Sweets with my littlest sweetie...

Josie and I had fun making chocolate covered fortune cookies recently.  These treats are perfect for Chinese New Year and Valentines.  We found our box of fortune cookies at the Dollar Tree but I've also been able to find them in the ethic food aisle at our local grocery store.

1. Before you start, line a baking sheet with wax paper. 

2.  In a microwave-safe glass bowl, microwave the Wilton candy melt chocolate, stopping and stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth.

3.  Holding the fortune cookie, dip the center of the cookie in the melted chocolate, letting the excess drip off.

Add sprinkles (Josie's favorite part) and transfer to the waxed paper baking sheet.

Refrigerate the fortune cookies on the baking sheet until the chocolate is firm, at least 20 minutes.

Enjoy!  PS.  As you can see, the tooth fairy has been very busy at our house the last couple of weeks.

Mummy inspired caramel apples

Don't my Halloween cookie cutters look festive in their new jar? I got this on clearance last Halloween at our local MI grocery chain (Meijers). I had forgotten about this until I dug it out over the weekend. A nice surprise!

This idea for mummy caramel apples has been all over blogland lately and I thought I'd give it try with Josie Saturday evening.

Supplies:
apples
caramel bites
lollipop sticks
Wilton mummy kit
Waxed paper and cookie sheet

The mummy Wilton kit is currently on sale at our local Michigan grocery chain (Meijers) but you can also find it at JoAnn's.  For my MI followers, this Wilson Mummy kit is with the Halloween decorating supplies in Meijers.  Don't look in the baking section. 

I used a knife to make a little slit into the apple to make it easier for Josie to insert the lollipop stick.

I bought caramel bites (in the baking section) and followed the directions for melting.  Josie enjoyed twirling her apple into the melted caramel with a little assistance from Mom. If you are worried about the heat from the melted caramel, you could always do the caramel part ahead of time (or buy store bought caramel apples) and just let your little ones do the mummy decorating. 

The caramel apples were then put onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and placed into the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

Josie then wrapped the Wilton candy mummy strips around the apple and attached the candy eyes in between the strips and exposed caramel apple.

If our Halloween party had fewer numbers, I'd definitely make these as party favors. Each kit makes 12.

As you can see, they were super easy to make, and Josie really enjoyed this project.  If you would like other Halloween recipes, be sure to see this post for other fun ideas.

The Halloween party preparations just keep happening!
XOXO

 

Pumpkin Dump Cake & Dollhouse Pie

A few weeks ago, one of my favorite adoptive blogs (Do They Have Salsa in China?) posted this recipe and I recently made it for our family.  The top of this dessert reminds me of a crumbly coffee cake, while the bottom half tastes exactly like traditional pumpkin pie.   It is SERIOUSLY yummy and I found myself enjoying this delicious treat for breakfast some mornings (shhhhh....our secret).

Pumpkin Dump Cake

From M3 at Do They Have Salsa in China?

1–29 oz. can pumpkin (note, this is the big can, two small cans will also work)
1 –12oz. can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 T. cinnamon

Mix above ingredients and pour into 10 x 14 cake pan, ungreased. (I used my glass lasagna pan)

Then:

1 box yellow cake mix – sprinkle over pumpkin mixture
1 C. finely chopped pecans – sprinkle onto cake mix (I used walnuts because I didn't have pecans on hand)
¾ C. melted butter – pour over everything 

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes (or even longer -- until a knife in the center comes out clean, like a pumpkin pie – if you use a slightly smaller pan your cake will be thicker and will need to cook a little longer). 

*I ended up cooking my version for 65 minutes.  Just keep checking that pumpkin filling.  
While I'm on the topic of pumpkin pie, I decided Josie's dollhouse needed a few mini pies for their own Thanksgiving celebrations.  

Bottle caps, tan felt, red seed beads and my glue gun were used in creating the cherry pie.  
The pumpkin pie filling was a mix of hot glue with a layer of orange glitter glue on top.  
Original credit comes from one of my favorite blogs...Let's go fly a kite!  When she shared her Canadian Thanksgiving pictures earlier this fall, she also shared her girls miniature dollhouse pies.  You can find her Thanksgiving post here.    Happy Friday!  I hope you have some time to play this weekend!

