Easy Halloween Batdogs Appetizer Recipe

Holy Batdogs! I know the kids are just going to go crazy over these Batdogs I created for them.  For six of the kids this will be their first Halloween party over here, that's how crazy things have been in our family, six more babies in last 2 years alone.  One of my nephews is a huge Batman fan coupled with the fact Ms. Katty from Kattyskitchen posted a Batdad video on my FB wall the other day, I just couldn't Batman get out of my head.   

I was in Trader Joe's with the biggest kid around here (Hot Dog Dude) and when he spotted mini hot dogs he threw them in the cart faster than I don't know what.  They sat in the fridge for a least a week, all the while he kept reminding me I needed to do something with those hot dogs.  That is when it occurred to me they would fit in perfectly on my diabolical Halloween menu.  

First thing you need to do is heat up the bat oven to 350 degrees F.

Secondly, open a roll of crescent roll dough and unroll the whole thing in one sheet on your cutting board. Cut the dough into 2-inch strips and then in 2-inch squares and then cut the squares in half on the diagonal. Lay the hot dog on the triangle as pictured and wrap up the cape and pinch it securely. Place the hot dogs with the small side of the cape down on the baking tray lined with parchment paper or sprayed with no-stick spray.  Wrap the rest of the hot dogs the same way. Bake for 5 minutes, turn them over and bake 5 more minutes until the cape is browned.

While the Batdogs are in the oven make the caped crusaders masks. Cut 1/4-inch or so off of a large sized pitted black olive, the side without the large opening.  Then stand the olive on the cutting board and cut a slit down the side.  Then turn the olive so the slit is towards the backside and cut a v-shaped notch in the front of the olive.  Place the olive masks on the Batdogs and pipe mustard eyes on with a little mustard placed in a piping bag.

My two kids disposed of those Batdogs faster than Batman rids Gotham of crime.  I'm sure the kids are going to love them too on Saturday.  Sometime I wonder who likes these parties more, the kids or me.

I just wanted to thank you guys for your continued support of this little hobby of mine and to let you know I'm having some major technical difficulties with the site and just short on time and energy all the way around in life and probably won't be posting anymore or at least not until after the holidays are over or my clone is ready. 

Happy Halloween,

Gina 

Halloween Bloody Brain Balls

It's Monday, let's do the happy dance!  Honestly I have no idea who the nut job is who just said that is.  I would be happy if Monday never existed.  But I am excited to crank up the scary music and commence with the Halloween fun I've been having around here with these Bloody Brain Popcorn Balls I will be serving the little kids victims that are headed here this weekend.  

First of all I'd like to know how I went all these years without eating brains.  Seriously, I got offered them almost every year from my father-in-law on New Years.  He would store the head of the pig he served on Christmas in the fridge until New Years and then would eat the cheek meat and brains.  Every year he'd offer me some of the brains and every year I'd pass.

Well you know what I had no idea what I was missing until I made some for myself.  I always kind of thought they would be mushy and have foreign particles in them.  Turns out I was all wrong.  I was just offered the wrong kind of brains.  Had he passed around the popcorn brains I'd have been all over them, probably would have went back for seconds and thirds.  

Bloody Popcorn Brain Balls

1 cup of popcorn kernels 

5 tablespoons vegetable or high temperature oil

Salt

Pop the kernels in hot oil, add a little salt.  Pour the popped corn leaving behind the un-popped kernels in a large bowl.

10 ounces marshmallows

3 tablespoons butter

Pink food coloring, optional (I think white brains are acceptable to some, but I prefer fresh healthy brains myself.) 

Colored licorice

Red sparkle food gel

Melt the butter in a large saucepan on medium heat.  Add the marshmallows and stir until melted.  Add a very small amount of the pink food color.  Pour the brain goo over the popcorn and stir with a silicone spatula.

Spray a 1/2 cup measuring cup with no-stick spray and pack the cup with the popcorn mixture and un-mold onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  I got about twenty brains.

Shape them with your greased fingers a bit into balls and place a straw down the center for a little separation between the two halves of the old cauliflower.  

What fun would eating bloody brains be if you didn't have a few tasty bright colored veins running through them?  I found a couple different kinds to use. 

