HALLOWEEN TREAT: CHOCOLATE OREO MUMMIES!

It's Peanut's turn to bring "special snack" to preschool tomorrow and we wanted to do something really fun. I saw these chocolate covered oreos somewhere (if you know, please tell me so I can reference them. I've searched and searched to no avail) and decided they were just perfect. Since Peanut is the third child, I have a "been there, done that" reaction to a lot of the usual treats and to be honest, I feel a bit of pressure to bring in something new as the teachers always seem to be anticipating what I'll do next.

I blocked off a good chunk of time to make these creations thinking that they may be a bit involved. Add the fact that I had the eager help of a 4 year old and I thought these may be an all-day affair. Surprisingly, the process went very quickly and with minimal mishaps. When does that ever happen?!

Here is a very loose step-by-step of the process. Please excuse the fact that I have not beautifully captured each step in photos. I'm more of the let's get this project done type rather than a let's capture every step to create a lovely tutorial type - but you already knew that!

On to the steps!

Step one: Melt the chocolate in a container deep enough to dunk an oreo.

Step two: Take the tops off of all the oreos. I was worried that it would be difficult to keep all the cookie tops intact while separating, but they came apart really easily. We used Halloween Oreos, if that makes any difference at all.

Step Three: Dip the end of a lollipop stick in the melted chocolate and then press into the cream of the oreo to secure the stick. Then add the top back on the oreo. Dipping the stick in melted chocolate first is critical in getting the stick to stay secure inside the oreo.

Step Four: Once all the sticks are added to the cookies and the tops are back on, dip each cookie into the melted chocolate being sure to coat the entire cookie. Use a small spoon to be sure to cover the area around the stick. Shake the cookie to allow the excess chocolate to drip off.

Step Five: Place the coated cookie on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Step Six: Once all cookies are coated in chocolate and while the chocolate is still wet, place M&M eyes on each cookie. If the chocolate has already set, use the end of an extra lollipop stick to dab two spots of chocolate to secure the eyes.

Step Seven: Once the chocolate has set, reheat the melted chocolate and spoon into a sandwhich bag. Cut off the bottom corner of the bag to use as the tip of a pastry bag.

Step Eight: Use the bag to stripe the top of the cookie to create a mummy effect. Be sure to partially cover the eyes with the stripes to give the appearance of eyes peeking out from behind.

Step Nine: Let the chocolate set and you're done!


I used food-safe cellophane bags and some inexpensive Halloween ribbon to package them up for ease of distributing, but I think a bunch of them together popping out of a bucket would be super cute as well.

MARSHMALLOW GOBLINS

Originally posted on October 30, 2009.

Remember these? Well, here they are all packaged up and ready to be delivered. I love the way they look in groups of three. Each little marshmallow personality shines right through when presented this way.

Don't you think?

Now if I could somehow successfully photograph cellophane packaging, that would really be a trick!

FREE DOWNLOAD - MS SUMMER GRILLING COOKBOOK

Click here for a free download of Martha Stewart's Summer Grilling cookbook from Sirius.

THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN. EVER.

Courtesy of Not Martha.

FREE DOWNLOAD - MARTHA STEWART THANKSGIVING COOKBOOK!

Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Cookbook free download via Sirius Radio.

MONSTER MOUTHS (PEANUT-FREE VERSION)

Remember these Monster Mouths from BHG made with peanut butter and candy corn? Well, Peanut and I made a peanut-free version for her preschool class today. Peanut-free means not only no peanut butter, but no candy corn as well. To replace the peanut butter, I mixed two packages of cream cheese with 1/2 cup of brown sugar. The brown sugar added the perfect amount of sweetness to the cream cheese.

For the teeth, I scoured the candy aisle, first selecting starburst to cut into teeth, the starburst were replaced by licorice, the licorice were replaced by Halloween good n' plenty. 

Until I found....gummy teeth!

Here is the finished product, with the teeth carefully placed by Peanut herself! (and I didn't even rearrange and "perfect" the placement - I think there is real growth happening here.) They turned out a little creepier than the originals. I didn't realized how realistic those gummy teeth are. Hope we don't scare the preschool set! But the big kids think they're really cool, so Peanut is thrilled with her creations.

