Bunny Cakes

Halloween Brownie Kabobs

Traditionally we always send in a treat to the boys teachers for Halloween.  Despite our kitchen being 'down for the count' we still managed to bake some brownies.  Instead of doing our typical candy roll packaging for the brownies, we decided to try something new: brownie kabobs!  We layered candy corn and orange & white M&M's on the bottom of a festive glass.  Then we piled on the mini-bundt cake brownies and stuck them through with a wooden skewer (mainly to make sure they don't fall over).  Finally we topped it all with a Ghostly peep.  We found that peeps leave a gooey mess on the skewer if you have to push it through far, so we just added the peep to the top brownie with a toothpick.  Wrap the whole thing in cello and tie with Halloween tag (ours are from Martha Stewart's Craft line) and ribbon for the perfect treat!

-K

Halloween Baking To Do List

My kitchen is out of commission because we are having the cabinets painted.  The timing is such that I will not be able to get my bake on for Halloween.  However, I thought I would still share some of the *Halloween Baking Ideas*  (found on Pinterest) I was thinking of making...

*Halloween Graveyard Cake* - this idea comes from Country Living.  Essentially it is a box cake baked in a rectangular baking dish then topped with store-bought cookies (tombstones fashioned from Pepperidge Farm's Milano and Bordeaux cookies & fence made from Rademaker chocolate sticks).  More details can be found here.

*Ghosties with the Mosty* - White chocolate will transform almost anything into ghosts.  All you need to do is dunk your items (pretzel rods, Milano cookies, Nutter Butter cookies or anything else) into white chocolate.  You will need to do a few coats and then add eyes (use mini chocolate chips, pipe chocolate/icing or use a black food marker).  Here are some examples (also found on Pinterest)...

*Halloween Trifle/Parfaits* - Go crazy and stack up your favorite Halloween candy.  You can keep it 'dry' or add layers of pudding, whipped cream, cake bites to make it a gooey, delicious mess.  More details on the parfait can be found here.

*Halloween Cookies* - A true favorite of mine and the kiddies.  I found some really cute decorating ideas I worth giving a try: skeleton cookies and the cutest ghost cookies ever.

Happy Baking & Eating!

-K

Halloween Table & Mini Halloween Cookies

I just realized I never posted last year's *Halloween Table*, so here goes...as per usual, ignore the wrinkles on the tablecloth (Martha would be so disappointed).  

Last year was baby O's first Halloween, so I wanted the table to have a fun vibe.  I set the it with an orange, retro tablecloth from Target and added a centerpiece of Halloween treats (brownies, chocolates & candy corn).  I also added black cat buckets filled with plum-colored leaves and bluish berries.  The best part of the table, however, were the little buckets of *Mini Halloween Sugar Cookies* set at each placesetting.  To make the little cookies I used cookie cutters from a Halloween Linzer Cookie cutter kit (can be found at A.C. Moore).  I am hoping to make more mini cookies this year, other than that I haven't figured out what else I will do for this year's Halloween table.

-K

Off to London

Cheerio!  I'm off to London sans kids and hubby!  Two of my college roommates live in London (two blocks apart) and after many, many years, I am off to enjoy their company for a few days.  I am so excited!  

-K

Pumpkin Bounty

When it comes to pumpkin picking my philosophy is Pick Early, Pick Often.  So last weekend when the rain finally broke, we put on our boots/high tops and headed out to our favorite local farm, Wegmeyer Farms.  We have never disappointed by the wide variety of pumpkins there and this year was no different.  The boys were instantly won over by a long pink variety called the Pink Banana, while I was intrigued by the Knuckle Head variety, a traditional pumpkin with lots of fun, warty knobs.  Besides picking out pumpkins my other mission while I am at the farm is to take pictures of the boys.  Sadly, each year their tolerance for posing for pictures diminishes, but I still managed to get a few good ones.

Here is a picture of our pumpkin loot piled on our kitchen counter...

 

and the boys at the farm...

-K

Halloween Oreo Brownies

For some reason I think the Halloween oreo cookies taste better than the regular oreo cookies.  I was thinking that very thought last weekend while I was dunking an oreo into my milk and decided I needed to add them to something.  I was formulating a cookie concoction in my head when the need arose for me to make brownies (yes, that is true, I needed to make brownies).  So...I decided to crush up some Halloween oreos and add them to the top of my brownie batter.  I only covered half the batch of brownies with the oreo crumble in case they turned out horribly wrong.  I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out AWESOME.  They really tasted as good as they looked.  The oreos had a slight burned taste (like golden roasted marshmallows) and added a nice crunch to the brownie.  So next time you need to make brownies, add some crushed up oreos to them!  Project notes: (1) To crush the oreos, placed them in ziploc bag and whack with a wooden spoon.  Try to leave some larger chunks; (2) You may have to bake the brownies with the oreo topping a little longer than usual; (3) Be very careful not to burn yourself on the oreo topping when you take the brownies out of the oven, the oreos will be extra hot and some pieces will be loose; (4) Eat them while they are still warm, they tasted so much better that way.

Here are the brownies before baking.  Another tip is to use Baking Pam to spray your mold, it works much better than regular Pam.

-K