Apple Gumballs for Teacher

August 21, 2012 | 50 Comments »

My kiddos are heading back to school next week, so I have been busy in the kitchen preparing all kinds of treats.  I’ve always wondered how teachers keep  their cool after being cooped up with a room full of stinky wiggly kids each day, so to help ease them back into their academic routine, I am sending them sugar.  Lots of it!

These are super simple to make.  All you need is:

  • Red, lime green, and yellow {optional} gumballs
  • Stiff brown royal icing and a #2 tip
  • Stiff green royal icing and a #65-#66 tip

Place a wire cooling rack onto a sheet pan and cover it with a clean kitchen towel.  Skip the fancy gridded racks, simple dollar store racks like this work best.

Arrange the gumballs on the towel.  The spaces in the rack will keep them from rolling around.  Make sure to leave a little wiggle room so you can work comfortably.

Use the brown icing to pipe stems onto each apple.  Make sure the stems have a wider base so that they stay firmly attached to the gumball.

If you get pointy tips, wait a minute or so and use your finger to gently smoosh them down.  Like I always say, NOBODY LIKES A POINTER!

When all the apples have stems, it’s time to add leaves.  I used a #65 tip, but a #66 works well also.  Again, be sure to make the leaves touch both the stem, and as much of the apple as possible so they aren’t too fragile.

After reading Glorious Treat’s latest packaging post, I decided to put my gumballs in simple mason jars dressed up with cupcake wrappers but you can use anything you like.  They would also look great with back to school printables, I especially like this one by Love the Day via Makes and Takes.  They’d also make perfect cupcake toppers.

What teacher wouldn’t love to get a jar of these?  They might be the difference between forgiveness and the worst year ever if your kid happens to be the one who gets a rock hopelessly stuck up their nose {not that I would know anything about this}.

What I like best is that I can make these well into fall.  If you love apple treats, be sure to check out these adorable ideas:

Tutorials
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