GHOULS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN: A RECIPE (OF SORTS)

These adorable ghouls from BHG are created with just marshmallows and fondant! An adorable, quick treat to whip up for your little ghouls (and goblins, of course). But I'm not sure about taste; fondant and marshmallows - yuck! I think I'll make two layers of a round cake and use a biscuit cutters to cut the cake into cylinders. Covering cake with fondant sounds much better, don't you think?

And speaking of fondant, I had a fondant-related celebrity encounter this weekend. More about that on Thursday. Why Thursday? Well, that happens to be my birthday!

RECIPE: APPLE CHIP CAKE

My apologies for not photographing the entire cake. This cake tends to disappear before you have time to check the batteries in your camera.

When I was a little girl, apple picking always meant that it was time for my mother to make Apple Chip Cake and I looooove Apple Chip Cake. This recipe was missing for several years until this past spring when I was helping my sister plan my niece and nephew's graduation party. I was looking through my sister's recipes for a recipe I needed for the cookie bar we were planning and there it was: the recipe for apple chip cake. After berating my sister for purposely hiding the recipe from me, I promptly took possession of it so that it would be forever safe in my home. (OK, I made a copy)

So here it is folks, the Apple Chip Cake of my youth. And yes, it is just as good as I remember. Did I mention, the "chip" in Apple Chip Cake is chocolate!

Apple Chip Cake

3 cups flour

3 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

4 cups diced apples

3/4 cup oil

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 to 2 cups chocolate chips (to taste)

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix flour, cinnamon and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla, then add chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.

Add flour mixture and mix well.

Fold in apples. The batter will be very thick, only slightly looser than cookie dough consistency. For best results, mix with a sturdy wooden spoon.

Transfer batter to well greased bundt pan. Bake at 325 degrees F for 50 minutes to one hour until an inserted knife comes out clean.

After I made this yesterday, my mother informed me that she always mixed the apples up with some sugar and cinnamon before adding to the cake. I did not do this and the cake is delicious, but next time I'm sure I'll try it. I'll leave it up to you whether you want to sweeten the apples before adding to the batter. Either way, the combination of apples and chocolate in this moist, dense cake is absolute heaven!

WEEKEND RECIPES

Don't forget to enter our giveaway for a Personalized Aluminum Water Bottle. Comment here to enter no later than midnight EST tonight!

Having a picnic or weekend party? Here are two perfect recipes for a summer party. I made them both for our fireworks viewing party on the fourth and they were both tremendous hits!

The first is a fantastically delicious trifle recipe from Make and Take, complete with a lemon curd recipe that you will die for! Seriously, you may want to make an extra batch of lemon curd just to eat with a spoon while you assemble the trifle. (Not that that is something I would do, of course. It's just a suggestion.)

SUMMER TRIFLE

1 prepared recipe sour cream pound cake, sliced or cubed (recipe follows) 1 prepared recipe lemon curd, chilled (recipe follows) 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 1/2 cups heavy cream, cold 16 oz. fresh strawberries, sliced 2 pints fresh blueberries

To make the cream:

Beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Add the heavy cream and continue beating until thick. Chill until ready to assemble trifle.

Assembly:

Layer in a trifle dish or large bowl–

Half the sliced pound cake–use smaller pieces to fill in the gaps Half the lemon curd One third of the blueberries and strawberries Half the whipped cream mixture

Repeat with the remaining cake, lemon curd, another 1/3 of the berries, and whipped cream. Top with the remaining 1/3 strawberries and blueberries.

Let chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Serves a bunch.

Sour Cream Pound Cake adapted from The Joy of Cooking

3 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 2 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature 3 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided 6 eggs, separated and at room temperature 1 cup sour cream, at room temperature 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 8″ square baking pans or a 9″ Bundt pan.

Whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add the sugar and continuing beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Don’t skimp on this step.)

Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating for at least 1 minute between additions. Add the vanilla extract.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, beat just until it disappears into the creamed mixture. Add 1/2 of the sour cream. Beat to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and sour cream, making sure to end with the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar a little at a time. Continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form.

