Boo hoo. So sad. And treat number one? Well, treat one is much more fun than the trick… it’s cupcakes made from leftover Halloween candy! I didn’t get much more than 5 or 6 trick or treaters this year, so I had a lot of candy left.

The spread… pre-trick-or-treaters.. looked basically the same after

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Yes, it’s been done. Numerous times. In the form of brownies & cookies, too. But please, give me this much. I love this holiday & I have trouble letting go. I know it’s November now, & everyone is preparing for Thanksgiving already. But let me have my one last Halloween post, okay? Thank you. I’ll miss all my decorations, my Halloween tree & all my table settings. *sad face* No more ghosts & goblins for another year. But I’d like to thank the ladies from Georgetown Cupcakes- you may know them from the TLC TV show, DC Cupcakes- for the video that got me wanting to make these. It also used up some (notice how I said some) of that delicious leftover Halloween candy that I managed to not shove into my face while waiting for the doorbell to ring. You can find the recipe on their TLC page, but I listed it below as well. I ended up with some Reese’s, some Whoppers, Snickers, Butterfinger, Nestle Crunch and Hershey bar mini’s to play with, not to mention candy corn, so I made cupcakes with them. Oh, and some Dots, but I didn’t think they’d work well in cupcakes. Yes. Cupcakes stuffed with Halloween candy. I can’t really imagine anything more fattening & root-canal inducing, can you?

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Oh, but so cute. And so good. And since we got SNOW on Saturday, I think I deserve it. Snow. In October. That’s just not right, you know? It goes against all things I know & love about New York, like (usually) no snow until after Thanksgiving. For me to properly deal with snow in October, I need freshly made baked goods daily, tons of Netflix & copious amounts of liquor. Okay, okay, so it was like an inch or two of slushy snow. But that’s after a whole day of freezing rain & sleet! That sucks. Anyway back to these here cupcakes. Like I said I got this idea from a video posted by Katherine & Sophie of the now famous Georgetown Cupcakes. Oh, and let me just say I wouldn’t mind having a KitchenAid mixer or two that coordinated with every holiday, like these ladies’ black & orange ones. Let’s get on that, shall we? All donations gratefully accepted.…

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TRICK OR TREAT CUPCAKES (adapted very slightly from Georgetown Cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups of flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
• 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 2 ¼ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups whole milk at room temperature
• 12 different bite-sized mini candy bars, chopped into small pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° degrees F.
2. Line a cupcake pan with baking cups; depending on how big your cupcakes are, you can make between 12 and 18. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition. Combine the vanilla extract and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add ⅓ of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add ⅓ of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another third of the flour mixture, followed by a third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and beat just until combined.
5. Spoon batter into baking cups, filling each about halfway. Add one type of chopped-up candy bar to each baking cup and press into the batter. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Clockwise from top left: Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Hershey, Reese’s, Kit Kat & Whopper cupcakes, post-baking

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Better view of my superawesometotallycool skeleton plate!

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I upped the baking powder by a half teaspoon because I felt that with the candies in them they needed an extra bit of oomph to rise nicely. The orange & black liners and the little sprinkles (or are they jimmies?) are by Wilton. I topped them with a thick swirl of vanilla-flavored orangey-colored buttercream, although a dark chocolate frosting would be sweet. But if you wanted to get all crazy fancy-pants, you could color the batter too. I like to keep it simple (yeah right). Oh, I should also state that I got 2 dozen cupcakes from this recipe. My pans must be from an alternate universe.

Hurray! Delicious, overly sweet, totally over-the-top tooth rotting goodness in a cupcake. Amazing. I love it. They really put me back in a 9-year old trick-or-treater mood. Which is hard to do given I’m now 30 years old & nobody gives me candy, not to mention the fact I didn’t even dress up this year. Poopsticks. Anyway… I ate them with a big ol’ mug of this:

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Yes, I ate them with green hot cocoa. What of it? I made some green hot cocoa, ate some trick or treat cupcakes & snuggled up under my leopard print blankie to watch The Bride of Frankenstein. Awesomesauce. The hot cocoa wasn’t really that spectacular; it tasted sorta how it looks. But worth a shot anyway… or I should say, the packaging was worth it. I’m a sucker for packaging. That’s probably why I fell for that tall, dark, handsome chunk of manhood I’ve got. Give me a death metal t-shirt wearing, guitar-playing, Wu-Tang-Clan-lyric-knowing, food loving, hysterically funny dude that’s taller than me (I’m 5’9″ & that’s not an easy task believe it or not) with a shaved head & even if I didn’t like him, I’d probably still go for it. Kidding, kidding. It’s the candy- the candy makes me crazy.

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So anyway, yes, Halloween is over for this year. Another 361 days or so until it rolls around again. But there’s plenty to keep us occupied until then, what with Thanksgiving looming & Christmas right around the corner (52 days!) we’ve got plenty to do, and cook, and bake…

But right now, I’m just gonna enjoy what remains of All Hallows Eve. Before I wrap this up, I want to make sure you crafty types check out my friends’ new site: All Crafts on Deck. Each Friday they giveaway a fat quarter & they’re gonna be featuring all sorts of awesome & amazing crafts & tutorials (I even wrote one up for them!). So go!

Indy does not understand Halloween, why he has to dress up & why he can’t have any chocolate.