As for how bloody you'd like them, well that is completely up to you.  I prefer mine lightly hemorrhaging.  I also prefer a cup of tea to wash down my brains, but I am a bit odd like that.

Ten more days to Halloween people, ten more days!  Sorry just had to get that out of my system.

The Spooky Queen (thanks Patty)

p.s.  I may have inadvertently turned Hot Dog Dude into a zombie by giving him brains.  I sent the leftovers with him to work, and he came home that night and said, "I need more brains" with a strange glazed over look in his eyes. 

I prefer my rattler with extra Nutella or nothing at all!

I'm officially changing my name to Halloween Queen.  I had way too much fun making all the Halloween recipes you've seen this week.  I have no idea where some of my ideas come from, but I was fooling around in the kitchen and before you know it I was making a s'mores rattlesnake.

I wanted it to be easy enough for a kid to make with a little help.  Take a large square of graham cracker and cut the corners off to make a diagonal shaped head. Cut graham cracker squares down the center into rectangles. Cut a tail piece out of a rectangular piece of graham cracker.

Smear Nutella on the pieces and cut marshmallows in half with kitchen scissors and place them cut side down on the snake.  For the tail piece pipe a few stripes of peanut butter with peanut butter placed in a disposable piping bag and add a few chocolate chips as rattles.

Then blister the top of your marshmallows under a broiler or use a kitchen torch.  Just be careful not to melt the marshmallows, just give your snake a nice sunburn.  Attach a few snake scales (toasted sliced almonds) with the peanut butter in the piping bag.  Give your snake a couple of candy eyes and a licorice mouth.

I decided to have my rattler snake around the celery and carrot sticks but you could have him slither anywhere you'd like.

I have to get on costume making duty for the next couple of days, but hope to have the final two recipes up for you next week so we can keep this party going.

Enjoy,

Gina

Halloween Cheese and Crackers, Albino Cheese Rats that is.

When it comes to kitchen hygiene I'd say I'm pretty much up there with OCD clean.  I'm the type of person who will go behind you and put your cup in the dishwasher before your done using it.  Unfortunately one of the folks I live with doesn't abide by my sanitary standards.  That same person likes to come downstairs after I have completed my 40-point cleaning inspection and gone to bed.

While the pigeon is in the kitchen in the wee hours of the night it makes and leaves all sorts of messes. I'll come down and see the spotless kitchen I left the night before tore up, dishes everywhere, food left on the counter, and that is when I usually lose it and have to start with the lectures.  "You know you are going to attract rats with this mess."  "You probably have them sleeping with you in your bed right now since that is a pig pen too."

Well you know what, one morning I came downstairs and thought I'd faint when I saw a bunch of Albino (honey goat and cream cheese with red pepper eyes and rice noodle tail) rats scurrying across my cutting board leaving their gross (yet tasty and briny olive rat turds) everywhere.

"I will kill you Rat Bastards if it's the last thing I do", I screamed.  Poor Ted went and hid under his blanket.

That afternoon I planned my counter attack to rid this house of the vermin.  Then it hit me, I shall drown them in a bowl of delicious Raspberry Red Pepper Jelly that the lovely Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook sent me this summer.  Thank you again Claudia for sharing part of Minnesota with me.  Then I tied 4 grissini (thin Italian bread sticks) together with knots that would get me kicked out of the Navy.  Some celery rungs were added for extra traction.  Lined the pool deck with whole-grain pita crisps and waited for the victims to come along.

Come on little kiddies, everyone into the pool.

I'm happy to report we no longer have a rat problem around here.  Hey, don't think of it as inhumane, think of it as family fun and games.  The kids can play chop the rat's head off with a cracker, or how many rat turds can you pile on one cracker.  It's fun for the whole family people.

I got the mold for the mice from Sarah-Jane Silicone Moulds she has tons of cool ones.  I used half goat and half cream cheese about 3 ounces each and put the rats in the fridge until they were firm, then arrange them for your unsuspecting guests prior to their unfortunate arrival.

Gina

Halloween "Infected" Finger Sandwiches

It's funny how when things go wrong they seem to spin a web that is out of control.  I had to run to the store at least a dozen times before I got all the items I needed for the Halloween recipes I was working on.  I'd forget something and have to run back, pull something out of the pantry and realize it was expired, or something much worse.

