Cornocopia

In Christopher's family, they had the tradition of making cornocopias every year when the kids were in elementary school. In fact, they would do it with all the classrooms in the the grade! We decided to give this a try this year to bring a little Thanksgiving spirit/fun to our family. I made up the cornocopia edible "play dough" (It is DELICIOUS by the way :) and colored it several different colors. Then we made various fruits and vegetables (or whatever we wanted) to put inside our cornocopia (sugar cone) without eating too much. It was really fun to share this activity with my family and see what everyone came up with. We even talked (briefly) about being thankful for all of the wonderful blessings God has given us like these wonderful foods we can eat. The picture on the top is my cornocopia. In case you are wondering, it has a watermelon, a pea pod, a pumpkin, bananas, a yellow squash, and a turkey in there (I was especially proud of the turkey). It was WAY fun and I learned a lot. For one thing, I did NOT need to double the recipe for the few people I had. Also, I needed to add more powdered sugar so it was almost dry so that it would be easier to mold and wouldn't melt. The meltiness definitely stifled the creative juices. I figure by the time the kids are in grade school, I'll have it just about right!
Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! We'll try to post pictures of the actual day soon :)

Here is Papa, Uncle Michael and Nana making cornocopias. Nana made an awesome yellow squash!

Here is Kate with her "apple". She loves the real thing and this sugary version was a real hit. She kept asking for them over and over.
Here is Kate stuffing her cornocopia.
Here is a spread of some of Dallin's food for his cornocopia. He has bananas, a pea pd, a watermelon, and the red blob at the bottom is a pizza.

Dallin is showing part of his cornocopia.

For those who are interested. Here is the recipe for the cornocopia "play dough"
(WAY YUMMY!)
1/3 c unsalted butter (room temperature..NOT MELTED!)
1/3 c light corn syrup
1 t almond extract
1/2 t salt
1 lb sifted powdered sugar
Mix together all but powdered sugar until creamy and smooth. Mix in powdered sugar slowly until has playdoh type consistency. You may need to add more powdered sugar to make it more dry so it molds easily without melting. You can also use sprinkles as leaves or stems. Use food paste or food coloring to make it different colors.