Cornocopia

Of course while Christopher's parents were in town....we made the traditional cornocopias! We actually did this for the first time last year in our little family, but it has been a tradition in Christopher's family for a very long time. Basically you can make little fruits, veggies, or whatever your heart desires out of a delicious almond fondant and you put it in a sugar cone. It really looks like a cornocopia. It's lots of fun to see what the kids come up with...and...it's delicious!
Our fondant had some issues with not being firm enough (I had the SAME issues last year) even though we almost doubled the amount of powdered sugar to improve the situation. I was happy to know that it wasn't just the fact that I was doing something wrong. We had the pros with us and they had the same problem. Apparently, it is just Texas humidity and if you leave it out overnight it is the PERFECT consistency in the morning! This is important to remember for next year.
Uh-oh....Texas humidity strikes again! Kate was rolling some red fondant into an apple....but the heat from her little hands melted it first! We found that a nice coating of powdered sugar on the table and hands really helped the stickiness.
Grandma showed the kids how to make several of the different fruits and vegetables including apples, oranges, pea pods, peppers, watermelons, and bananas. It was really cool to see all the different ideas she had and how to do them.
Dallin was pretty self-sufficient this year. He was really able to do a lot of it himself with a little instruction and help now and then. Grandma helped him out by adding her masterpieces to his stash of cornocopia food. In this picture you can see the red pepper on the right....a lot of the items kind of melted and are harder to make out. The orange blob in the middle with the brown spots is the pizza Dallin made. Pretty clever! He even gave it some red sauce. Here is the picture of Dallin's cornocopia finished.
Kate was mostly interested in making an apple or two, squishing the fondant, and eating as much as she could. I mostly made/helped her make hers.
Here is a closeup of her fruits and veggies. In this picture you can see a watermelon, a pineapple, a pumpkin, a strawberry, a banana, and a pea pod.
Here she is getting her horn ready. If you can't tell...she has eaten many of the "veggies" already
And the finished product.....