Easy Halloween Snacks: Candy & Caramel Apple Bites and Mummy Dogs

(UPDATE: I've posted more from O's party! Don't miss our healthy caramel apple muffins, JD's homemade strong man costume, toddler craft table, O's DIY Baby Lion Costume & my reflection on O turning 1 and how JD handled it.)

Candy & Caramel Apple Bites

I have been scouring Halloween editions of magazines and Pinterest for easy Halloween snacks to serve at O's first birthday party.  Here are a couple I've practiced recently.

First, I attempted bite-sized caramel apples. I had seen this pin that involved a melon baller and drizzled caramel, and that sounded too complicated for me! 

So I planned to cut the apples into bite-size chunks and dip them in melted butterscotch chips.

It was all going well until I got to the melting part.  It is definitely not as easy as the directions on the bag make it seem!  I burned the first 2 batches (melting in my microwave was NOT working & on the stove requires A LOT of attention).  For my third attempt, I constantly stirred while I melted them in a double boiler until it was smooth.  But when I took it off the heat, it immediately started thickening.  I couldn't put it back on the heat & dip, because if I stopped stirring, it burned.

So it ended up pretty lumpy, but very yummy.


Since that wasn't the look I was going for, I picked up these mixes at the store hoping to simplify things.

Take 2!

I read a tip to dry the apple pieces to help the caramel stick, but caramel did still pool at the bottom a bit more than I would like.  I'm going to try using less next time to make it lighter. 

The candy hardened nicely, and the pieces are much easier to eat than a whole candy apple.

For O's party, I'm going to decorate the sticks with witch printables (found here & shrunk to 25%).

And even easier are the Mummy Dogs (another idea from a pin).  You just cut hot dogs in half, wrap them in Pillsbury breadstick dough, and bake according to the breadstick directions.  I sprinkled garlic salt & garlic powder on top before I baked them & finished them off with food coloring eyes.

Aren't they cute?

Any other pins I should be trying out?

My 38th Week in Droid Pics

This post is super late, but I've gone 37 weeks, and I don't want to give up now!  I feel like I'm always saying we had a crazy week, but this one was special.  Sandwiched in between two of Hubby's business trips, we took the boys to NYC for 6 days.  He met us at the end of our second day there and went straight to the airport as we were on the train headed home.  Somehow while we were there, it became October, and all those things that seemed so far away were OMG TODAY!


I think I bit off a bit more than I could chew in thinking I could still get a bunch of projects done at night in our quiet hotel room after the boys were sleeping.  Why did I think they would sleep?  Especially the toddler who would be lying in the super exciting, big, jumpable bed right next to mine?  Thank goodness my mom stayed with us the first night while Hubby was still away, or I may have completely lost my mind.


Anyway, here's our week!

Sunday

Hubby left for a business trip this day, so he let me sleep in a bit & brought me breakfast before he left.  And I still think he owes me.

I took the boys to a Christening party.  We were seated with 3 child-less adults who were really good at pretending to be excited to sit with these guys and their lone parent.

I caught O putting the blocks into the box & then dumping them out- over & over.  I love that he can occupy himself!

Monday

Couldn't find rubber gloves, so I used a newspaper bag over my hand to dye the shirts for JD's Halloween costume.

I'm choreographing a HS production of Pippin (Yay Fosse!), and when you get me on your audition panel, you also get my boys.  JD is still talking about the dancing & asking me to sing the song.  "We've got magic to do..." over & over & over.

My kid is a hoarder.

 Tuesday

I was trying really hard to get this guy ready for picture day & out the door on time

but this was going on in the backyard.  Seriously,  I called about the dead trees over a year ago.  Couldn't they come on a day that we were stuck at home? It would have been like free babysitting.

 Wednesday

JD "sat" with Grandma on the train.

A long walk on the Highline wore him out.

O was super excited to be in charge of the map.

And I was super excited about the tapas bar in our hotel.  Yummy guacamole and margaritas for happy hour!

Walking around the block until they fell asleep and then transferring them to bed/crib sounded like a great plan, except I got tired way before they did.  But I couldn't be mad because they were giggling at each other, and that is just too cute.

 Thursday

We visited the 9/11 Memorial.  

Taking in the view from the top of the Empire State Building

 Friday

Hubby arrived & we took a long walk to Central Park to go to the zoo.

And that walk included a stop at Godiva.

We met my bff for dinner and all had a good laugh at JD tossing pennies into the Madison Square Park fountain.  When we asked what he was wishing for, he answered, "more monies".

 Saturday

We spent the day at the American Museum of Natural History.

The rest of our trip will be continued next week.  I hope you've already checked out Amy's post, where I am linking up.  

Wordless Wednesday: Then & Now

6/30/10

9/30/11