I decided I needed a little me time and treated myself to a spa mani and pedi at the nail shop in town that I visited a few weeks ago.  Sat down in one of their luxurious massage chairs and was doted on by a petite woman who kept asking me, "What color?"  Okay fine, "How about French", I replied.  She removed my finger nail polish with the finesse of a Hump Back Whale and then told me in her shrill voice, "I think you should pick green."  "I don't want green, I want French", I said. "Fine, but you already have green", she reported as she showed me my fingernails complete with inflamed cuticles and a raging fungal infection.  I knew I shouldn't have gone to a place just because they had free chips and salsa with each service.  Live and learn people, live and learn.

I figured well that has to be the worst thing that can happen to me this month.  I can work with green at least it matches my eyes. When I got home I decided to work on some appetizers for the Halloween party and when I was cutting open a spaghetti squash a swarm of angry spiders that had been building a nest inside came spewing out.  After I quit running around the house screaming, "God, take me now", I figured why not go with it as a centerpiece.

As for my fingers, one was so bad it had to be cut off but the remaining fingers were spread with a little peanut butter and pumpkin butter, crusts cut off, cut in three "fingers", topped with a small piece of romaine lettuce that was glued on with peanut butter, topped with infected (toasted almond) nails (with more p.b. glue), and given ragged, inflamed peanut butter cuticles.

If you don't add the cuticle inflammation until serving you can make the sandwiches the night before and cover them with plastic wrap and store in the fridge.

You know what, I didn't think I was going to enjoy ingesting "Infected" Finger Sandwiches, but actually they were pretty tasty and those crunchy infected nails added that little something-something to them.  I think maybe the only thing that could make them better would be to add some dried cockroaches to the sandwiches and I know just the nail salon that had plenty of them running loose.

Gina

Genetically Abnormal Ears with Peanut Butter Wax

While I've resigned myself to working a desk job and moonlighting as a blogging superhero from time to time, my true calling I always thought was to become a neuroscientist. I’m much too lazy to go back to school and put in all those years of hard work at this point in my life, but that is just a minor little stumbling block if you ask me.

E-mailing all those random neuroscientists I found in the directory I stumbled upon when left alone and unattended in the administrative offices of Harvard paid off big time. Trust me just by adding a few extra letters after your name and talking carefully crafted geeky brainy speak to these scientists you are golden. 

Dear Doctor of highly intelligent life forms,

I have been studying the phenomenon (or Urban Myth if you will) that “when one of your senses becomes impaired another will overcompensate”. I am well respected in the blogging community and have been published many times in medical journal thing-a-ma-jigs. I was wondering if you have any spare tissue or body parts lying around I could put through some extensive clinical trials. Also I make some mighty tasty cookies if I do say so myself and would be more than willing to add you to my exclusive Christmas cookie distribution list.

Yours truly,

SPCookieQueen DDP, CON, FUSE, U, XTR

I hope you guys know that letter worked like a charm and the other day I gave myself a high five and then some on the side when I opened this package.

Trust me I put these oddities through some rigorous tests before coming to any firm scientific conclusions.

First I gave them the old sniff test and they smelled a bit of old socks, belly button lint, and a faint aroma of peanut butter. Wrote in my journal: “Smells weird, but for some reason I feel like I need to smell them a few more times before I can jump to any conclusions.”

Then I gave one a nice sized taste test. Crunchy, yes definitely crunchy and that peanut flavor was really hitting the back of my palate. Wrote in my journal: “Tastes strangely like artificial flavoring and food coloring with a peanut butter aftertaste, yet I want to go back for more...”

Finally I decided I would do a clinical trial with a few random test subjects. I found individuals off the street, which I felt matched up closely to the samples I already had, plus one thrown in for Control purposes.

Wrote in my journal the following observations: 

Subject Isabella’s sample seems to resemble mustard, not that far off from normal.

Subject Devin’s sample oddly is the color of peanut butter, questionable but not completely freaked out by it.

Subject Riley’s sample is the consistency of spaghetti squash, will keep this one under advisement.

