For four weeks now we have been listening to our favorite Halloween song on the way to school each morning. All month our home has been decorated with ghosts and pumpkins and hanging bats, spider webs on the stair railing, and sparkly garland over the windows. Round and round we went with costume ideas before the final selection, and on Halloween morning I’ll dress him up, slick his hair back, paint his face in a skeleton grin and ask the world to please make way for a very special guy — my little pumpkin king.

This year we were invited to a Halloween party at the home of a new friend. Our little boys helped themselves to treats and snacks and chased each other through the house squealing with sugar-fueled glee — what a joy it is to have friends. We met family at Tsalteshi for their Spooktacular event and saw many familiar faces as we collected sweets and trinkets and played games in the chilly air. Although he is still too young to go door to door for trick-or-treating, we will take the king of the pumpkin patch down the road to Grandma’s house for some candy and kisses.

I feel so blessed to be a part of such a generous community and to be included and invited and welcomed wherever we go. When I get the chance, I try to return that kindness however I can … and that’s usually with food. The kids at school will be practically vibrating all week in anticipation of candy-coated revelry, so I decided to make some treats just for the teachers to help them match that energy. Popcorn balls are a classic Halloween treat and are an excellent addition to any party spread or potluck. I made three flavors: chocolate marshmallow, white chocolate candy corn, and salted caramel pretzel peanut.

Ingredients:

Popcorn- air popped. A large (8 oz) bag of pre-popped corn is easiest.

10 oz bag of mini marshmallows, in thirds, plus another 1 cup of mini marshmallows to mix in

1 cup candy corn

3 oz melted white chocolate

½ cup caramel sauce

1 stick unsalted butter, in thirds

4 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup crushed salted pretzels

½ cup roasted salted peanuts

Festive sprinkles, to taste/sight

Directions:

Take 1/3 of the butter and 1/3 of the marshmallows and combine them in a large, microwave safe bowl.

Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, put in for another 30 seconds, then stir until the butter has totally melted and the mixture is smooth.

For the caramel flavor, stir in the caramel before adding the popcorn.

Use a rubber spatula to fold in the popped popcorn. It will be very sticky so you might consider spraying the spatula with cooking spray first.

Fold in the solid ingredients: the pretzels and peanuts for the caramel flavor, the candy corn for the white chocolate flavor, the marshmallows for the chocolate flavor, and the sprinkles for all of them.

Fold in the melted semi-sweet chocolate for the chocolate flavor and stir well to coat.

Drizzle on the white chocolate for the candy corn flavor and stir to coat.

If you intend to share like I did, you’ll need to wear gloves while you form the balls. Spray the gloves with nonstick before you start.

Use your gloved hands to roll the mixtures into balls a little smaller than tennis balls. Drop each ball into a cupcake liner for easy distribution.

You can drizzle over extra chocolate for decoration and make sure to put some extra salt on the salted caramel flavor.

Cover and keep in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to serve.