Happy Halloween!

For fun, since Halloween is on a Friday this year, I flexed my day at work so I could get to the Peaslee's in time for the babies to go trick or treating. Now, we don't subscribe to most of the Halloween stuff since it is mostly not Christian based, so we kind of do our own thing, but we still let the babies get dressed in furry, cuddly costumes to trick or treat. We are having a little fun party for the big kids at home that includes some scary treats on Saturday. I'll post pictures of the party next week. But here are some recipe ideas for you to try some time:

Creepy Fingers

Yield: 5 dozen

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup Butter, softened

1 cup Icing sugar (powdered sugar)

1 Egg

1 tsp Almond extract

1 tsp Vanilla

2 2/3 cups Flour

1 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Almonds, whole blanched

1 Tube red decorator gel(optional, not pictured)

In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Beat in flour, baking soda*, and salt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoonful of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press almond firmly into 1 end for nail. Squeeze in centre to create knuckle shape. (Accompanying picture showed long rolled shape with bulge at centre for knuckle; you puff it out rather than squeeze it in.) Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle.Place on lightly greased baking sheets; bake in 325F (160C) oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for 3 minutes. Lift up almond, squeeze red decorator gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place, so gel oozes out from underneath. You can also make slashes in the finger and fill them with "blood."

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Spooky Sugar Cookies

Ingredients Needed:

2 cups margarine or butter

2 1/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

6 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

4 Tbsp milk (can use water)

Divide dough in half (or sixths). Only add milk or water if the dough is too dry. Chill 1 hour. Roll out half of dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375F/190C for 12 minutes. These can be frosted. Makes about 5-6 dozen standard-sized cookie cutter shapes.

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Royal Icing

This is the traditional recipe that glues gingerbread houses together or makes a hard candy-like surface on cookies or cakes. Makes enough to ice 5-6 dozen sugar cookies.

Ingredients Needed:

16 oz powdered sugar (icing sugar)

3 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Beat until peaks firmly hold their shape, and the more you beat it, the firmer it gets. This hardens when exposed to air, but dissolves in water, so keep a moist towel over the bowl while working with it. Use a tight-fitting plastic container to store in the refrigerator for a couple weeks, but the egg whites begin to separate from the sugar any longer than that.

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Awful Arachnids

Take one cup of Royal Icing and tint it black. Using a decorating tube to pipe, pipe Royal Icing into spider shapes on waxed paper. If your hand gets sore from piping spiders, put a toothpick in the piping tube nozzle so the icing doesn't dry and plug the nozzle. Taking breaks is good since the warmer the icing gets, the bigger and sloppier your lines are, so let the icing bag rest back to room temperature, then keep piping away until you get sick of spiders! This usually makes about 3 dozen, or one cookie sheet full. Once the spiders are dry, as long as they stay away from moisture, they will keep indefinitely.

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Edible Eyeballs

Ingredients Needed:

Carrots

Cream Cheese

Black Olives

Slice carrots about an inch thick, dab some cream cheese on top and add a half of a black olive.

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Swamp Water Punch

Ingredients Needed:
1 can ecto cooler
1 quart orange juice with pulp
1 large bottle ginger ale
ice (optional: ice made with things in it like gummy worms)

Chill all ingredients before making. Mix ecto cooler and orange juice together in your punch bowl. Add ginger ale and ice just before serving.

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Haunted Taco Tarts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Ingredients Needed:

1 pound ground hamburger

1 packet taco seasoning

Egg Yolk Paint (recipe follows)

2 packages (15 ounce) refrigerated pie crusts

2 egg white

1 cup chopped tomato

1 cup taco-flavored shredded cheese

Cook hamburger until browned. Add taco seasoning as directed; set aside. Lightly grease baking sheets. Prepare Egg Yolk Paint; set aside. On lightly floured surface, roll 1 pie crust to 14-inch diameter. Using 3-inch Halloween cookie cutters, cut out pairs of desired shapes. Repeat with other pie crusts, rerolling dough if necessary. Place 1/2 of shapes on prepared baking sheets. Brush edges with egg white. Spoon about 1 tablespoon taco mixture onto each shape. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon tomato and 1 teaspoon cheese. Top with remaining matching shapes; press edges to seal. Decorate with Egg Yolk Paint. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

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Egg Yolk Paint

Ingredients Needed:

4 egg yolks, divided

4 teaspoons water, divided

Red, yellow, blue and green liquid food colorings

Place 1 egg yolk in each of 4 small bowls. Add 1 teaspoon water and a few drops different food coloring to each; beat lightly.