Shrunken apple heads in citrus cider is from Annette Engelbert, Bruce Crossing, Michigan Granny Smith apples shaped like shrunken heads will surprise even the scariest goblins at your Halloween bash. And the cool cider is so refreshing.

Ingredients

1 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon salt

4 large Granny Smith apples

16 whole cloves

1 gallon apple cider

1 can (12 ounces) frozen lemonade

concentrate, thawed

Method

1 In a small bowl, combine lemon juice and salt; set aside. Peel apples. Cut each apple from the stem to the blossom end; discard seeds and core. Using a sharp knife, carefully carve a face on the rounded side of each apple half. After carving, dip each apple in lemon juice mixture for 1 minute. Drain on paper towels.

2 Arrange apple heads on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Bake at 250° for 2 hours or until apples begin to dry and shrink and are lightly browned on the edges. Cool on a wire rack. Insert cloves for eyes. Store in the refrigerator.

3 Just before serving, combine cider and lemonade in a punch bowl. Float shrunken apple heads in cider. Yield: 4 apple heads and about 1 gallon cider.