20 cups popped popcorn (discard any unpopped kernels)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp distilled white vinegar1 1/4 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini semisweet OR white chocolate chips

preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

put the popped corn in a large heatproof bowl and place in the oven to keep crisp.

in a small heavy sacuepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, salt, and vinegar and cook over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. stir, and continue cooking until the mixture reaches 250 degrees (firm ball stage) on a candy thermometer. stir in the vanilla.

pour the hot syrup over the hot popped corn in a slow steady stream. mix well, stirring and tossing with a wooden spoon, until all the corn is coated with the syrup, then mix in the chocolate chips. with clean hands, shape the popcorn mixture into balls about 3″ in diameter (the size of a baseball). set on a platter or sheet of waxed paper to firm up.

makes 18-20 balls