Just as a safety precaution, always have a large bowl or sink of ice water handy whenever you're working with any kind of boiling sugar syrup. If you get any on your skin, plunge it immediately into the ice water--if the hot sugar is allowed to stay on the skin you can get a third degree burn (it sticks, and the heat does not dissipate). I've seen it happen and had to treat it; trust me, it is not pretty. That said, can you skip the baking step and make it into popcorn balls when it cools down a bit? Excellent tip Margy, thanks for the safety reminder. Yes, you can absolutely make popcorn balls instead of drying/baking the corn in the oven. Just take care when working with the still warm corn, as pockets of caramel can be quite hot. Enjoy! ~ MaryJane

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