Halloween Treats

[Linda in MO]

OK, I know Halloween is still nearly 2 months away, but it's never too early to plan ahead, right? What's everyone making for Halloween treats at your kid's school parties this year? I think these cupcakes are so cute! I would probably skip the pudding in the middle though.

http://jas.family.go.com/Family/cook...=2002&month=08

And here's a good thread from last year with a lot of ideas...
http://community.cookinglight.com/sh...ight=Halloween

[Tiger]

Linda they look great! Thanks for the idea. Between school and boyscouts I'm always looking for ideas like this.

[kcmo727]

Linda, thanks for the link, those cupcakes are darling. I loooooove baking Halloween treats. Can't wait for October!

[Linda in MO]

So what's everybody making this year? I still want to make those cupcakes but I haven't been able to find the green candy melts yet.

[JJeannette]

Have you checked at craft supply stores? Micheals usually has the candy melts; sometimes even Wal Mart will have them in the craft department--. If you can't find the green ones, you could use paste food coloring and color white melts/almond bark/chocolate--.

[Linda in MO]

Unfortunately the nearest craft store is an hour away. Thanks for the idea about using the paste food coloring though.

[kcmo727]

So far I have only made one type of Halloween treat: butterscotch cookies cut into pumpkins decorated with orange buttercream and black royal icing faces. My plan was to freeze them until closer to Halloween but alas, they tasted good and are long gone. I need to make some more!!

Here is the recipe I used for the cookies. The texture and taste are very good, IMO way better than your average sugar cookie but the dough is a bit on the soft side and not the easiest to roll out. Overnight chilling helps.



Buttery Butterscotch Cut Outs
1 cup butterscotch-flavored chips
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Decorator sugars, if desired
Frosting, if desired
1. Melt butterscotch chips in 1-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth (3 to 5 minutes). Pour mixture into large mixer bowl; add all remaining ingredients except decorator sugars and frosting. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes).
2. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic food wrap; flatten slightly. Refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour).
3. Heat oven to 375°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-half at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with decorator sugars, if desired.
4. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool completely; decorate with frosting, if desired.
5.
Makes 4 dozen cookies.
Nutrition Facts (1 cookie):
Calories: 100
Fat: 5 g
Cholesterol: 15 mg
Sodium: 45 mg
Carbohydrates: 13 g
Dietary Fiber: 0 g
Protein: 1 g

[madpots]

I recently made some Pumpkin Chipper cookies that used butterscotch chips. You put them in the processor with the flour and ground them up. It gave the cookies and sort of toffee flavor. I wonder if you did that instead of melting the chips if your dough would be stiffer.
Just a thought.

[kcmo727]

Madpots, processing the butterscotch chips is a great idea, thanks for sharing! I will give that a try next time I make these.

[susan_foster]

Originally posted by madpots
I recently made some Pumpkin Chipper cookies that used butterscotch chips. You put them in the processor with the flour and ground them up. It gave the cookies and sort of toffee flavor. I wonder if you did that instead of melting the chips if your dough would be stiffer.
Just a thought.

Oooh - do you have the recipe for these? I have some butterscotch chips just waiting for the right recipe!

Susan

[madpots]

PUMPKIN CHIPPERS

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. (6 oz) butterscotch morsels
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 c. butter or margarine, softened
2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. quick-cooking oats, uncooked (I toasted them)
1 (6-oz.) premium white chocolate baking bar, chopped (I used chips)
2/3 c. chopped walnuts

Position knife blade in food processor bowl; add flour and butterscotch morsels. Process 30 seconds or until morsels are finely ground.
Combine flour mixture and baking soda; stir well, and set aside.
Beat butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugars,beating well.
Add egg and pumpkin, beat well.
Stir in flour mixture. Stir in oats, white chocolate and walnuts.
Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 F. for 12 minutes or until golden.
Remove to wire racks immediately, and let cool completely.
Makes 6 dozen.
I made these to send to my grandson in boarding school. I have to
send for his whole group of 15 so I doubled the recipe. He likes the icing in a can, so I made sandwiches with the icing. That made them easier to pack.
I got the recipe out of a cookbook and it had a mistake! I did the flour mixture and set it aside, then proceeded. When I came to 'stir in the oats etc.' I realized I hadn't put in the flour. I went back over the recipe carefully but it never said add the flour.So I added it!
I am not all the fond of the oatmeal and I think that next time I would grind that up also. But these have a delicious flavor although there really isn't much pumpkin flavor.

[madpots]

Susan, if you don't have white chocolate chips, you could leave them out. It would still be a nice cookie.
Alton

[claire797]

Those butterscotch cut-outs look good. It's always nice to find a new and interesting cut-out cookie.

Here's a good shortbread cookie recipe that makes great cut-outs as well. I would not recommend using any sort of icing on these as they would be way too rich. However, you can cut them out and then decorate them with Halloween sprinkles before baking.

This recipe came from a woman named Lennie who posts on Recipezaar. It's the BEST SHORTBREAD EVER.

Lennie’s Shortbread

1 cup butter, cold
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Chop butter into chunks. Process butter and sugar in Cuisinart until creamy. Add remaining ingredients and process just until mixed.
Roll dough and cut in shapes. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

[susan_foster]

Originally posted by madpots
Susan, if you don't have white chocolate chips, you could leave them out. It would still be a nice cookie.
Alton

Thanks for the recipe - it looks very good. And I probably would leave the white chips out - something about white chocolate bothers me, for some reason.

Susan

[AzAnne]

I know these aren't treats, but I thought they were cute as ..



