Creepy Christmas: Creepy Chocolate Apples

It is now December and the month of Christmas has begun. The holiday jingles that are stuck in my head, the ridiculous family movies being launched at me like a horde of zombies at every turn and weather that is freezing cold but not polite enough to produce snow that settles have already started. Okay, so I haven't actually been subjected to any Christmas movies so far, due to playing 'Left 4 Dead 2' too much, and I really do like cold weather, but that's not the point.

The point is that for those of us that don't want to sing carols and hear about all the deals on useless things that "MUST END SOON!!" but have been advertised - with snow and Santa Claus - since July, there should be an alternative. So for that reason, on this blog at least, we'll be having a Creepy Christmas instead! This will consist of a series of posts about spooky food, creepy (but not scary) movies, alternatives to traditional decorations, macabre music, unusual presents and everything else in between. Of course, since it's Christmas, we'll try to keep these posts largely 'family friendly', but don't worry, we'll include posts for grown-ups too, in addition to our usual content as well!

So, first up, just to reinforce the fact that "Creepy Christmas" is in no way just a thinly veiled excuse for us to participate in Halloween activities again, creepy chocolate apples (ignore that it says Halloween on the kit box...heh).

 Dr. Oetker's Halloween Apple Decorating Kit is insanely easy and quick to use and is also highly customisable. The kit itself includes:

• Chocolate buttons
• 4 edible paper faces
• Black & white sugar strands
• 4 lolly sticks

The apples you use should probably be small to medim sized, as I used four large apples and there was only enough chocolate included for three of them. However, I did make four by adding extra chocolate, but only took photographs of the ones I made with the kit. If you don't have the kit, just use as much chocolate as you need for the apples you have and use candy, slices of fruit/dried fruit or icing to make the faces.

Step 1

Melt the chocolate by placing it in a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan of hot, but not boiling, water. Using a more open, shallow bowl will be easier when you come to dip the apples in it.

Step 2

Remove the stalks of the apples and push a lolly stick through each of them (through the stalk end)

Step 3

When the chocolate is melted and smooth, roll each apple in it and decorate them with the sugar strands and faces. Make sure the chocolate is smooth and not getting to hot (it will start to cook) or too cold (it will start to set) as it's much easier to get a good finish on the apples that way. The chocolate I used on the apple in the first picture had begun to set. 

Then all you need to do it put the finished apples in the fridge to set and you're done. Simple! For a more Christmas feel, you could use red and green sugar strands instead.