Easy Apple Gumball Cupcakes

Have your kids headed back to school yet?  We have one week, not that I’m counting or anything.  While I have loved every bit of this summer and spending time with my kids I think we are all ready to add a little more structure to our organized chaos.  Anyone else out there relate?  Starting a new school year calls for a celebration and because we like to make everyday, ordinary moments extraordinary we are celebrating with Easy Apple Gumball Cupcakes!

This is one of those simple ideas you’ve seen before.  In fact I was inspired to create our apple gumball cupcakes after seeing these cute cupcakes from See Vanessa Craft.  I thought these cute cupcakes would be perfect for our back to school party.  Or wouldn’t these be a darling treat to have waiting for your kids after their first day of school?

I’m a big fan of semi-homemade treats like these, because let’s face it I’d rather spend my time doing something else besides making a giant mess in my kitchen that I just have to clean up later.  Here’s what you’ll need to make your own easy apple gumball cupcakes for your back to school celebrations:

• Cupcakes (homemade or store bought)
• Red and Green Gumballs
• Brown and Green Melting Chocolate
• Piping Bag (or you can use a zip lock bag)
• Parchment Paper
• Cupcake liners

1. Start by laying out a square of the parchment paper.
2. Next, place your chocolate melting wafers in the microwave to melt.  Since I didn’t need a lot I placed them directly in my piping bag and melted them for 20 seconds.
3. Snip the bottom corner of the piping back and with the brown melting chocolates make a steam on your gumball.  Set aside for the chocolate to harden.
4. Meanwhile, use the green melting chocolate to create leaf shapes on the parchment paper.
5. Once the leafs have hardened peel them off the parchment paper and use a small dab of melted chocolate to secure them to the gumball.
6. Place your cupcake in colorful cupcake liners and stick the gumball on top of the icing for a fun and easy treat.

I wanted the gumballs to be completely edible and to taste great too.  I have also seen the leaves and stem created with royal icing, which is stiffer and would be a little easier to work with on these small surfaces.  However, when I went to create these I realized I was out of powdered sugar and found the chocolate melting wafers instead and decided I would make them work.

Of course the kids think they turned out great and were anxious to devour their sweet apple gumball cupcakes.

Do you have a special after school treat you serve on the first day of school or do you host a back to school celebration?  We would love to hear how you make starting a new schools year fun, exciting and extraordinary for your little ones so share with us in the comments below!