Shrunken Apple Heads (Halloween Craft)
Turn ordinary apples into spooky little faces that shrivel and shrink as they dry! These are intended to be used as decorations, not food!
Servings shrunken apple heads
Equipment
- vegetable peeler
- small paring knife
- large mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 4 apples Granny Smith worked great for me
- cold water enough to cover the apples
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon salt
- whole cloves optional, for eyes
- uncooked rice optional, for teeth
Instructions
- Fill a large mixing bowl with cold water. Add lemon juice and salt. Stir to combine.
- Peel the apples, removing as much skin as possible. You can leave a small amount of skin around the stem as a hat! Place the peeled apples in the prepared water mixture until you're ready to carve.
- Using a small paring knife, carefully carve faces into each apple. Create exaggerated features, as they will soften as they shrink. A vegetable peeler works well for carving out eye sockets. Keep your design simple, as finer details disappear as the apples dry.
- If desired, press whole cloves into the apples for eyes and dry rice for teeth.
- Place the carved apples on the baking sheet in a dry location where they can slowly dehydrate over 1-2 weeks. Check the bottoms every day to be sure moisture isn't collecting underneath them. (Alternatively, you could pop a skewer into the bottom and let them dry on a sunny window sill in a vase.)
- If you need to speed up the drying process, you can leave them on the baking sheet and pop the whole thing into an oven set to its lowest temperature (mine is 170°F) for about an hour each day. After the hour is up, turn off the oven but leave the door closed and allow the apples to continue drying inside. Repeat as necessary until the apples are thoroughly shriveled.
Cost: $3
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