Thursday, September 18, 2008

Just in time for Halloween...


How to make Shrunken Heads.

Made from dried apples, these shrunken heads can be used as place cards for a Halloween dinner, suspended over a doorway or skewered on dirty dowel rods in the front yard.

Ingredients:
Several Granny Smith apples
Whole cloves
Handful of dry rice
1/2 cup of lemon juice
2 tsp. salt
Snips of wig hair

Tools:
Small bowl
Large spoon
Small paring knife or potato peeler
Wire rack
Bamboo skewers

In a small bowl prepare a mixture of the lemon juice and 2 teaspoons of salt. Peel apples and coat with mixture to prevent browning. Use the peeler or the knife to carve out eye sockets, a nose, mouth and ears. You'll want to create large facial features as the apple will shrink in size.

To create the eyes, place whole cloves into each eye socket. Insert dry rice into mouth cavity to make teeth. To accelerate the drying process, place the apples in an oven at the lowest temperature for a few hours. Keep an eye on the apples as you don’t want to cook them. Remove apples from the oven and place on a wire rack in a warm, dry place for about 2-3 weeks.

After the apples are dry, add snips of wig hair. Wrap hair around the sharp tip of a bamboo skewer and insert tip into apple. The hair should stay in place, if it appears loose add a drop of glue and allow to dry.

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