Pineapple Ticking Crocodile

Posted April 16, 2015 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments

Last week we continued our Peter Pan menu with Pirate Map Pizza, and today we’re posting a tribute to the Ticking Crocodile!

When I saw this picture on Pinterest, I knew I had to make my own version for the menu. I’ve never seen fruit look so cute, and it was actually really easy to make. Truth be told, there’s no real cooking involved. You just need to cut the fruit into the appropriate shapes and arrange it on a serving tray. Easy as that!

P.S. This croc is almost 3 feet long, so if you don’t have a long enough serving tray, I’d recommend lining up two or three cookie trays end-to-end. You can cover them with tinfoil or tissue paper to make them look like one surface.

 

Pineapple Ticking Crocodile

“‘I have often,’ said Smee, ‘noticed your strange dread of crocodiles.’
“‘Not of crocodiles,’ Hook corrected him, ‘but of that one crocodile.’ He lowered his voice. ‘It liked my arm so much, Smee, that it has followed me ever since, from sea to sea and from land to land, licking its lips for the rest of me.’
“‘In a way,’ said Smee, ‘it’s sort of a compliment.'”
— Peter Pan

 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 whole pineapples
  • 1 radish
  • 3 medium-sized black olives (you can use leftovers from last week’s Pirate Map Pizza)
  • 2 kiwi fruit
  • You will also need 2 toothpicks.

Makes approximately 6 servings

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. First things first: remove the stalk from the top of your pineapples. Grip each stalk at the base, then twist it back and forth a few times. After that, it should come off with one firm twist.

  2. Now we’ll make the body of the crocodile. Cut both of your pineapples in half, so you’re left with four pieces. To simplify things, we’re going to refer to these pieces as Piece 1, 2, 3, and 4 (since you’ll be doing different things with each of them).

    Piece 1 will be the head. Piece 2, the body. Piece 3, the start of the tail. And Piece 4, the tip of the tail.
  3. Lay Piece 1 skin side up on a cutting board and locate the yellow half circle where you removed the stalk. Line up your knife horizontally with the top of this circle and cut all the way through to the end of the pineapple. Think of it as trimming a bit off the bottom. You should be left with two pieces: the large, curved top piece and a flat pineapple plank about 1″ high.

    This will serve as your head. The top, curved piece will be the face and upper jaw, and the bottom piece will be the lower jaw.
  4. These next few steps are where the details start to get important. It will seem a little complicated, so just remember this: we’re essentially cutting our pieces down to the right size and placing them in a zig-zag line. Place Piece 1 (with the jaw piece under it) at one end of your serving tray. Place Piece 2 at a slight angle behind it.
  5. Cut a 1″ plank from the bottom of Piece 3, just like you did with Piece 1. Set this plank aside for later (we’re going to cut our fish from it). Place the top portion of Piece 3 behind Piece 2 at an opposing angle.
  6. Cut a 2″ plank from the bottom of Piece 4. Discard this plank and place the top portion of Piece 4 at the very end of the serving tray at an opposing angle to Piece 3.

    Here’s an overhead picture of the final crocodile to give you an idea of what we’re shooting for in terms of pineapple size and placement. If you’re having trouble, try remembering this: the head and body are the same size; the start of the tail is the size of the head without the jaw; and the the tip of the tail is half the size of the head.
  7. Using the 1″ plank left over from the start of your tail, cut out the shape of a fish with a sharp knife or large cookie cutter. Cut one olive in half lengthwise and place one of the halves where the fish’s eye would be. Discard the other half.
  8. For the feet, cut your two kiwis in half (you should be left with 4 halves, just like when you first cut the pineapple). Cut away the curved top portion of your halves so that you are left with flat 1/2″ high kiwi slices. Cut two triangles from one side of each slice, to create crocodile claws. Place two clawed kiwi slices on each side of the crocodile body.

  9. Slice your radish into thin circles. Choose two slices of similar size to be the base for your eyes. Take a look at your remaining two olives: one end of each olive should have an open circle, the other an “x” shape. Slice off the “open” ends—these are now olive rings. Place the rings on your radish bases. You’ve got eyes!
  10. Place the eyes on the crocodile head and prop them up in the back with the leftover olive pieces.

  11. Gently lift the top of the head from the jaw and slide a leftover wedge of pineapple (you should have some scraps from cutting out the fish) near the back of the head. This will keep the mouth open. When that’s firmly in place, insert one toothpick into the jawline about 3/4 of the way back from the front of the head. I’d recommend placing it where the teeth would be. Insert the top of the toothpick into the bottom of the upper jaw. Do the same thing on the opposing side with your other toothpick. This should hold your jaw open!

    The view inside the crocodile’s mouth
  12.  Place the fish just barely inside the crocodile’s mouth. Depending on what end of the pineapple is facing forward, the fish will either be covering up the yellow half circle left over from the stalk or the brown spot where the root of the pineapple used to be. Either way, the fish helps cover up a less than pretty spot on your pineapple!
  13. Serve to your favorite Neverlanders…but listen close for any ticking sounds! 🙂

 

6 responses to “Pineapple Ticking Crocodile

  1. Cait

    THIS IS SO STINKIN’ CUTE!!! My niece is obsessed with crocodiles (to the point she thinks she is one and bites peoples toes. -_-) and she’d love this. She’d probably eat it all herself too, but phsst. I’m showing my sister this. xD You make it looks so beautiful!

    • I totally freaked out when I first saw the idea on Pinterest. I was all “I HAVE TO DO THIS RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND!” I’m glad I did. It took maybe a total of 15 minutes to throw together, and looked crazy cute without much coaxing on my part. Exotic fruit arrangement for the win!

Leave a Reply