Kid-Friendly Candy Apples

Rain, rain, and more rain...that was our weather forecast last week.  It was completely depressing, and totally frustrating, especially when you consider that I have two very active boys to try to keep entertained.  Naturally I turned to our fall to-do list for inspiration, and luckily there were a couple indoor options on there.  One was making caramel apples.
When I taught first grade, we used to make caramel apples with the kids each year (back in the days of teaching when you could actually do fun stuff!).  As much as the kids enjoyed it, they could never really get their little mouths into the apple and would usually just eat the toppings off.  Come to think of it, that's what I usually did too! So I was pretty certain my boys and their tiny mouths would most certainly have a hard time with a full-sized candy apple.   I looked to the internet for inspiration, and luckily, there was a really easy solution: a melon baller!  Using the tool, I was able to scoop out little balls of apple that were totally manageable for the kiddos.

We put the apple bites on lollipop sticks, melted the caramel, and set out some toppings for the boys to choose from (crushed Oreos, mini chocolate chips, M and M's, sprinkles, candy corn, and gummy bears...the last two were Colton's ideas). I did the caramel dipping because it was hot, but then the boys did the rest.

The boys really enjoyed making them, but even more so...obviously...they enjoyed eating them!

I would definitely recommend this candy apple method for kids...and grown ups for that matter.  The bite-size versions were much more manageable, just as tasty, and way cuter!