Carefully fold in 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter using a large rubber or silicone spatula. (It’s okay if there are some streaks of egg white. This is to lighten the batter before the remaining egg whites are added.)

Add the remaining egg whites by gently folding, being careful not to deflate the whites.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan. If using 8″ square pans, bake for about 35-40 minutes. (Don’t open the oven at all during the first 30 minutes or the cake will fall in the center.) If using the bundt pan, bake for 60-75 minutes. Tent the pans with foil if the top browns too quickly. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

Let cool for a few minutes in pan before removing the cake to a wire rack to finish cooling. Cake gets better the longer it sits. Be sure to wrap it well in foil or plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Lemon Curd from my husband’s aunt

Juice of 3 lemons Zest of 3 lemons 1 cup granulated sugar 3 whole eggs 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

In a bowl, rub the lemon zest with the sugar until wet and sandy. Whisk in the eggs. Add the juice. Add the melted butter.

Transfer the mixture to a stainless steel (or other non-reactive) pan. Cook over medium heat while whisking constantly until the curd thickens. (It will be about the consistency of thin yogurt.) Quickly remove from heat. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface and chill until ready to use.

 The next recipe is for a simple and refreshing white Sangria courtesy of Eddie Ross. This sangria is soooooooo good and sooooooo refreshing. 'Nuff said.

Check back tomorrow for our lucky giveaway winner!

IS THE PILLSBURY DOUGH BOY A TEASE?

I received a very curious email in my inbox yesterday. It was from my good buddy Pillsbury and it contained the most intriguing image: a Blueberry Lemon Pecan Pie. That's right, a pie with blueberries, lemons AND pecans! Looks good, doesn't it? Well, that image is all you will ever see of that pie. I'm questioning it's existence all together, sure that the photo is some sort of fancy, cgi special effect. Why? Because every time in the last 24 hours I have tried to click through to get the recipe  a window opens with the dreaded Page. Not. Found.

Now I'm not one to be easily discouraged, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and go right to the source. I opened a new window and typed the url myself.   Page. Not. Found.

Determined not to give up, I went to the Pillsbury home page and thought that I would search for the pie from there. But that Pillsbury does not want just anyone looking at their goods; you need to be a member. But wait, I am a member! That's how I got the email. So I smugly went ahead and clicked on "login." I AM worthy. 

Waiting with anticipation for the login screen to appear, I reviewed in my mind all of the possible passwords and login names I may have used to join. And I waited . . . and waited . . . Soon I saw the url switch to the all-too-familiar "click through" address and my heart sank.   Page. Not. Found.

So I'm beginning to think that the dough boy doesn't want me to have this pie of blueberries, lemons and pecans. Maybe he's trying to protect me, doesn't want me turn "doughy" like him. (yeah, I went there.)

Well, dough boy - it's MY life. I'll have blueberries, lemons and pecans baked together in a pie whenever I see fit! You can't make those kind of decisions for me. You're not the boss...

Sorry.

In parting, I guess all I can say is

the Keebler Elf would never do me like that.

A LABOR DAY SHRIMP BOIL!

Need to feed a crowd on Labor Day? Head over to Skip to My Lou and check out her shrimp boil - including a printable shopping list and instructions! Enjoy!

PARTY FOOD: GRILLED VEGETABLE PIZZA

As we all prepare to spark up the grill for Labor Day weekend here in America, it occurred to me that unlike Memorial Day when everyone is itching to indulge in the grilled hot dogs and hamburgers that they have been deprived all winter, by Labor Day everyone has really had their fill. But it does seem a bit of a missed opportunity not to cookout this weekend given that these warm clear days of summer are numbered. Then I remembered this fantastic pizza that I have made a few times when it was too warm to use the oven but we were tired of the same old same old on the grill. The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine, which means that you aren't tempted to run screaming after you read it and you don't need to travel to remote locations in Asia for the ingredients. Yes, I know it says Martha Stewart, but Everyday Food is different. I promise. So celebrate Labor Day the way it was meant to be celebrated: with as little work as possible. Whip up a couple of these pizzas and relax. Yes I know it says Martha Stewart, but trust me!