 

T is for Tasty Halloween Treats!

Dracula will be helping me greet guests as they enter the front door Friday night.  Isn't he handsome?

When our Halloween parties had fewer numbers and were strictly adults only, I would go ALL out on food. Now, that our parties have 100+ guests and are family-friendly, I tend to do less fussy food and stick with things like cupcakes, chocolate covered pretzels, candy, veggies, fruits, cookies, soda pop..etc. 

Honestly, the popcorn machine that we borrow from Chris's elementary school is the most popular food item.  

Who doesn't like the taste of movie popcorn!!

This year, I made a few "Halloween" labels using picmonkey to dress up our pop and pretzels. 

In case you're looking for a few tasty Halloween treats, here are a few of my "all time favorites" from years past. I can't believe how young Emma and Josie look in some of these pictures. 

Sparkling Worm Punch

Crushed ice, One 2 liter bottle of 7up and 1 gallon of apple juice, toss a few gummy worms on top.

Harry Potter Punch

1 carton of Orange sherbet, 1 liter of ginger ale and 1 liter of sprite.

Orange Pop and Decorative Straws

These straw accents are just done with punching two holes in circle tags. Easy peasy! Templates can be found here.

Caramel Apples

6 apples

Craft sticks

1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped

2 tablespoons milk

Remove the stem from each apple and press a craft stick into the top. Butter a baking sheet. Place caramels and milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, stirring once. Allow to cool briefly. Roll each apple quickly in caramel sauce until well coated. Place on prepared sheet to set. They can be rolled in chopped nuts(and chocolate chips) for an added touch of flavor!

Payday Mix

Mix 1 bag of peanuts with 1 bag of candy corn!

Tastes just like a payday candy bar.

Monster Cupcakes

I saw these cupcakes on the Hostess with the Mostess Blog and thought the girls and I needed to attempt these. Aren't they darling? I modified the directions for ease. Mine are listed below.

I varied the recipe and bought store-bought cupcakes.

-12 cupcakes

- 1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting

- 24 mini lollipops (Dum Dums), unwrapped

- 24 gummy rings (O’s)

- 24 brown mini chocolate chips

- 24 gummy worms

1. Make cupcakes and cover with icing.

2. Insert a lollipop stick through a gummy ring, pushing it through the candy from the center to outer edge. Bring the gummy ring up around the lollipop, like a bonnet, to make the eyes. Continue with the remaining gummy rings and lollipops.

3. Insert 2 like-colored lollipop eyes into the top of each cupcake assembly. Pipe a dot of vanilla frosting in the center of each lollipop and add a mini chocolate chip for the pupil. Add gummy worms for arms.

Spider Cupcakes

Iced cupcakes, black licorice, gummy drops, and mini chocolate chips.

Ice Cream Cone Wizard or Witch Hats

Sugar cones

Chocolate chips for melting or Chocolate Icing

Cupcakes

Dip sugar cones into melted chocolate or spread chocolate icing with a knife over the cone. Place on top of an iced cupcake. We used this recipe for my nephew's Harry Potter party a few years ago.



Cauldron Cupcakes

Mega-Crafty has step-by-step instructions for these cauldron cupcakes. Yummy!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Scoop seeds from a pumpkin

Rinse seeds well and pat dry with paper towel

Toss seeds with oil to coat, then spread on a single layer on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt. I like to use a combination of garlic salt and cajun spice, but use whatever you like. The options are endless. Bake 20- 30 minutes until crisp at 300 degrees.

Candy Rice Crispy Treats

Scrumdilly-do has this recipe for candy corn rice crispy treats.  

As you can imagine, Chris and I have a list of things to finish up before Friday night.  However, I don't think anyone is going to have any difficulty finding our house. 

This is a view of our house from the street.  

Something sweet...

I made a strawberry/apple pie this week.

Picture your regular apple pie recipe.

And add strawberries on top.

It was a fantastic combination flavors.

For a "little extra" sweetness,
I sprinkled cinnamon sugar
on the pie crust before baking.


My mother and grandmother used to bake the extra pie crust strips and dust them with cinnamon sugar. It was a special treat.

In case you're wondering, I found these
"free" flavored sugar labels here.

Have a sweet weekend!