Don't we all try to have as much fun as we can while still being as healthy as possible? I think most of us do have those intentions. "If I have the Avocado Bacon Cheeseburger and fries, then I'll have a diet Coke instead of a regular sugary Coke." Right?!?! These Halloween Candy Covered Fruit Treats fall into that category; sure it's fruit, but it's covered with a crunchy sweet candy coating!
These fruit treats are pleasing to the eye and a lot of fun, after all, even the fruit is getting into costume for All Hallow's Eve! Candy corn that's really pineapple and bananas disguised as ghosts...your Halloween dessert buffet will be "dressed up" and ready for company.
I used the Wilton Candy Melts that are readily available at party stores and craft stores. Some grocery stores carry them, too.
For the candy corn pineapple and the banana ghosts you will need a 12-ounce bag of the orange melts and 2 bags of bright white melts. (I like the "Bright White" color better than the regular white.)
The best option is to start these the day before serving them because there is some freezing time involved. Freezing the fruit pieces first will help the candy coating stick better.
Try our Healthy Turkey Chili for dinner before serving these Halloween Candy Covered Fruit Treats for dessert. It's the perfect Halloween meal!
Halloween Candy Covered Fruit Treats - Costumed Fruit!
Ingredients
- ½ small fresh pineapple
- 4 bananas
- 32 lollipop sticks
- 1 12-ounce bag orange candy melts
- 2 12-ounce bags bright white candy melts
- 8 sets candy googly eyes
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or waxed paper.
- Cut the top off the pineapple and slice the outer peel from the fruit.
- Lay the pineapple on its side and make three ⅝" thick slices. Set the rest of the pineapple aside for another use.
- Cut one slice of pineapple in half then cut each half into quarters. You should have 8 triangles of pineapple from each of the 3 slices, for 24 total pieces.
- Slide a lollipop stick into the wide end of each triangle of pineapple.
- Lay the pops onto the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Peel a banana and cut the 2 ends off about 3-inches down. These will be your ghosts. Use the middle of the banana for a snack while you are working. When finished with the 4 bananas, you will have 8 "ghosts."
- Slide a lollipop stick into the flat end of each banana and lay these on the baking sheet.
- Put the baking sheet into the freezer for at least 2 hours, up to 12 hours.
- When the fruit is sufficiently frozen and you are ready to start dipping, melt the orange candy coating first, according to the package directions.
- Once the candy is melted and smooth, remove 4 of the pineapple skewers from the freezer.
- Instead of dipping the pineapple chunks into the chocolate, use the butter knife to spread the coating ⅔ of the way down the pineapple chunk on all sides, leave the bottom third of the fruit the plain yellow pineapple. The candy should freeze quickly to the fruit. Once the top ⅔ of the pineapple chunk is coated and dry, lay the pops back on to the baking sheet in the freezer and remove 4 more pieces. Repeat the candy coating process and the re-freezing. (If you dip the pineapple into the melted candy, you risk getting juice into the coating and that compromises the candy and makes it difficult to work with.)
- When all the pineapple chunks have the orange coating and are back in the freezer, melt the white candy coating until it is smooth.
- Remove 2 of the frozen banana pieces from the freezer. You can dip each banana into the candy or use a small butter knife to spread the candy coating onto the frozen banana. The butter knife gave me the result I wanted.
- The candy coating should freeze to the banana quickly. Once the coating is dry return the banana pops to the baking sheet in the freezer. Repeat with the remaining bananas.
- By this time, the orange candy on the pineapple should be dry and frozen. Take 2 pineapple pops from the freezer and use the small butter knife to spread the white candy onto the top ⅓ of the pineapple piece. Your pineapple chunk should look like a piece of candy corn!
- Return the completed pops to the freezer and repeat with the rest of the pineapple until you have 24 pieces of pineapple costumed as candy corn! They should remain in the freezer until ready to serve.
- Use the remaining melted white candy as "glue" to put the eyes on the banana ghosts. Return to the freezer until ready to serve.
- Once the fruit is all in "costume" freeze for no more than 4 hours before serving. Serve within 1 hour of removing from freezer.
- To serve, I bought the small hay bales in the Halloween section of our local craft store and stuck the pops into the hay.
Be a Gr8 Friend and tell us what you think!