About 5 years ago, I started my blogging adventure with another site called Tiffany’s Trim Treats. It was a fun learning experience and focused again on healthy eating, but centered around snack based recipes. One of them was this awesome Cinnamon Kale Applesauce. The only problem is…it’s not the prettiest thing to look at. Tasty? Yes. Visually appealing? Ummm…not so much.

Enter the season of Halloween – when all things gory become the most sought out recipes on the planet. This is the one time of the year you can call a fruit and veggie based snack “Brain Mash” and watch your kids go to town on it, enjoying every disgusting looking bite. It ends up being a super fun craft activity as well if you let the kids help sculpt their very own apple “brain” to top the mash. Make sure to buy softer, ripe apples for easy carving. How much fun is it for kids to eat their personalized creation!!

This mash can be made in 2 ways…texture and chunky or smooth like an applesauce. If you are going to go the smooth route, make sure to have a high powered blender such as the Ninja Professional Blender or food bullet like the Magic Bullet Blender because a food processor isn’t going to produce quite the right consistency. This can be served in individual glasses or one a big platter with a few brains floating about, depending on how many brains you feel like carving. Adding fake spiders is always fun too!

The brain is super easy to carve. Just peel the apple, and use the end of a fork or spoon to carve out the longitudinal fissure followed by the gyri and sulci. Obviously this is a great time for an anatomy lesson while you are having fun crafting! Apples past their prime are perfect for this experiment too because the brown spots look like abnormal brains. Super fun and creepy!

Happy Halloween from my table to yours!

xoxo, Tiffany

Halloween Brain Mash (aka Cinnamon Kale Applesauce)

The most creeptastic way to eat your fruit and veggies during Halloween! No added sugar!!

Servings 4

Ingredients

Brain Mash

2 cups kale destemmed
2 apples cored and diced
2 carrots diced
1 cup purple grapes
3 tsp cinnamon or more to taste

Apple Brains

2 apples soft and ripe
1 lemon squeezed
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

To make chunky: add all ingredients to a food processor and blend for one minute until pureed
To make smooth: layer ingredients in a food processor in the order of grapes, apples, carrots and kale with grapes being closest to the blade. Process until smooth. It should be the consistency of applesauce or a thick smoothie. If it is still too chunky, add some water or apple juice to thin out the mixture. If using a bullet blender, you may need to do in 2 parts because all of the ingredients will not fit at the same time.
To carve apple brains: Peel apples and then cut in half. Gently remove the hard core, keeping the halves intact. Carve a line down the middle for the longitudinal fissure using the bottom of a spoon or fork. Carve out the gyri and sulci the same way, making random scrolling marks along the sides of the longitudinal fissure. Keep a glass of water nearby to rinse spoon/fork as you carve. Once apple is carved, rinse gently under water to remove excess apple shavings. Mix lemon juice and cinnamon and brush over apple to help preserve.