We can’t stop thinking about the SugarBee® apple’s natural notes of honey, caramel, and molasses. It’s even available year-round.

Since we love making food fun and enjoyable for our kids, it only made sense to celebrate these special apples with a fun snack idea. So we turned them into adorable honey bee food art… just like their “mascot.”

This easy snack idea is sponsored by SugarBee®.

There’s no cooking, and the end result is a fresh, easy snack that your kids will love. Serve it as an after school, as a small dessert, or a side to your breakfast oatmeal. 

We’ve included some of our favorite apple recipes for you to try at the end of the blog. For now, let’s dig into this super-easy snack idea!

2-Ingredient Honey Bee Food Art

You only need two ingredients to make this kid-friendly snack. When you use fewer ingredients, like in this no cook recipe, quality matters most. 

Let’s make sure you have what you need for your easy honey bee snack. 

SugarBee® Apple

One sunny spring day, a honey bee was collecting pollen, carrying it from apple blossom to apple blossom. It stopped at an unknown tree, then passed the pollen along to a Honeycrisp apple tree. The beloved, unique, and sweet SugarBee® apple had been created! What a pleasant surprise, right?

Although these apples are known for their natural sweetness, they have a touch of acidity for a perfectly balanced and crisp bite that makes you want more. Plus, these apples are slow to oxidize (they stay white longer) making the the ideal apple when creating food art!

Look for the honeycomb label with a bee when making all your easy snacks with apples.

Eggplant

Eggplant has that beautiful, deep, rich purple that looks almost black. We’ll use the skin to create the wings, antennas, and facial features of your apple honey bee. 

The Produce Mom Tip: Eggplant skin can also be used in other food art snack ideas.

How to Make a Honey Bee with SugarBee® Apples

The most difficult part of creating your honey bee food art is making small cuts. Don’t worry, we’ll walk you through each step. Then, arrange your apple slices and serve!

Step 1: The honey bee wings.

Place your apple on the cutting board, with the stem on top, so the core stabilizes the apple while you slice. Use your knife to cut four thin slices on one side of the apple. Turn the apple 180° and cut four thin slices on the opposite side of the apple. These will be used to create the wings of your honey bee. For now, set the slices aside. 

Step 2: The honey bee body and antenna.

Use your knife to cut a thicker slice of the apple, closer to the core. Trim the apple slice by cutting off the skin edge, avoiding the core. Set that piece aside – it will complete the body of your honey bee.

Cut another thin slice off of your original apple. Slice small matchstick strips from one side of the slice, then repeat on the other side – just as you did when you cut slices for the body of your honey bee. You’ll need a total of six strips for the legs and antenna. Set them aside.

Step 3: Eyes, mouth, and smile.

Use your knife to cut a long, thin layer of eggplant skin, like you’re peeling the eggplant with your knife. Slice another long, thin layer where the skin was just removed, so you have two pieces of eggplant – one strip of skin and one of the eggplant flesh. 

Add the Details:

For the Mouth: Place the first piece of eggplant in front of you on the cutting board, with the skin side up. Use the paring knife to cut a small half-moon shape, and remove it from the eggplant slice. Cut a thin slice from the middle of your half-moon and remove it to create a smiley mouth for your honey bee. 

Last, poke a straw into the eggplant to create fourteen small circles to detail the antennas, legs, and wings. 

Eyes

In the eggplant slice without the skin, use a small paring knife to cut two small circles and set them aside. These will be the eyes of your honey bee.

Step 4: Arrange your apple honey bee.

Let’s start from the bottom and work our way up. Place two wing slices next to each other at the bottom of the plate. Put two more wing slices above the first two so they slightly overlap. Add one more to the top and place the body apple piece in the middle. 

Arrange four of your matchstick apples with the body, similar to arms and legs of a stick figure drawing. Put the last two on top for the antennas.

Add the small circles without the eggplant skin to make the eyes, and add two of the small black (technically purple) circles on top for some color. Add the eggplant smile to complete the face. 

Place the last four black circles at the tips of the legs and antennas and serve! 

If you’d like, cut extra eggplant circles for more detail on the wings. Our kids eat everything from this fun snack idea off their plates, every time. 

Why We Love SugarBee®

If your kids are anything like ours, they love snacks. As moms, we love finding the most natural, whole ingredients and presenting them in fun snack ideas so our kids love them too. SugarBee® is naturally created by bees with a subtle sweet flavor that’s perfect when added to recipes or served as is … or in the shape of a honey bee! We can’t get enough of the SugarBee® apple.

Be sure to look for the honeycomb label at your local grocery store for an easy, quick snack idea for you and your family.

More Sweet Apple Recipes to Try

• Apple Cinnamon Babka Bread – a little extra natural sweetness than the original
• Apple Chicken Salad – easy on-the-go lunch in a mason jar
• Apple Animals – more fun, no-cook snack ideas

We love the idea of playing with our food. We recently teamed up with SugarBee® to publish a free & downloadable ebook packed with six engaging STEM projects designed to ignite young minds. Check out From Orchard to Creation: 6 STEM Projects with SugarBee®.