Food & Cooking Recipes Drink Recipes Shrunken Heads in Cider 4.0 (190) They're delightfully creepy and surprisingly easy to make. Prep Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 2 hrs Total Time: 3 hrs Servings: 30 Jump to recipe For the ultimate Halloween party sip, make these shrunken apple heads in cider. They're surprisingly easy to pull off. This spooky recipe comes from viewer Allison DiNatale. Be sure to seek out Granny Smith apples, which are extra firm and crisp and will be the easiest to carve. Use a sharp paring knife, melon baller, or the end of a chopstick to carve out features like gaping eye sockets and mouths frozen mid-scream—the creepier the better! They’ll need a couple of hours in a low oven, or a dehydrator if you've got one, before they're ready to use. Once dried, whip up our easy two-ingredient cider punch and float the apples on top. Spooky, fun, and so very festive, these shrunken apple heads are sure to startle and delight all night long. Our Favorite Recipes for the Best Halloween Menu Ever Credit: Jason Donnelly Choosing Apples for This Recipe A crisp, firm apple like Granny Smith is the est choice for carving as its flesh is more likely to hold its shape as it dries. If you can't find Granny Smiths, use a similarly crunchy apple like Honeycrisp or Gala. Larger apples will be easier to carve, but smaller ones will fit more easily into glasses, so choose whichever feel right for your needs. Equipment Needs Gather the following pieces of kitchen equipment to pull off this ghoulish garnish. Peeler: Peeling the apples before carving will give them a more life-like appearance. We like a Y-shape peeler, which removes wide strips of apple peel easily and efficiently, but a standard straight peeler will work just as well. Carving tools: You'll need a paring knife, melon baller, or a chopstick to carve features into each apple half. If desired, you can use a toothpick or skewer to sketch out the features before carving. Medium bowl: Grab a medium-size mixing bowl to combine the lemon juice, water, and salt. It should be deep enough to submerge a few apple halves at a time, so don't reach for anything too wide or shallow. Baking sheets: To avoid crowding the apples, split the batch between two parchment-lined baking sheets or cookie sheets. 3 Key Tips for Making Shrunken Apple Heads Peel as you go: To help keep the apples from browning, or oxidizing, only peel and carve one to two apples at a time, repeating the process as you go. The longer they sit before carving and soaking, the more quickly they'll discolor. Break out the melon baller: If you have a melon baller handy, reach for it for this recipe. It'll make carving dramatic features into the apples extra easy and help the process go more quickly. Don't skip the soak: The citric acid in the lemon juice helps to prevent browning while the salt works to draw out excess moisture as the apples dehydrate. It may seem like an unnecessary step, but it's worth it for the end result. While we nearly always prefer the flavor of freshly squeezed lemon juice, this is one instance where you won't notice the difference, so feel free to pick up a bottled version to cut down on prep work. Directions Credit: Jason Donnelly Preheat oven and prep baking sheets; make soaking mixture: Preheat oven to 250°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together water, lemon juice, and salt; set aside. Peel and halve apples; carve faces: Working with a couple at a time, peel apples and cut each in half through the stem; remove seeds and core. Using a sharp paring knife or melon baller, carve a face, as desired, on the rounded side of each apple half. Credit: Jason Donnelly Briefly place in lemon mixture: Place apples in lemon mixture for one minute; transfer to paper towels to drain. Credit: Jason Donnelly Leaving the apples in the lemon mixture for longer than a minute can make them overly sour and salty, so keep an eye on the time as they soak. Bake carved apples: Place apples, face-side up, on prepared baking sheets and transfer to oven. Bake until apples are dry and begin to brown around the edges, 2 to 3 hours. Credit: Jason Donnelly Credit: Jason Donnelly Add clove eyes to apples: Remove apples from baking sheets and press cloves into the "eye" sockets. Credit: Jason Donnelly Make punch and add heads: Combine cider, lemonade, and rum (if using) in a large punchbowl; float shrunken heads on top. How to Store The apple heads can be made up to one day before they will be served. Refrigerate them, covered, on a baking sheet or in an airtight container until you're ready to use them. Variation Instead of the cider-lemonade punch above, try floating these shrunken apple heads in a pot of chai-spiced apple cider, our warm cider and rum punch, or a spine-chilling red sangria. 5 More Spooky Halloween Recipes to Try Halloween Graveyard Ice Cream Pie Spiderweb Eggs "Broken Glass" Cupcakes Prosciutto-Wrapped Fig Hearts Crisp Candy-Corn Treats Updated by Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds Esther Reynolds is an experienced recipe developer, recipe tester, food editor, and writer with over a decade of experience in the food and media industries.