Monday, October 18, 2010

Spiced Cream Puffs w Cinnamon Whip Cream - AKA "Bloody Eyeballs"


Halloween is almost here and it's one of my favorite holidays.  I was slacking on putting up my decorations; so I made up for lost time this weekend.  Every year when the kids were little we had a huge Halloween party including spooky treats and games.  One of the games we liked to play was called "Fear Factor Eating Contest".

I've spent the last couple of days Spookifying (is that a word?) the place.  I think the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.  I'm a Halloween decorations junkie; I've lost count of how many bins of decorations there are in our rafters.  I'm only putting out my favorites and the rest have to go, or at least that is what I'm telling myself once again.


What, doesn't everyone have a zombie that takes his head off lying around?


Or miscellaneous body parts?

Okay, well Skelly really isn't all that spooky, but my daughter won't let me part with him. 


Oh yes, back to the "Fear Factor Eating contest"; there were no real bug shakes or the like.  Just tasty treats made to look scary.  Of course these things are eaten in the dark, to add to the scare factor.  One of the favorites was "Bloody Eyeballs"; sounds wretched, but in reality it was a luscious cream puff with a crunchy exterior and smooshy interior.  Eaten in the dark, they really grossed the kids out. 


Spiced Cream Puffs w Cinnamon Whip Cream - AKA Bloody Eyeballs
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup water
1/4 tsp. salt
4 large eggs, beaten

Mix together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves and set aside.

In small saucepan add butter, water and salt and cook on low till melted, then bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add flour mixture and stir till combined, place back on heat and stir till dried out just a bit, it will leave a film on the bottom of the pan, only takes about a minute.

Transfer the dough to a mixer.  Beat on medium speed for about 1 minute to cool.   Add eggs, a couple tablespoons at a time.  Mixture should be shiny and sticking to the sides of the bowl.

You will need a large piping bag and a silpat or parchment paper.  Fill the bag with the dough and pipe 1" circles onto the mat, I got 24.  Stick the tip of the bag on the mat and just squeeze, don't lift up and if you have tips stick up, you can use a wet knife to knock them down if you want.

Bake in 400 degree F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees F and bake for 25 minutes more, until nice and dry and crisp.

Cinnamon Whip Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Combine all in a mixer bowl and beat until stiff.  Place in piping bag with a small tip. 

Set aside in fridge.

To decorate the eyeballs, melt 1 bag of white candy melts from craft store in microwave or over double boiler, dip cream puffs in and set on rack to dry.  When dry use, food color pens or glossy icing pens to decorate and fill with whip cream from bottom, prior to serving.


I threw this one in because I have Hazel eyes that turn freakishly green like this when they are bloodshot; I thought how ironic!

Enjoy,

Gina

30 comments:

  1. Haha how much fun are these?! I love the Halloween decorations!

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  2. Gina, love your cream puff eyeballs, they are so creative! And since we are big Halloween junkies as well I can appreciate your awesome decor :o)

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  3. these are too funny!! what a great dessert it would make for my girls!

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  4. I love these!! We are going to an adult Halloween Party in a few weeks, I think I might bring this!! What a great idea!!!

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  5. awww.... i m not sure if i could eat this:)

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  6. I love all your decorations. These cream puff are fantastic! Great job:)

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  7. I'm a HUGE Halloween fanatic and go all out for Halloween. I love your decorations and especially the cream puff eye balls! Those are so fun, I'm definitely going to make those for Halloween. :)

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  8. That is spooktastic! hehe I love it Gina. We just decorated the exterior with spiders and scarecrows and pumpkins. My son loves it. He would freak out if he saw those eyeball cream puffs! What a great halloween treat! AND I love Fearfactor, what ever happened to that show? is it still on?

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  9. I love these! Halloween is my daughters favorite, and one of mine too! I think it's great that you put a spooky twist on such a normally prim and proper dessert.

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  10. gosh that's one artistic yet delicious batch! i'm sure it's gonna be a big hit this halloween :)

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  11. Love it! Halloween was always my favorite holiday - makes me miss the days when I had fun/scary Halloween parties for my daughter and her friends! Very creative - have fun this year!

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  12. these are so cute:) you are very talented. great post. thank you for sharing.

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  13. Hey Gina, Today was a day that I really needed to see these spooky blood shot eyeballs so from the bottom of my heart I say Thank You (I really needed the chuckle) and I'm sure my family would love these treats for Halloween:) Thanks so much for your sweet comment on my blog, it's always appreciated, ps. your dinner party looked like a fantastic spread, loved all the photos and the wine:)

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  14. Gina, Your bloody eyeballs are so much fun. I love all of your Halloween decor, and your pictures.

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  15. My daughter wants to come visit you. She LOVES you decorations (we have the cut-off foot too).

    There's an award for you on my blog. You are so, so good.

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  16. Gina great idea, so inventive! Wish my kids were still young enough to get into them!

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  17. I have got goosebumps looking at these eyes.....that means you did them successfully!

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  18. Ha When I have kids I am totally going to do fear factor with them around Halloween! These would still be good for a Halloween party though with adults :)

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  19. spooky! fantastic puffs and perfect for halloween!

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  20. Halloween is my favorite too...These are great, so sun for kids :)

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  21. those are creepy. i need them in my life.

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  22. What a creepy and funny creatures. You have a lot of imagination and talent for all these Halloween "fun" stuff!
    I bet the puffs were yummy, even if scary looking...LOL

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  23. These are great! They sound quite tasty, too. Who can resist cream puffs, especially with cinnamon whipped cream? Yum!

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  24. I love this idea! The kids would think these were so creepy (and they are!)

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  25. Okay, those are soooo fun!!!

    Great blog; happy I found you!

    Mary xo
    Delightful Bitefuls

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  26. Sounds so delicious I would eat it, even if it looks creepy.

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  27. Seriously cool. I've never seen anything like these before :)

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  28. Hi,

    The cream puffs look wow...i love the other pictures too!!great...:)

    Dr.Sameena@

    www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com

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  29. Trick or treat! I want to come to your house to trick or treat! Your Scary eyeballs, would freak me out in the dark:) I'm a wuss.

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