Subject Hot Dog Dude’s sample is disgustingly similar to chocolate (sending him a jumbo sized box of Q-tips post haste and somehow feel compelled that I should also do a taste analysis on this sample).

After finishing all my testing I felt confident in writing the following conclusion that will probably be published soon in all the big medical journal things.

The samples of the (pink Wilton candy melt) ears from children in a small tribe of children in Alaska became genetically altered when their lack of ear hygiene caused an excess of ear wax (peanut butter) to build up resulting in complete hearing loss and the eyes jumped in and overcompensated by causing a third (googley candy) eye to grow in the ear. 

My recommendation: That the Q-tip people do more aggressive marketing to the parents of remote Alaskan villages.

My warning to children everywhere, if you don’t clean your ears you are going to grow a third eye in them. Eewww.

My work here is done people.

Gina

Caramel Apple Cupcakes or a.k.a. "The Hills Have Eyes Cupcakes"...

Doctor Franken-Recipe was as it again, the Doctor kind of has this bad habit of experimenting with recipes until some ghoulish (or delicious - your call) creation awakens.  There were all these twisted thoughts of Halloween goodies lurking around in the dungeon called my brain.  I pulled out the high-kilowatt capacitor and added some extra juice (Earl Grey Juice).

I sewed on different parts of some of my all-time fall flavors.  Tweaked here and consulted with Egore there. Flipped the switch and with a burst of electricity that shot through my kitchen and probably startled the neighbors too, these "Hills Have Eyes Cupcakes" were born (insert evil laughter here).  It didn't even take that much of an electrical charge either. Just try explaining this though to angry firemen whose dinner you just disrupted when you blew the transformer to the neighborhood and they had to come out and respond.

Good thing I had some cupcakes as a peace offering or things might not have ended so well for the good Doctor.

Caramel Apple Filling
1 cup (or 2 medium) apples, diced 1/4-inch I used Envy which is similar to a Honeycrisp (a firm and sweet apple will work well)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a small saucepan combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon and cook on medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until most of the juice has evaporated.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Apple Cupcake Batter
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a clean bowl beat the 3 egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Set aside.

In another bowl combine butter, egg yolks, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt.  Add the apple filling and then fold in the egg whites gently.

Place paper muffin liners in 12 muffin cups and divide the batter between the liners.

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These cupcakes are a little denser like an apple pound cake so don't worry if they don't rise too much.

Caramel Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Salted Caramel - You can use store bought or here is a recipe for you

Recipe for Caramel:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
Pinch Flake Sea Salt (such as Maldon)
1/2 cup heavy cream

A tutorial on the caramel is here if you are interested.

In the bowl of a mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy, slowly add the powdered sugar in and keep beating. Slowly drizzle in caramel, if the frosting is too runny add a bit more of the powdered sugar.  Also I put my frosting in the fridge for a few to set up because my caramel was still a little warm when I added it.

For assembly of the cupcakes, use a round tip with a 1/4" opening to pipe the frosting on and use store bought googly eyes that were prettied up with food color markers and a little colored sugar.  You could even buy cupcakes and give them the spooky treatment and call it a night.

Don't be Doctor Kill-Joy and have a little fun with your cupcakes this Halloween!

Enjoy,

Gina

Sour Cream and Chive Cracker Recipe - A little Halloween fun

Trick-or-Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!  Sorry, the immature Queen just couldn't help herself.

It's here, it's finally here, October my favorite month of the year.  Time to pull out the Halloween decorations and stop worrying about the cobwebs, they will blend in anyways.  I'm a little late this year; I usually have my decorations up and am working on my costume by now.  I'd fire myself; if I didn't work for free.

Who doesn't love all the little goblins and ghosts that will soon descend upon our doorsteps.  I know I do, and as much as the Queen enjoys hopping them up on candy and sending them home, she felt it was only practical that a non-sugary option be available.  Who wouldn't want to gobble up these cuties? 

Sour Cream and Chive Crackers

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1 cup shredded fontina cheese

4 tbsp. butter, cold, cut in 1/2" pieces

2 tbsp. chopped fresh chives

1/4 cup sour cream

Small amount of black sesame seeds

In the bowl of a food processor place flour, salt, pepper (optional if your little ghouls don't like any spice), and the cheese, pulse one or two times.  Add butter and pulse a couple more times until mixture is looking crumbly.  Add chives and sour cream and pulse until the mixture is starting to ball up.

