Food Friday - Halloween Treats

from Tracey G.

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it - I've had the darn thing for a couple years now and I'd yet to make it - until now. Yeah! Finally!  The dip tastes just like pumpkin pie - it's so yummy! And the pie crust dippers are perfect with it, only next time I think I'd do something a little "stronger" to dip - the cats legs kept breaking off and the tails barely made it off the cookie sheets, lol. Maybe pumpkin cut outs or ghosts or something - but the cats are pretty darn cute, lol. Another good thing about this recipe is it's holiday-versatile, lol. I mean, you could make it around Thanksgiving, using leaf cookie cutters in place of the Halloween themed cutters. Just tint the egg wash the appropriate color for the leaves and you're all set. :-)

This was a pretty easy recipe to execute - which was really nice! Would be a good last minute thing to throw together - I had everything on hand that I needed. I always have pumpkin puree in the freezer (canned is called for in the recipe though, but I always make my own every fall and freeze it), the pie crusts are usually in the freezer and the cream cheese is usually in the fridge, lol. So, this was an easy throw-together for me! :-)

Here's the filling ingredients - Honey, pumpkin pie spice, cream cheese, pumpkin and powdered sugar. I also make my own pumpkin pie spice as well, and that's super easy too - I'll include my recipe in this post as well. :-)

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy (this is not the bowl I beat it in, lol, this is the one I used to store it in the fridge in while the dippers were baking). Add the pumpkin, honey, powdered sugar and pumpkin pie spice.

The dipper ingredients are cinnamon, granulated sugar, milk, refrigerated pie crusts, an egg and black paste food coloring (I used the new Wilton Color Right system Black color). 

Roll out the dough directly on the cookie sheet to 1/8-in thickness...

Cut out the dippers leaving about an inch in between them, just peel the excess dough from between them - you can re-roll the scraps too if you'd like, I did. 

Beat the egg, add milk and food color. Mix the cinnamon with the sugar and set aside. Brush the colored egg mixture over the cats, then sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar. 

Bake at 400°F for 6-7 minutes, or until edges begin to brown. Cook on wire racks. Serve with pumpkin dip!

Pumpkin Pie Dip with Black Cat Dippers

courtesy of Taste of Home

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 15 oz. can solid-pack pumpkin

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tbsp honey

Dippers:

1 pkg (15 oz.) refrigerated pie pastry

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

black paste food coloring

1/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1) In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add the pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, honey and powdered sugar; mix until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate until serving.

2) Roll out each pastry sheet directly on an ungreased cookie sheet to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2-in. cookie cutter, leaving at least 1 inch in between cutouts. Remove excess dough, and re-roll scraps if desired. Beat the egg with the milk and food coloring; brush over cut outs. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over cutouts.

3) Bake at 400°F for 6-7 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool on wire racks. Serve pumpkin dip.

Pumpkin Pie Spice:

Makes about 7 1/2 tsp

4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Mix all together and store in an airtight container. I have made it before without using ginger and I've also added a bit more clove - because I love clove, lol. Feel free to add or subtract whatever to suit your tastes :-) 

from Kris B.

All I can say is that it is a good thing that Tracey titled this week’s post because if I had done it, it would have been “the agony of defeat.”  LOL!  First of all, time got away from me and I found myself scrambling to get things done at the end of the week.  I had everything planned out, but the execution certainly did not work according to that plan.  That I can actually cope with since I have on ongoing struggle with time management.  And time whoops me in every battle!

The second defeat was in the recipe itself.  Looking back, this is because I didn’t trust my own instincts.

So here’s the story…

A few Sunday’s ago at church, someone had made for coffee hour the good, old fashioned, remind you of your childhood, Rice Krispie treats.  Weber had one and commented as to he couldn’t remember when he had last had one and that he really liked them.  That afternoon, I made a batch of the tried and true off -the-box recipe for us to take in our lunches that week.  When Tracey and I started talking about Halloween treats, I had the idea to just add pumpkin spices to the original Rice Krispie Treats recipe to give them a little festive spirit.  

