{mini desserts} ice cream apples

it's the first day of a new school year.

let's celebrate with an adorable mini-sized treat...

these adorable little creations came about when i had to come up with an alternative plan for the original idea i had in my mind for our "back-to-school" dinner last night.

i had hoped to make THESE apple cupcakes as a special surprise dessert for my girls.

when i realized there was no time for baking, i quickly went to "plan B".

they were a hit!

and they were pretty simple to make.

they are a little messy...but oh so easy!

i especially love the "bitten" apples...

here are some of the ingredients you'll need...

(you can get creative and come up with some alternative things - i just happened to have each of these in my pantry).

and here's the entire process...for those interested in recreating these!!

cute, right?

i love it when a first plan fails only to be led to an even better idea...

it happens to me ALL of the time! *wink*

KEEPING IT REAL

picture #4 are the "ice cream apples" i made for the girls last night...

i made another batch this morning, tweaking some of the techniques.

Notice the difference in the "finish" of the sugar crystals between picture #4 and the rest of the pictures.

If you let your ice cream become too soft, the sugar crystals dissolve and you end up without a "glitter-crystal" finish.

I don't think it matters much - both versions are pretty darn cute!

oh! and the rest of our back-to-school dinner consisted of:

fried chicken

corn on the cob

mashed potatoes (these were supposed to be a potato salad but me getting side-tracked led to them becoming too soft).

biscuits

& HOMEMADE LEMONADE!! delish!!!

(thanks kfc for the chicken, corn and biscuits)...it made dinner prep a cinch! *wink*

The girls LOVED it - we never eat kfc - so this was a surprise treat for them.

and it was also j's idea as i was fretting over what to make.

i thought it was the perfect way to bring summer to a close...