With dried fruit, nuts and chocolate you can create edible creepy crawlies to gobble down on at your next Halloween party…

What you need…

• Dried fruit and nuts and snacks of your choice
  (see below for more ideas of which to use)

• Freezer bag or sandwich bag

• Scissors

• Plain dark or milk chocolate

• Silver cachous
  (small edible silver balls for cake decoration)

What to do…

1. Arrange the dried fruit, nuts and other decorations in the order of colour and think about what kind of grubs and bugs they could be.
   Which nuts or fruit could you use that already look like bugs?
   This platter is all about using your imagination!

2. Get an adult to help you melt the chocolate and spoon it into the bottom of a freezer or sandwich bag.
   Twist the bag closed and snip a tiny piece of a corner of the bag for the chocolate piping nozzle.

3. Use the chocolate to stick on the silver eyes and to draw on wings, legs and other patterns.
   You can also stick the bits of food together with chocolate!

4. Serving idea: while your chocolate sets, paint or draw leaf shapes onto paper. Serve up your bugs and grubs either wrapped up in or on the fake leaves.
   Note: we used food colouring to paint our leaf shapes so that it isn’t a harmful ink to be near food.

Edible bug ideas…

Giant Apricot Grub

You will need:

• Dried apricots

• Kebab stick and a toothpick

• Dried papaya chunk

What to do:

1. Cut whole dried apricots in half and pierce onto a toothpick or shortened kebab stick.

2. Add a piece of dried papaya to the end for the head.

3. Use the melted chocolate to stick on the silver cachous for eyes and draw on the legs and feelers with chocolate.

Pretzel-Wing Fly

What you need:

• Mini pretzel

• Banana chip

• Melted chocolate

• Silver cachous

What to do:

1. Using your homemade piping bag, cover the top of a slice of dried banana with chocolate and place the pretzel wings on top, at an angle.

2. Add the silver cachous eyes.

Chocolate Headed Cockroach

What you will need…

• Dates

• Chocolate

• Silver Cachous

What to do…

1. Dried dates already look a lot like big cockroaches, but they are sticky and very sweet… a bit like toffee.
   Find one that looks the most bug-like

2. Dip one end in chocolate

3. Stick on the silver eyes.

Did you give it a go?

Send us a photo of your edible bugs and you might find your creation featured in a future issue of Upstart magazine OR on Upstart online… AND win a prize!