Hi Moms!
Every year, the church I work for does a NON SCARY Harvest Festival with candies and booths for kids as a safe alternative to trick or treating. It's free, it's fun, and it's my turn to come up with something extra fun and I need your help.
I am manning the caramel apple and apple cider booth. I am also making the apple cider and caramel apples. AAAHHHH!!!!
I have a name for the cider- Fresh Spider Cider.
What I don't have is a name for the caramel apples. OR a great, cheap caramel recipe.
The ladies in the office and I were tossing around names like Crunchy Ghoul Treats, etc, but it just doesn't roll off the tongue. PLEASE HELP, all you creative moms out there!
Is there something that you think your kids would just go nuts over? Some fun halloween name that is kind of spooky but still kid friendly? ALso, have you tried making your own caramel apples and was there a specific kind of caramel recipe or dip that you used? I do not have a candy thermometer, so I need as basic as possible.
Any and all ideas are accepted! Thank you so much for all of your help!
-E.
P.S. Hi Mommies- a great question- why spooky names if we are doing a non scary festival? Well, it's more that we prefer kids not wear scary costumes, like Freddie Krueger and bleeding cowboys with bullet holes, or the scream monster masks, etc- but we won't turn anyone away regardless of costume.
I know that I am searching for "spooky names", but it's more for fun- like boys wanting to eat dirt covered worms (gummy of course, with chocolate sprinkles) or the brownie mix dessert called a dirt cup. We don't want freak out scary, but we do want Halloween/Harvest. Thanks Mommies- sorry I didn't clarify that!
Hi Mommies! And thanks for all the great advice! The Harvest Festival went off without a hitch. The caramel apples were called Ghoul Drool Apples, and the cider was called Fresh Spider Cider. Next year we are changing the sign to Scaramel Apples. I think the kids basically saw caramel apples, though, and the sign didn't mean very much. =) LOL. Anyway, I was going to make my own caramel and was all set (found my candy thermometer!) and then realised just how much work 70 apples was going to be....so I enlisted my husband and brother in law to unwrap about a thousand pieces of caramel while I stirred, dipped, refrigerated, bagged, and ribboned the desserts. Needless to say, all this worry was for nothing. We were out 20 minutes before the festival was over, and everyone loved them. I think I was a bit over zealous as to home making treats, but after my energy returned, it was totally worth it to see kids excited to be at my booth. Thank you everyone for your input and your help. Moms always have the best ideas, and I appreciate you very much!
I would buy them if possible - you're a brave woman! Here is a recipe:
http://www.babycenter.com/209_caramel-apples_12600001_###...
More cost effective than convenient...
I love the names that have been suggested! Have fun :)
Call the carmel apples "Dragon Warts on a Stick"
How about Ogre Eyes on a stick? After you dip them in the caramel you could press one side of the apple into cookie crumbs to look like a pupil.
For making the caramel you've got two choices. Buy caramels and spend an hour unwrapping them or make caramel from scratch (cheaper but if you're not use to cooking candy it can be a little intimidating.) Here's a simple recipe I found online. http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/caramel_apples/
You can also buy caramel wraps for apples that take a lot less time. They are preformed caramel sheets that you wrap around the apple on a stick.
I like Scare-amel apples too
how about caramel critter craniums? when i made caramel apples i followed the recipe on the back of the bag of caramels. it was a long time ago so i dont remember the brand of caramels, but i do remember that they stuck like crazy to the wax paper i set them on!! have fun!
I have a recipe for caramel apples that I just had in my Pampered Chef October newsletter. Send me your email and I'll send you a copy. My email is ____@____.com.
I'll keep thinking of a name--I had one for my recipe and then I just went back to boring old Harvest Caramel Apples. I'll keep trying to think of one.
Have fun!
And Happy Anniversary! We're married 28 years this week! A great time to get married! :-)
L.
Ghouly Carmel Apples or Carmel Creatures?
From what I have heard, you just melt the caramel--like the little squares---and dip the apples! But I think there are "kits" at grocery stores also.
I don't really understand, if it is a non-scary "harvest festival", why you need scary sounding names at all...but what about Caramel Scaramel Sticks? Or just Scaramel Apples?
How about a play on the words girls and boys? Gouls and Boos (or Bats) Crunchy Yummies
Hi,
Here's another name idea; Ghoul Drooled apples. Have fun at your festival.
I like Rae W's "Scare-a-mel apples" suggestion.
Or maybe something like " gooey gooey gobble-ins"?
My 3 yr old boy gets a kick out of thinking we might drink poison when he gives us water. (Does that sound weird?) HOw about calling them poison apples? If you use a cheap caramel w/ high fructose corn syrup you're not really lying. I hear Cost-co has agood tasting caramel but I don't know the ingerdientsr
One of my teacher friends has an invertebrate party instead of a Halloween party for her students each year. All of her activities, snacks and costumes reflect the bug theme (bug juice--green food coloring in apple cider, etc.).
E.,
I have a recipe- you make the caramel at home. I have used it 3 times, and have tweeked it accordingly. No unwrapping candy, and not as expensive. You do need a candy thermometer but I think you can buy them at the grocery store in the kitchen utensil isle.
Lay out several peices of wax paper. Get a container or two of of jimmies (oblong candy sprinkles) in halloween colors, and a paper plate.
Buy 19 yery small apples ...about 2.5 inches accross. I like Fuji or Red ( I usually find them in 3 lb or 5 lb bags.)
wash and dry them, and put sticks in.
In a VERY large pot, boil the following, stirring constantly until it reaches 229 degrees:
1 C corn syrup
1 C milk
2 C sugar
2 C condensed milk
1/2 C heavy cream
If you start to see the carmel form brown chunks, remove from heat immediately.It's done, or overdone.
Add 2 t vanilla. heat to 240 (but not if chunking.)The caramel will not be as smooth on the outside if it chunks, but it is certainly salvageable!( Sprinkling candy on the outside will cover any problems!)
Using two people:
Quickly, person 1 rolls apple in sauce (cover up to the stick).Tilt pot if you need to. Hand it to person 2, who holds the apple sideways over a paper plate and sprinkles the jimmies over it as they turn it. (Putting them also on the bottom helps keep the apple from sticking to wax paper or apple wrapper.) put it on wax paper. let them dry a few to several hours.
ps...if your caramel starts to get hard before you are done dipping apples, heat it again slightly until it is pliable.
Once dry, you can wrap these in the plastic, fold over type small sandwich bags- they fit perfect. Put the apple in the baggie. take a pair of scissors and cut the side of the flap so that the fold actually unfolds, and matches up with the rest of the baggie at the top of the apple. Gather the baggie toightly around the stick, and tie with a piece of curling ribbon. Put a heavy paper stock tag on it that says the name of the treat, or "Happy Halloween". To move large qtys of these I like to cut down a large cardboard box so that the sides are 3 or 4 inches high. (you can even cut carrying handle holes in two opposite sides.) Then I cover it with halloween contact paper. You can put in a bit of colored basket "grass" to keep them from shifting, or just pack them a little tighter.
Good luck!
Gail