Knowing that virtually no ideas are really original, I turned to the Internet to see what had been done along these lines.  Of course I discovered that my thoughts were not original; no surprise there.  LOL!  What I did find, is that several recipes added pumpkin purée.  Though I was hesitant about that, I read this blog where the writer chronicled her own process of trying to create pumpkin Rice Krispie treats.  She told of several failed attempts, but finally, by paying careful attention to the cooling process of the marshmallow and pumpkin mixture, was successful.  Being that she had gone through the trial and error, I decided to follow her recipe, with full disclosure.  

Here it is:

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

serves 12

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 (10 ounce) bag mini marshmallows plus one cup

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of allspice

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of kosher salt

6 cups crispy rice cereal

 Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish (or a smaller dish — see Note below).

 In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add the pumpkin puree and continue to cook until it is warmed through. Fold in 10 ounces of the marshmallows, stirring frequently until almost completely melted. 

Stir in vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt, and remove from heat. 

Allow the marshmallow mixture to cool 10 minutes; fold in the remaining cup of marshmallows.

 Continue to cool the mixture for another 20 to 25 minutes until it is room temperature (failure to cool the mixture will result in soggy rice crispy treats.) Add the puffed rice cereal and stir, using a silicone spatula, until combined. 

Press the mixture into the greased rectangular baking dish. Let set for 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

 • Note: I call for a 9x13-inch dish here, but I often use an 8x11-inch because I like taller treats. Any size in this range should do.

I'll admit that when it comes to cooking I do not always measure ingredients exactly, nor to I always follow suggested timing for things.  I have learned to adjust for me own taste and the quirks of my own oven.  That said, I followed this recipe exactly because I knew that there was a fine line between success and failure.  I actually set a timer for the two different cooling periods.  All seemed well.

After allowing the pan to fully cool, I gave Weber the first square.  His comment, "The flavor is really good, but the Rice Krispies are tough."  Ooh.  Not a good thing.  I tasted them.  He was right, the flavor is good.  What he described as "tough" was actually soggy, masked by the stickiness of the marshmallow mixture.  So, they tasted good, but didn't feel good in your mouth, especially since we all know what Rice Krispie Treats are supposed to taste like both in flavor and texture.

So what did I learn?  I am not one who thinks that I know everything.  I'm far from that.  But, in this case, I knew that the added liquid from the pumpkin purée would change the science of this recipe and I should have followed my initial instinct to only add the pumpkin pie spices.  And honestly, the pumpkin purée adds no additional flavor.  So, if you want to make Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie treats, skip the "bad guy,"

and follow the basic recipe on the cereal box, 

1. Melt 3 TBS of butter in a heavy sauce pan over low heat.  Add the marshmallows, stirring until completely melted.

 and add 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg and allspice to taste, to the marshmallow mixture.   

2. Stir in 6 Cups of Rice Krispies.

3. Using a buttered spatula, spread the mixture into a buttered 9x15 pan, or a smaller pan for thicker treats.  Let cool completely and then cut into squares. 

Most often the "KISS" method (Keep It Simple Stupid) is best.  Lesson learned.  LOL!

So there you have it, my story of being defeated by Rice Krispie Treats.  If any of you choose to take on the pumpkin puree in this arena, I'd love to know your secrets!

Food Friday - Spring Sweet Treats

from Kris B.

What's that saying, “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.” or something like that…That phrase seems to sum up where i have been this week. Tuesday I wrote about being “grown-up” but still being most comfortable in my Converse, not much different from forty years ago, and today it is my favorite ingredients for treats.  No matter how old I get, I will never outgrow my love of two childhood favorites - peanut butter and graham crackers.  And when you combine those two things with a little chocolate, the kid in me couldn’t be happier.

Neither of our recipes this week are diet friendly, but they sure do taste good!  What is Easter or Passover without a bit of a sweet treat?  And homemade candy sure is a lot better than those bags from the store!  Another plus to this week’s recipes is that they are simple, simple, simple!

As a church musician, this is the busiest week of services of the entire year.  Our choir rehearsed on Monday evening and then we have seven services to sing between Wednesday evening and Sunday afternoon. Come Monday morning, Jesus may be risen, but church musicians and clergy are pretty much dead!  (I did miss singing last night’s service because we had plumbing issues at home, but that is a whole other story!)

Back to the graham crackers, peanut butter and chocolate…and a few more basic ingredients…

Other than melting some butter and chocolate chips in the microwave, this recipe requires no cooking.  I told you it was easy!  

