Halloween Cupcakes

My computer has another virus so it's been at the Doctors...for a very long time. I was hoping I would have it back before the end of the #GreatHallowTweet but that isn't going to happen so this is going to be short and sweet...

This event is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings. The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next! So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!


So I totally cheated on these and used a boxed mix for these cupcakes. You can pretty much do what ever type or flavor that you would like. I did make the frosting. Just a simple white frosting.

White Frosting for Cupcakes or Cakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 Tbsp. milk

Directions

Beat butter with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy.
Gradually beat in sugar until smooth.
Beat in vanilla and 2 Tbsp. milk, adding additional milk, if necessary, for desired consistency.

***These were a huge hit at the girl's Halloween Parties this year. Simple but really Halloweenish!

Pumpkin Seeds…that’s why we carve pumpkins right?

Another post for the #GreatHallowTweet!  This is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings.  The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next!  So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!

In out house on of the favorite things about Halloween is being able to carve the pumpkins.  Great scary faces, some silly, sometimes we even make them sad…but really our goal is the pumpkin seeds.  We LOVE the seeds.  Roasted up nice and crispy with a spicy and salty seasoning blend…

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat oven to 425F

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter (melted)
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

• Mix and stir in cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds and place on a baking sheet.
• Place in the oven and stir every 5-7 minutes or until brown and crisp.

#GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop and Rice Krispie Treat Pumpkins!

I was invited to join in on last years #GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop but found myself just too busy to commit and say yes.  Sadly I ended up regretting it and was determined to be a part this year. 

In case you missed last years #GHT Halloween BlogHop you need to know that this is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings.  The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next!  So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!

Rice Krispie Treat Pumpkins (adapted from the Rice Krispie website)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows

- OR -

4 cups miniature marshmallows

Red food coloring

Yellow food coloring

6 cups Rice Krispies®

Green frosting for piping on stems and leaves

Directions:

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. To tint orange stir in red and yellow food coloring, if desired.
2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using 1/2-cup measuring cup coated with cooking spray divide warm cereal mixture into portions. Using buttered hands shape each portion into pumpkin shape. 
4.  Use the green frosting to make a stem and leaves to make them look like pumpkins. Best if served the same day.

***These were so much fun to make.  I had the kids help out of course.  I just wish I had of made them more orange but my youngest has issues with dyes so I was hesitant to use more.  Next time I will also melt some chocolate and make little faces on them but for this one I wanted to use the Halloween cupcake

Halloween Tomorrow - Pumpkin Bread

I had to make a choice today...one tat I didn't want to but I just ran out of time! I had said that I was going to make some apple snacks that I had seen but I have been going all day and that one was going to be a little time consuming. We have Karate and Ice Skating tonight so that kind of eliminates the evening hours. As it is I can't even figure out dinner!!! Rotisserie chicken from Costco will have to cover that tonight! I went ahead and made Pumpkin Bread. Still Halloweenish and seasonal but not quite as labor intensive as the apple snacks.

No Fear Entertaining Pumpkin Bread (this will make 2 loaves)

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups sugar (I used organic cane sugar)

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 cups canned pumpkin puree

1 cup milk

4 eggs

2/3 cup butter

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large mixing bowl combine 1/2 of the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, pumpkin, milk eggs and butter.

Mix with an electric mixer on low speed until blended. Turn mixer to high and mix for about 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour and mix well. Stir in pecans and raisins.

Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans and bake in your preheated 350 degree oven for 60 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in a wire rack.

Remove bread from pans and allow to cool completely on the rack.

Cool completely before slicing and for best results wrap and store overnight before slicing.

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Halloween Party Tonight!

The children are all excited. The food is almost ready and I still have time to post this entry!

Thanks goodness the party is not here at our house this time. As much as I love entertaining at home I also really love it when we are invited to someone elses house for a party! I am taking some food with us though...can't arrive empty handed now can we? I made Apple Cheesecake Squares to take and also a roasted garlic, onion chip dip. I found the cutest little pumpkin that I am going to carve out to serve the dip in. Very cute idea isn't it? I am sneakingmy camera tonight so should have some fun pictures for you next week!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

www.nofearentertaining.com

8 days til Halloween!

Halloween is such a fun holiday! The colors are great, no presents to buy and lots and lots of CANDY!!! I think that I can honestly say that there is not a candy in existence that I don't like. How sad is that???

We have a Halloween party to go to on Saturday night so I thought I would bring a cute little chip and dish thing.



This is an idea that I found on the Internet (I have no idea where...if anyone know let me know so I can give credit) with a sweet dip for graham cookies. I think around Halloween the very last thing that we need is more sweets so I am just going to steal this idea and fill 2 small pumpkin with some chip dip and some veggie dip and serve it with veggies and potato chips. I really liked the idea and it will look so cute on a table!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com

Pumpkin Tortellini - Yummmm!

I made the pumpkin tortellini recipe last night. The recipe is in my post from yesterday. It was incredibly delicious. Just an amazing blend of flavors that I would never have attempted to put together myself!!! Pumpkin, goat cheese, figs, hazelnuts....The only thing that I did change was not adding the honey. I really don't like my food to be real sweet (dessert yes, but dinner no). So I omitted the honey and I thought it turned out wonderful!

I just found another little Halloween or autumn party idea. I got it off of the allrecipes.com website. Very simple but very cute! I might make it for my youngest daughter's Halloween Party!

INGREDIENTS
1 (16 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix together instant vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Fold in the thawed frozen whipped topping. Chill in the refrigerator until serving.

As Always....

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy

http://www.nofearentertaining.com/

Halloween Pumpkin Cookies

Halloween is coming up fast and I am always looking for some new recipes. We have all had the sugar cookies decorated but this year I found something different!

You can search for more cookie recipes and aticles on www.cookierecipeonline.com .

Halloween Pumpkin Cookies
by Diana Rattray

These pumpkin cookies are topped with a browned butter icing and chopped walnuts. Halloween cookies are great for a party or any other Autumn get-together.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped pecans or other nuts
Browned Butter Icing, below

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and smooth. Beat in eggs, pumpkin puree, and vanilla. In another bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add to the first mixture and stir until smooth. Stir in chopped pecans or other nuts. Drop cookie dough by spoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets, or use Silpat-type sheets or parchment paper to line baking sheets. Bake pumpkin cookies at 375° for 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool cookies on racks then spread with browned butter icing (below).

Browned Butter Icing

6 tablespoons butter
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, unsifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons milk, or enough for spreading consistency
chopped pecans or other nuts

Brown butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat; remove from heat. Blend in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Beat in milk to desired spreading consistency. Frost the Halloween cookies and sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired.

Let me know how you like them. You may get around to making them before me!!!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
http://www.nofearentertaining.com/