caramel apples

The yummiest playdate ever took place last week. There are three sisters here who, along with their mother, have become very good friends of mine and their children have become good friends with my children. Charlotte, Liam, and I wanted to invite our friends over and I thought a caramel apple project would be some great seasonal fun. Please keep in mind that I am the sort of mom who has all but banned playdough and finger paint; my proclivity for obsessive cumpulsive tidiness usually doesn't allow me to enjoy messy adventures. But for whatever reason, caramel apples and a small horde of preschoolers sounded like a really good combo for last week's Thursday afternoon.

And they really were! Charlotte and Liam unwrapped all the caramel candies for me and threw them in the crockpot. I added a little water and butter and about an hour later we had some great caramel. We used cookie crumbs and mini chocolate chips for dipping choices and the apple above was my favorite- Holly was careful to turn all of her apple around in the chocolate chips, whereas everyone else just dipped the bottom of their apples. Holly is my four year old kindred spirit.