Spooktacular Treats

I love holidays, and they are even more fun now that I have a kiddo.  We were looking for something to do one weekend in October, so we made a haunted gingerbread house.  I used melted marshmallows to glue the house together -- they weren't quite strong enough to hold for longer than an hour.  Next time I might try melting gummy bears and marshmallows together.

I needed to take treats to a Halloween potluck lunch at work.  My son told me I should make eyeball cupcakes (he is very creative!).  I used Lindt white chocolate truffles and decorated them with food markers.  They were a big hit!

Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

I am a huge fan of Thanksgiving food.  I can't even pick a favorite.  I want it all!

After many years of making sides, desserts, and even a few turkeys, here are my favorite recipes (click on the hyperlinks to access the recipes online).

Turkey:

I have made Martha Stewart's perfect roast turkey several times.  It always turns out tender and juicy.  I'm also a fan of her giblet gravy (included in the turkey recipe) and classic stuffing with cherries and pecans.

Turkey breast:

This is the perfect recipe for a smaller crowd.  I back off on the salt (reduce to 2 teaspoons).  Butter and bacon and herbs...oh my!

Cranberry mocktail:

I had one of these on my recent Disney cruise and will be re-creating it for Thanksgiving.  Yum-o!

Cranberry sauce:

Homemade cranberry sauce is super easy to make.  The recipe on the back of the bag works well.  If you want to try a new recipe, I've been making Alton Brown's recipe made with honey and juice instead of sugar and water (note: a standard bag of cranberries is 12 oz not 1 pound, so you'll need 3/4 of the ingredients).  I prefer it with clover honey since wildflower honey was a little strong (though after a few days it tasted perfect!).

Sweet potatoes:

The dessert that we call a side dish.  This is my go-to recipe.

Dinner rolls:

See my recipe for perfect dinner rolls here.

Chocolate pie:

My husband is a fan of chocolate pie so I make one every year.  I use a Pillsbury crust (the kind in the refrigerated section of the grocery store) and cook it first (follow the directions on the box).  I fill it with a large box of chocolate pudding, made according to the directions on the box (I prefer the cook kind, not instant -- you can make it in the microwave).  I pipe on homemade whipped cream and sprinkle on mini chocolate chips for a show-stopping dessert.  If you want to make homemade filling, this one is my favorite.

Whipped cream:

Homemade whipped cream is simply whipping cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar.  I don't measure my ingredients -- I just add vanilla and the sugar a little at a time until it tastes good.  Beat it until it's fluffy but stop before it turns into butter.

Mini pumpkin pies:

These are adorable mini pumpkin pies.  They are called "impossible pie" because they form their own crust while they bake.  I like to bake them in foil liners since they look like mini pie pans.

Pumpkin cupcakes:

Oh my!  These are light and delicious and melt in your mouth.  I top mine with homemade whipped cream instead of frosting.

Pumpkin cheesecake:

Crust:

1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

Mix ingredients together.  Press into a springform pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Cool.

Filling:

3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

5 eggs

1/4 cup heavy cream (2 oz)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 can pumpkin (16 oz)

Mix together cream cheese and sugars.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Stir in cream, spices and pumpkin.  Poor into cooled crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  Cool.  My cheesecake usually cracks, so I spread homemade whipped cream over the top.

By now you've figured out that I love pumpkin desserts!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Candy Corn Fruit Kebabs

There is so much candy and so many treats this time of year, that it's nice to find cute food that is healthy.

This idea came from Super Healthy Kids.

All you need is pineapple, mandarin oranges, apples (or banana), and toothpicks (or lollipop sticks).

The trick (haha!) is to line the fruit up on the cutting board and then cut the sides so they're even.  I dipped the apples in the pineapple juice so they wouldn't brown.

Fun and yummy for kids and grown ups!

Rainbow Cupcakes

My son is a Brony (a dude who likes My Little Pony), and his favorite pony is Rainbow Dash, so I made rainbow cupcakes for our family birthday party.

I used Duff's tie-dye cake mix.  It is a white cake mix that comes with red, yellow and blue food color.  My only complaint is that the box tells you how many drops of food color to put in each bowl of white cake mix, but the food color came out in globs, not drops, so I had to guess.  The color turns vibrant a minute or so after mixing it into the cake mix.

I used about 1/2 tablespoon of each color of batter for each cupcake -- in order to get a full layer of each color.  One box made 12 cupcakes, and they were a bit full.  I baked them for 18 minutes (there are no baking times for cupcakes on the box).  I was very happy with the result!

I used blue frosting (from a tub), AirHeads candy, and mini marshmallows to decorate the cupcakes (thank you to my friend Amy at sometimes creative for the inspiration!).  We bought Rainbow Dash at Target -- she came in a "blind bag" but there is a little window on the back if you want to know which pony you are buying.

Happy Birthday to my little Brony!

Recipe Review: Perfect Cupcake Frosting from Our Best Bites

I am always on the lookout for good frosting recipes.  I decided to try a cooked frosting recipe from Our Best Bites.  They claim it's the perfect cupcake frosting!

Step 1:  Whisk together flour and milk

Step 2:  Cook flour and milk mixture

Step 3:  Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla

Step 4:  Add cooled flour and milk mixture

Step 5:  Beat for a long time

Result:  Sweet, fluffy frosting -- this is a frosting that is light and does not draw attention to itself -- my little boy said "it's whipped cream!"

I made cupcakes with a chocolate fudge cake mix and added 1 cup mini chocolate chips to the batter.  I piped on the perfect frosting and topped it with Andes creme de menthe baking chips.  YUM!

Stars & Stripes

I wanted to make a thank you gift for one of my colleagues, and since it's July I went with a patriotic theme.

This cute bucket from Target was begging for some cookie pops.  I love how it turned out!

Spreading Sunshine

When I was going through a difficult time, a friend of mine brought me a "box full of sunshine."  It made my day!

I loved the idea and wanted to pay it forward.  After Easter, I bought a couple of yellow Easter baskets and some bags of yellow shred.

It's finally time to make the first delivery!  I bought some honeysuckle hand soap, a lemonade candle, and yellow note cards at Target.  I've been wanting to make smiley face cake pops, and this was the perfect occasion.  I also made a little note from stickers and card stock.  Just by chance, I found yellow pinwheels on sale at Joann's -- I couldn't resist adding one!

Other ideas for yellow things include candy, gum, lip balm, nail polish, lotion, bubbles, a mug, etc.  Check out my friend Amy's post on her Sometimes Creative blog for her version.

Spread some sunshine and brighten someone's day!