Ingredients

• 8  cups popped popcorn
• 1  12.5-ounce bottle caramel ice cream topping
• 1  6-ounce package dried apricots, snipped
• 1  cup peanuts
•   Nonstick aluminum foil
•   Butter
•   Cellophane or plastic wrap

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Remove all unpopped kernels from popped popcorn. Put popcorn into a greased 17x12x2-inch baking or roasting pan. Pour ice cream topping over popcorn. Add apricots and peanuts. Stir gently to coat. Bake for 20 minutes. Stir mixture; bake 5 minutes more. Spread caramel corn on a large piece of nonstick foil to cool. Let stand for 5 minutes. While caramel corn mixture is still warm, form it into small balls with buttered hands, using about 1/4 cup of mixture for each ball. Wrap each ball in cellophane or plastic wrap.

2. To decorate the cellophane-covered popcorn balls, twist chenille stems to resemble bugs or other scary creatures. Affix plastic eyes to the chenille stems using crafts glue. Makes 16 popcorn balls.