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER SQUARES

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup Graham cracker crumbs

2 sticks melted butter

1 Cup chunky peanut butter

3 3/4 Cups powdered sugar

1 bag of chocolate chips

Combine the Graham crackers, peanut butter, melted butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl. 

Once mixed, use your hands to pat the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.  Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave.  I did it in 45 second increments and I believe it took three rounds.  Watch the chocolate carefully though as all microwaves are a little different and you don’t want the chocolate to burn.  Once melted, use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate in a thin layer over the Graham cracker mixture.  

Place the pan in the refrigerator to set the chocolate.  Once set, remove from the refrigerator and allow to return to room temperature,  Cut into once inch squares.

The squares can also be frozen and saved if you are not up to eating the whole pan on Easter Sunday!

from Tracey G

With Easter approaching, candy - or some form of sweet treat, seemed like a good idea. But, as I was to be out of town, I needed something easy to do while Harry and I were visiting Grandma and Grandpa for the week ;-) My brain settled on Chocolate Covered Marshmallows on a stick, they seemed like a good choice on all counts, easy and yummy! I then had to think, how am I going to present them, that was a little more tricky than the actual coming up with the idea of what I wanted make, so a trip to Michael's was in order! :-) I had bought some wooden skewers to use for the sticks, but they weren't very pretty so I picked up some blue polka-dotted paper straws and some green-striped paper straws to slip over the wooden skewer. It wasn't until after I bought them that I wondered if they'd actually fit over the skewers, lol. Thank goodness they did! Then I found the pretty green ceramic mason jar with the word "Hope" on it which seemed very Easter-appropriate, spiritual or not, there's all kinds of hope going on at this time of year. :-) So, I had the jar, I then found some paper Easter grass to fill the jar, so that I could stick the marshmallows in and make a bouquet - presentation solved! And it was pretty too, would make a great way to give them as a gift, which in fact we did while we were there, with another container filled with the grass and our pretty little marshmallow bouquet arranged. ;-)

The actual "recipe" is easy as could be, ingredients were minimal to say the least, lol. You need 1 cup of chocolate chips, I tbsp vegetable shortening, marshmallows, sprinkles of choice and skewers. These could be done anytime, for any holiday by just varying the colors and whatnot. I used pretty much a whole regular-sized bag of regular-sized marshmallows and had plenty of chocolate to do them - there was only a few marshmallows missing due to the quality-control checking that Harry and I did. ;-)

The first thing I did, was get the marshmallows on the sticks, that was the more time-consuming (if it can be called that, lol) aspect of the project. 

Then I got my various sprinkles put into little bowls for easy dipping. I discovered that smaller sprinkles looked prettier than the larger ones, so I only did a few with the bigger sprinkles before I decided to just stick with the other two.

Now was time to get the chocolate melted. I combined 1 cup of chocolate chips in a measuring cup along with the 1 tbsp of vegetable shortening. I couldn't tell you how long I microwaved them until they were melted, as the microwave I used had a chocolate melting setting, lol, so I used that. But from what I'd read in the recipe/method I'd found, it's like 1 1/2 - 2 min on high stirring occasionally (about every 30 seconds to be safe) until melted. I did end up adding a bit more shortening as my chocolate mixture seemed to be a bit on the thick side, so I'd say I added another 1 tsp to 1/2 tbsp more. 

All that's left is to dip your marshmallows ;-) What I did was, dip one, shake off the excess, then hang on to it while I dipped another - that way it "set up" a little bit before dipping into the sprinkles. Then I set them on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Once I got them all dipped, I then placed them in the refrigerator to set up all the way. After they were all set, I slipped on the paper straws and popped a few into the jar, the rest into a zip-top bag for storage, and I did keep them in the fridge as well.

Here again, is the "recipe" I used:

Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows

1 bag marshmallows

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1tbsp vegetable shortening

sprinkles of choice

wooden skewers

Skewer the marshmallows on the sticks. Combine the 1 tbsp of shortening with the 1 cup of chocolate chips; melt on high in the microwave about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes  until melted and can be stirred smooth. Then dip your marshmallows, shaking off excess. Dip into sprinkles of choice, place on wax paper. Once done with all the marshmallows refrigerate until firm.