is warm and melted then drizzle over popcorn balls. Top with sprinkles if desired. Allow to cool before serving.
Once you’ve downed enough Chocolate Caramel Popcorn Balls to satiate a small country, check out some other ways to make the most of these gritty and glorious organic Mexican chocolate discs. The Tazans (as Taza fans are commonly known) are fiercely tweeting their gluten-free stone ground chocolate recipes as we speak. Check out #madewithtaza or visit Candy Bar Sydney’s blog to find out more.
Taza Mexican Chocolate Caramel Popcorn Balls Recipe