Ghost Bananas

I've seen the idea of strawberry ghosts floating around the blogosphere and was especially inspired by this post by the Muffin Tin Mom.  See?!  Didn't she make the cutest little ghosts?!

I simply HAD to make them and decided to try it with the kiddos today.

Unfortunately though, we only had about 4 useable strawberries and the boys desperately wanted to help with the "dipping". The chocolate was too hot for them to dip in (for fear of burning little fingers) though, so instead, I let them stir the strawberries in...big mistake.  Definitely must just dip the strawberries!  Stirring the strawberries around caused the chocolate to get all gritty, changing the entire consistency and making it not stick to the strawberries well.  Not to mention, we didn't have mini-chocolate chips or brown sprinkles.  So, our ghost strawberries....not the cutest little ghosts.  Maybe the scariest though?! :) 

Nonetheless, the three-year olds loved them just the same and were super excited about the blobs ghosts they made.  

I wasn't content to leave it at that though.  We were out of strawberries and as I was getting bananas for the littler ones, I realized that if I cut the top & bottom off, the shape would make perfect ghosts! :)  Since the chocolate wasn't useable now, I decided to try cream cheese.  And it totally worked!! See?!...

Just spread a thin layer of cream cheese over the banana top & bottom and then decorate.    For those that don't want to give the kiddos a sugary treat, then this is a totally healthy ghost-treat alternative.  The boys ate them up just the same as their sugary strawberries, seeming to not even notice the difference.  One thing about this version though is that the cream cheese doesn't harden like the chocolate, so these are a little messier to handle.  But, if you had some popsicle/lollipop sticks that you could insert into the bottom, that problem would totally be solved.

No matter which fruit or which topping you choose, these edible ghosts are sure to be a hit with the kiddos and go great with footprint ghosts.  It all makes for a bootiful day! ;)