Substitution:
I used fontina cheese, but Parmesan or white cheddar would also work well.

Place cracker dough in a covered bowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface roll dough to 1/4" thick and cut out with small ghost shaped cutter and place them 1/2" apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat.  Place two black sesame seeds for eyes and one for the mouth.  I love mini cutter sets such as these, your local craft store is a good source too.

Bake 13-15 minutes.

Makes 36 crackers.

You guys didn't think I would trick you did you, only treats are to be found here.

Enjoy,

Gina

Our Pumpkin Carving Party - Boo Cups Anyone!

Before Halloween we had a pumpkin carving party for the kids, I just couldn't let the holiday go by without at least a little party.  Having a big party wasn't in the cards this year, but with a few fun things you can keep the cost down and the fun up.  Besides I needed a reason to make some boo cups! 

A tip to keep all the little invitees happy, have something else to do besides carving pumpkins because the pumpkin carving fun wears off fast!  I had a few craft projects for them and whipped out my face paints.  I was the one who got roped into that job every year at every carnival at school, I should of never let it slip I knew how.

Let the daddies step in and finish up all the carving fun when the little ones have had enough.

Make sure and have some fun snacks, cause they work up an appetite doing all that hard work.

Okay I have to tell you my funny nacho story!  My friend calls me up and asks me, "How do you make nachos"?  After we quit laughing; but I'd never do that to you.  I told her, "Open a can"!  She told me she put a huge block of cheese in the crock-pot and it wouldn't melt. We still laugh about it.  Best tip ever, buy those plastic liners for the crock-pot when you are melting cheese, ever scrubbed cheese out of a crock-pot, it's so not fun!

Boo Cups:

2 boxes powdered chocolate pudding mix

1 pint heavy whipping cream, stiffly beaten

20 Oreo cookies, crushed

Gummy worms for garnish

Make pudding mix per directions.  Place Oreos in a Ziploc bag and crush.  Combine pudding, Oreos, and whipped cream and place in small cups.   Top each cup with a few gummy worms.  I've been making these since the kids were little and they still request them.

Invite lots of cute guests, like "Ariel"!

"Spiderman"!

"The Queen of Hearts"!

"An Indian"!

I would've had a costume contest, but they were all so cute! I had to send all of them home with a prize!  A goodie bag filled with candy, so the fun continues for their parents.

I only wish I didn't have to wait until next year to have another carving party!  People tell me all the time they don't entertain, they don't even know where to start, or their house isn't clean enough!  My advice, start small and keep it simple.  If they are coming over to see how clean your house is and not you find some new friends!

Enjoy your weekend;  I can't wait to report back to you with all the festival going ons!

Gina

Thanks Foodbuzz - I'm so famous now; I need to wear a disguise!

I don't know how it happened - maybe it was Project Food Blog; but I've become so famous random people are following me.  Why just the other day I was at Costco picking up a little sugar for the upcoming week.

No sooner did I get home I received an e-mail saying C&H Sugar is following me on Twitter; a coincidence, I think not!

I've been so careful to conceal my identity.  It's so bad that when I go out in public now I'm forced to wear a disguise. Actually I like to wear it when I'm blogging too just in case anyone is watching me.

It has me so distraught; I've resorted to eating Klondike bars!  Oh you have no idea, what I wouldn't do for a Klondike bar.

I just can't figure it out.  I wear my disguise every time I go out in public, yet people keep following me.  Do you think it's too soon to consider the witness relocation program?  I may have to have another Klondike bar while I think this over.  I even tried retracing my steps; first I went to Costco, then I swung by the farm stand to grab a few pumpkins for my BYOP party I'm having for the kids this week.

Nothing out of the ordinary really happened this week.  I give up; I have no idea why they are following me.  But if you want to follow me on Twitter, there is no way I can stop you.

Did I mention, I have a little something fun to wear to the FoodBuzz Festival?   

I promise you I will actually have some recipes for you next week.  I have a bunch of ingredients and I'm locking myself in the kitchen this weekend, hope you enjoy yours!

Gina

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