This week I am hosting the Sunday Funday writers as we share Halloween sweets. This month we have looked at Spooky Mains and Halloween Sips. So, I invited to group to post Trick-or-TREATS...Halloween desserts or homemade treats.
Stacy of Food Lust People Love, Sue of Palatable Pastime, Rebekah of Making Miracles, and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm coordinate this low-stress group; we only participate when we are inspired. I can't wait to make some of these treats. Here's the Sunday Funday Halloween treat basket...
Black Widow Cookies from Amy's Cooking Adventures
Ghoulishly Good Halloween Care Packages from Culinary Cam (you're here)
Green-Eyed Monster Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
Halloween Chicken Worm Nuggets from Sneha's Recipe
Magically Easy Pumpkin Spice Cake from A Day in the Life on the Farm
My boys are grown and flown. Both of them picked colleges that are are close, but not too close. So, I needed to make care packages to send them for Halloween. Here's what I put in the boxes! In the end, we were headed more than halfway to Santa Cruz this weekend. So, I only mailed the package to Berkeley. R's goodie box was hand-delivered along with two kinds of pumpkin ale for him and his 21+ roommates to try.
Mummy Marshmallow Treats
I recently saw a friend post photos of Rice Krispies treats wrapped like mummies. I knew I had to make them! Thanks for the inspiration, Shelby.
Ingredients
8 Tablespoons butter
8 cups marshmallows
8 cups puffed rice cereal
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Also needed: candy eyeballs, cheesecloth cut into 1-inch strips
Procedure
Place the butter and marshmallows in a large pot and heat until melted. Add in the extract. Stir until mixed. Fold in the rice cereal and stir until well-coated. Let cool for a few minutes, then, with slightly moistened hands, form the mixture into slightly flattened circles. Push candy eyeballs into the mummies and place into the freezer to harden. Once hardened, wrap the mummies with cheesecloth.
Blood Orange Brownies
I used Blood Orange olive oil to make theses brownies.
Ingredients
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I used a smoked sea salt)
1/3 cup olive oil (I used a co-milled blood orange olive oil)
5 ounces dark or bittersweet chocolate (70-75%), finely chopped
3/4 cup organic granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or paste
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a square baking pan with parchment paper, or butter the pan. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine olive oil and chopped chocolate. Stir over low heat, with a spatula, until chocolate is almost melted. Remove from heat and continue to gently stir until smooth.
Whisk in granulated sugar until completely moistened. The brownie batter will be slightly grainy and paste-like. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until batter is smooth and shiny. Whisk in vanilla. Gently fold in the dry ingredients until just moistened. Spread into prepared pan, smoothing the top of the batter with a spatula.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until top is shiny and crackly. A toothpick inserted near the center should come out mostly clean. Cool on a wire rack until completely cooled before slicing and serving.
Peanut Boo-ter Cookies
Peanut butter cookies were my dad's favorite...and they are sturdy enough to mail. I knew I had to include them in the packages.
Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 C) butter, softened
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup organic granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Procedure
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter and sugar. Slowly add in egg and vanilla extract. Beat until well-combined. In larger mixing bowl, blend together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
Gently fold flour mixture into peanut butter mixture until completely moistened. Press it into a ball, then let chill for at least an hour. During the last 15 minutes of chilling, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Scoop a tablespoon-sized piece of dough and roll into a ball and place onto cookie sheet. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern.
Place in the oven and bake for 9 to 11 minutes - or just until the cookies begin to brown. You don't want to over-bake them as they harden while they cool.
Spooky Snowballs
Kourabiedes, Russian Teacakes, Mexican Wedding Cakes. These go by many different names. I decided to call them Spooky Snowballs for the event! They are a family favorite.
Ingredients
makes approximately 4 dozen cookies
1 pound butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup organic granulate sugar (you can use whatever sugar you have)
4 cups flour plus more as needed
1 cup almond flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons Ouzo or other licorice liqueur
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 to 3 cups organic powdered sugar for rolling cookies
Procedure
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, and baking soda until well-combined. Set aside.
Beat butter until lightened and fluffy. Add egg and sugar, beat until well-combined. Add flour mixture a little bit at a time until completely incorporated. Add in the liqueur and extract. If the dough is too wet, add in 1/4 cup flour at a time until it is no longer sticky.
To form, scoop about 1 to 2 tablespoons of dough into circles and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. These cookies don't expand, so you don't need to space them very far apart. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned and firm. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes.
Place powdered sugar in a small mixing bowl and add 3 to 4 cookies to it at a time. Very gently roll the cookies to coat with sugar.
Awww...D sent me a photo of his goodies plated. When I asked which was his favorite, he answered, "I need to eat real dinner first." Good call.
That's a wrap for Halloween events this month. I shared my Jeepers Creepers Martini for the Name Your Poison event. And posted Coconut Beef Curry in a Pumpkin for the Spooky Mains event. I hope you are inspired for next week. We'll be back next week with recipes from Egypt with Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm at the head. Stay tuned!