Joanie Pimentel in Sunset's information technology department came up with this styling idea for a staff party last Halloween. She cuts pitted black olives in half lengthwise and nestles one half on top of an egg for the body, and then cuts the other half crosswise into thin slices to form the creepy legs.

[donleyk]

Madpots, thanks for posting the chippers recipe. These are OMG good! I agree, not much pumpkin comes thru but to die for!

[claire797]

Here's another cute one from the link Linda posted (Family Fun). This is half a banana, speared on a stick and dipped in white chocolate.

[ellery]

Bumping this because I found this awesome page full of ideas. Must find kids to make these for...

http://kraftfoods.com/kf/ff/Hallowee...iteRecipes.htm

Leah

[MISSINDI]

I'm making the Spooky Gloved Munch Mix -- ellery's link above should have a picture, since it's from Kraft Foods. I can't figure out how to paste pictures - help! I haven't been able to find the plastic gloves anywhere - so far, I've checked the grocery store, Wal-Mart, Party City and Michaels. Going back out in a bit to check some more stores, since I wanted him to bring these in tomorrow. Next Friday, I'm making the Ghosts in the Graveyard cake (also from Kraft Foods).

[funnybone]

Originally posted by MISSINDI
I haven't been able to find the plastic gloves anywhere - so far, I've checked the grocery store,

Have you checked with the cleaning supplies? I've seen them there before.

[MISSINDI]

Originally posted by funnybone


Have you checked with the cleaning supplies? I've seen them there before.

Yes, they have a bunch of different gloves, as does the Pharmacy departments in the grocery store -- problem is they all have some sort of coating on them, either inside or outside, that makes them not adaptable for this project. The Snack Bar at Wal-Mart actually uses them, I was excited to learn this afternoon, but they don't sell them in the store, and I couldn't convince him to let me buy a box.... argh!

[funnybone]

I wanted to post this dip from www.landolakes.com




SPIDER WEB DIP


A spooky spider web design is created simply with LAND O LAKES® Sour Cream.

Preparation 15 min.

Ingredients:

1 (16-ounce) jar (1 3/4 cups) black bean dip
1 (12-ounce) container guacamole
1/4 cup LAND O LAKES® Sour Cream
1 cup shredded lettuce
4 ounces (1 cup) LAND O LAKES® Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup chopped tomato
Tortilla chips

Instructions:

Spread bean dip onto center of large platter, leaving 1 to 2 inches around edge of platter. Carefully spread bean dip with guacamole.

Spoon sour cream into resealable plastic food bag. Snip off corner. Pipe sour cream in 4 concentric circles onto guacamole. Drag toothpick or knife through sour cream from center outward to make spider web design.

Layer lettuce, cheese and tomatoes on edge of platter. Serve with tortilla chips.
Ingredient Substitution Index

Yield: 15 servings

Nutrition Facts (1 serving without chips)
Calories: 150
Fat: 10 g
Cholesterol: 20 mg
Sodium: 320 mg
Carbohydrates: 9 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 7 g

[funnybone]

Originally posted by MISSINDI
The Snack Bar at Wal-Mart actually uses them, I was excited to learn this afternoon, but they don't sell them in the store, and I couldn't convince him to let me buy a box.... argh!

If you call the manager and tell him you need it for school (assuming you are), I am sure you could get them to give you some. Even some grocery store deli's use the plastic kind also, and you could also try to get them from them. Good Luck.

[funnybone]

I found a few links:


http://www.cleansweepsupply.com/pages/skugroup2582.html

http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/gGGLX0084.html

[MISSINDI]

Thanks, funnybone! I really wanted to make them for him to bring in tomorrow, but if I can't find them tonight, then I'll order online. I wonder if maybe Costco sells them. Next week, I'm making this:



Also found these eyeballs - too cool!

[jtoepfert100]

Those eyeballs are gross! What's the blue thing in the middle? Do you have a link?

[colleency]

They have the gloves at Smart & Final, if you have those out there.

[MISSINDI]

No, no Smart and Final here, but thanks for trying.

Jen -- here's the Eyeball Cookies. The thing in the middle is a Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cup with blue frosting ... no go in a peanut-free school, so I'll figure out a sub for next week.

Eyeball Cookies
Makes: 12
Can be refrigerated in a rigid airtight container with wax paper between layers up to 1 day or frozen up to 1 month.

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 an 18-oz roll refrigerated sugar-cookie dough
12 miniature peanut butter cups (Reese’s)
Red liquid food color
1 tube (.75 oz) blue writing gel (optional)

1. Have a large baking sheet ready.

2. Knead flour into dough until well blended. Remove 1/4 tsp dough, roll into 12 tiny balls (for pupils); reserve. Roll remaining dough into an even 12-in. log. Cut in twelve 1-in. pieces. Place pieces cut side up. Insert your thumb in center of each and make an indentation large enough to hold a peanut butter cup; insert cup.

3. Roll dough between palms of your hands to rise up and around sides of cup. Put a pupil in center of cup. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheet.

4. Put a few drops red food color into a small cup. Dip in end of toothpick; draw veins from center to edge of each cookie. Refrigerate 15 minutes to firm dough.

5. Meanwhile heat oven to 350°F.

6. Bake cookies 12 min or until pale golden around edges. Remove to a wire rack to cool. If desired, pipe blue gel around pupils of some of the cookies.

[wyopatti]

I made the eyeball cookies last year and my grandkids loved them. They really turn out cute.

[Beth]

We're doing popcorn hands with Bugles int he fingertips for the kids this year. We found the gloves at the dollar stores -- 100 for $1. I've seen them nearly everywhere I went looking for the plastic squeeze bottles I needed for another school project. I think I bought them at Dollar Tree here.