Eating with the Season: Halloween

Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Halloween Cupcakes

This is a festive treat I made for my Halloween party! The cupcakes can be anything, the "halloween" part is the decoration on top - brains!! I decided to go with Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes with Cherry Frosting (the cherry gave the frosting the perfect pink tint). While the cupcakes may look intricate, it's actually simple to achieve this frightening look.

Halloween Cupcakes

(Yields 14 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk
1 1/3 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
10-oz. jar of cherry filling (I used a filling that had chopped bits of cherries, not whole cherries. If you can't find this, just pulse the filling with whole cherries in a food processor to break it up)
Cherry buttercream (see recipe below)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin pan with 14 cupcake papers
In a small pot, heat milk until boiling. Add cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Set aside and allow to cool
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside
Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light at fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
Beat in vanilla extract, then scrape down the sides of the bowl
Gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated
Add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth
Fill each cupcake 2/3 full with batter
Bake 16-20 minutes, or until cupcakes are springy to the touch and a cake tester inserted into the cupcake comes out clean
Remove to a wire rack and allow to cool
Once cupcakes are completely cool, use a cupcake corer to hollow the center of each cupcake (if you don't have a cupcake corer, try using a knife to cup the circle and a spoon to hollow the cupcake). I know it is tempting, but DO NOT each the parts of the cupcake you removed yet!
Spoon about 1 Tbsp. of cherry filling into each cupcake's hollowed center
Place a small portion of the removed "core" to "plug" the cupcake. This allows you to frost the cupcake without the frosting falling into the hollowed center! Once all the cupcakes have been "plugged", feel free to eat all remaining bits of cupcake :)
Spread a small amount of buttercream over the top of each cupcake; enough to cover the surface but not enough to add height
Pipe a single line down the center of the cupcake
Pipe a loop pattern on one side of the cupcake
Pipe a loop pattern on the other side of the cupcake

Cherry Buttercream

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp. cherry filling
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. milk
2+ cups powdered sugar (enough to get the consistency you want)

Directions:

Whip softened butter in a medium bowl with a hand mixer
Mix in cherry filling, vanilla extract and milk
Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until you have your desired consistency
Add extra cherry filling and milk as needed to get the flavor you want

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Monday, October 28, 2013

Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, these are just regular chocolate chip cookies with festive chocolate chips. However, they're delicious chocolate chip cookies nonetheless! I found these Halloween chips in my local grocery store. The "black" chips are regular semi-sweet chips while the "orange" ones are, as far as I can tell, white chocolate chips.

Halloween Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Yields 4 dozen cookies)

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1-10 oz. package chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF
Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside
In a mixing bowl, beat butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
Gradually add dry ingredients, mix until just combined
Stir in 1/2 of the chocolate chips
Drop tablespoons of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets
Top each cookie with remaining chocolate chips (this make the cookies look beautiful)
Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned
Remove cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool

Here are the finished cookies!!

Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Cheesy Halloween Pasta

Okay, so this dish doesn't contain pumpkin or squash or anything that would classify it as "Halloween Pasta"....other than this awesome pasta I found yesterday in the grocery store. Too cute to pass up, right?

I usually cook and eat reasonably healthy foods, but I was craving some warm and creamy macaroni & cheese all week so I just had to indulge. The key to making delicious macaroni and cheese is using delicious cheeses. I decided to use 4 different kinds of cheese:

Fontina: softer cheese with a mild, somewhat nutty flavor (front)
Gouda: softer cheese with a smooth, mild flavor (red rind)
Aged Garlic Cheddar: full, strong garlic flavor (green rind)
Parmesan: hard cheese with a nutty flavor (not pictured)

At first, I was going to use regular aged, sharp cheddar cheese, but this garlic cheddar caught my eye and I'm so glad I decided to use it - the flavor was great! If you can't find this cheese, you can use aged, sharp cheddar and add garlic when cooking.

Cheesy Halloween Pasta

(Yields 6-8 servings)

Ingredients:

16 oz. uncooked Halloween pasta
3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup aged, sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
1/2 cup Gouda cheese, cubed
1/2 cup Fontina cheese, cubed
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: grilled chicken slices, broccoli florets

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta according to the directions on its box. When pasta is cooked, drain and then return pasta to the pot
While pasta is cooking, mix butter and cheeses in a small pot. Cook and stir over low heat (too much heat will make the cheese stringy). Gradually add milk and continue to stir until ingredients are thoroughly mixed
Pour cheese sauce over pasta. Add grilled chicken slices and broccoli florets if desired. Gently stir ingredients to evenly coat with sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste

Delicious comfort food:

Enjoy and thanks for reading!