Olympic Medal Popcorn Balls (+ Giveaway!!) (CLOSED)

Are you guys watching the Olympics? Are you a casual watcher or completely obsessed? Growing up, Elsie and I were probably more on the obsessed side, especially when it came to gymnastics. I’ve always loved to watch all the diving competitions as well. Some of the heights they dive from are just unbelievable to me (but I’m very afraid of heights, admittedly). This year I’ve been a little more of a casual viewer, just catching highlights and watching some on the weekends mostly. Either way, it’s hard not to get swept up in all the Olympic-fever-feelings (as I call it) because it’s just so inspiring to watch people break records and compete to be the best in the world. Plus rooting on your country is always a blast – go team USA!

In honor of the summer games, we worked with CVS Snacks. I’m particularly impressed with their Gold Emblem Abound line of snacks. I got to try their Heavenly Light Popcorn, which I used to make these treats, and I also tried and loved their Jalapeño Cheddar Quinoa Puffs. The Gold Emblem Abound line has lots of lighter snacking options, and we’ll tell you more since we will be giving away a big goodie bag of them at the end of this post. So stayed tuned!

These snack medals are a super fun and easy treat you could make for an Olympic viewing party or other get together soon. I’ve got a few tips for how to make these come together lightning fast – like, we’re talking Usain Bolt fast!

OK, maybe not that fast, because that’s like, really, really fast. But these do come together quickly. Here’s how to make your own.

Olympic Medal Popcorn Balls, makes 10 (You can easily adjust the following measurements to make more or less depending on what you need.)

1/4 cup butter
1 bag (10 oz.) marshmallows
4 oz popped popcorn, approximately 8 (0.5 oz) bags of Heavenly Light Popcorn
wax paper
nonstick cooking spray
gold and silver edible color mist
flexible wire
patriotic ribbon

Before you begin, wash and cut the wire into 10 to 12 inch pieces. One piece for each medal you plan to make. This is going to go inside our popcorn ball, so that’s why we want to ensure it’s clean before use. The wire I used I purchased from the jewelry section of a craft store. Just look for something bendable.

Cut the butter into 4 pieces and place in a large pot, the larger the better. I used a big stock pot and this worked well. Melt over low/medium heat. Once the butter is nearly melted, add the marshmallows and stir with a wooden spoon until the marshmallows are nearly all melted. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the popcorn. Take care to make sure the marshmallow mixture gets evenly distributed throughout. This is the (delicious) glue that holds everything together, so make sure it gets on all of the popcorn pieces.

Plop all the popcorn onto a surface covered in wax paper. As soon as it is cool enough to handle (this took less than a minute for me), remove about a cup of the mixture to a small piece of wax paper coated in nonstick cooking spray, add a piece of wire to the center and wrap the wax paper around the popcorn, pressing into a ball. Remove to a cutting board covered in wax paper.

Now spray the popcorn balls with the gold or silver color mist. This can get a little messy. I found that doing this in my sink is best so the extra mist sticks to the inside of the sink, and I can easily clean that afterward. So move your cutting board with the wax paper and prepared popcorn balls to the sink and then spray away. Check your packaging for directions to see if you need to shake the can first or anything else.

Now wrap the wire around the back of the medal and loop into place. Then use the rest of the wire to create a small circle for your ribbon to go through. Cut your ribbons and assemble the medals.

This might go without saying, but since this is the Internet, I’ll go ahead and say this: clearly there is wire inside the popcorn balls. So you’ll want to remove this before consuming. The wire allows the popcorn balls to hang from ribbon, like Olympic medals, but it will easily slide out when you are ready to eat these. Just undo your work and pull the wire. It will slide right out. If you decide to make these for children, use your best judgement on whether they can be safely enjoyed. I don’t think these would be suitable for all ages as the wire could pose a choking hazard if you served these to children too young to understand that the wire must be removed before eating.

Here’s the back of one of my medals – you can see how the wire loops around the back, and then you just twist the top together so it stays in place.

That’s it – see… super quick, right? I really don’t consider myself to be much of a novelty dessert maker, which means if I can whip these up, then anyone can. Plus these are super FUN to make (and eat)! 🙂 Now for that giveaway, all you have to do is enter your information below and you could win a snack pack courtesy of CVS Pharmacy! It’s filled with all kinds of delicious treats. Enjoy!

CVS Abound Snacks Giveaway

Giveaway is open until 8/25/16, and the winner will be contacted directly. Good luck!

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman

A Beautiful Mess Giveaway Rules