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Yeah, pit bull mixes are really dangerous. He’s totally about to rip my face off in that picture…

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In honor of today, I present one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite authors read by one of my favorite actors; a poem I once recited in high school to a packed house, a poem that opened my little 10 year old eyes to the wonderfulness of its author… The Raven, written by Edgar Allan Poe, as done by Christopher Walken. Enjoy, & happy haunting.

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It isn’t every year that Halloween falls on a Monday, which around here is Military Monday. To avoid being cheesy & disrespectful, I’m going to just be posting today not tomorrow, & I’m not going to include any soldier’s names this week. For only the second time in the over 2 years I’ve been doing it, I’ll be missing a week. Next week I’ll resume the usual MM posts, but this week just enjoy these adorable little monsters!

Yes, they’re edible. Inspired by Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc., they’re a twist on Bakerella‘s cake balls; made from Betty Crocker spice cake mixed with Betty Crocker whipped buttercream frosting rolled into little oblong creatures, then dipped into “Spooky Green” Wilton Candy Melts that weren’t completely smoothed out or melted. It was a thicker texture than I’d usually use so that it would better mimic the skin of a monster. The edible candy eyeballs are from Layer Cake Shop and really make them absolutely perfect. They really & truly look like slimy little monsters! I made a little army of them to help me ward off any evil spirits that may come along tomorrow. For the recipes & how-to’s of making cake pops/cake balls, Bakerella is the expert Queen, so you should hear it from her. However I do find it’s silly to waste a homemade, from-scratch cake if you’re just going to mash it up with frosting, so I always go the cake mix route (& I think Bakerella does too). If it’s your first time, allow yourself lots of practice, it can be trying, especially if you’re making pops. But you’ll get the hang of it soon enough! It took me a few tries to get ‘em right the first time I made them, but I did. And it’s so much fun to do with kids (at least, I can imagine it is- I only have 4-legged kids so I wouldn’t really know). And just so you know, they taste deelish. Not at all as slimy as they appear *wink*

Hm. It seems like the last three Halloween posts were all green-themed, weren’t they? Strange! I did do a black & orange one at some point, didn’t I? I think so. But even my nails are green this year…

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Anyway, here’s to a happy & safe Halloween for everyone. Don’t let the little dudes & dudettes go out alone after dark… there are some way scarier monsters out there than these guys. And if you’re an older kid- give the little ones a break, okay? They don’t need to be egged or covered in shaving cream or harassed. It takes the fun out of it for them, so just let them have their candy & you can go kick rocks. Or kick snowballs, depending on where you live.

And remember… not all ghosts are bad.

The Celts celebrated Halloween as Samhain, ‘All Hallowtide’ – the ‘Feast of the Dead’, when the dead revisited the mortal world.

The celebration marked the end of Summer and the start of the Winter months. During the eighth century the Catholic Church designated the first day of November as ‘All Saints Day (‘All Hallows’) – a day of commemoration for those Saints that did not have a specific day of remembrance. The night before was known as ‘All Hallows Eve’ which, over time, became known as Halloween.

-source: The Irish Jewelry Company

This year for Halloween, when it came to edibles, I was 100% inspired by Martha’s Halloween issue. Literally, 100%. I found the perfect cupcakes for Halloween, not to mention other treats & ideas that I just had to make (see picture on the right). Some of them you’ve already seen (like the pumpkin cupcakes, or the candy apples with witches’ attached!), but these are the pièce de résistance, if you will. Gorgeous green pistachio eye-of-newt & toe-of-frog cupcakes, complete with chocolate frogs! As soon as I saw them I just knew they’d be absolutely amazing, not to mention they’d look perfect on my table for Halloween. I told you I was completely inspired *ahem* by Queen Martha’s Halloween issue this year, didn’t I? I know I must have. Like I said, I haven’t had an original cupcaking thought in my pretty head all season, sadly. I’ve also been nursing a wicked painful back lately, which is actually most inopportune for a lot of reasons- but such is life when you get old like me you’ve got a chronic back problem, and on top of that I’ve been fighting (and losing) a battle with a hardcore cold. Bottom line is I needed some ideas. These cupcakes jumped out at me; regardless of what plans I had for Halloween these babies were going to be on the menu. Ghastly, ghostly, sickly green cupcakes accompanied by my lovely skull (with his friend The Rat & Mr. Tarantula), not to mention some extra (kinda cute) edible ‘croaking’ friends. I usually make cupcakes frosted high with tufts of perfectly piped buttercream… but not this time.

This time I wasn’t going to be frosting the little green-ish cakes, but glazing them in two different shades of green goo. Sounds yummy, right? Haha. At Halloween, anything is acceptable! And honestly, how could I possibly name them anything other than ‘Eye of Newt & Toe of Frog‘ cupcakes? I could not. I would be doing a disservice to my literary education as well as underestimating (or rather under-using) my quick wit.

So like any good witch would do, I took a break from drinking Egyptian Licorice tea, blowing my nose & rubbing Tylenol Precise on my back (sexy, I know), took out my magical mixer, Lola, and started to create some evil, er, delicious cupcakes. Lola may be pink, but she’s pretty diabolical. Together we whipped up some rather eerie yet delicious green-tinted pistachio cakes with green glaze & little frogs. The chocolate frogs are made from frog-shaped candy molds. I used chocolate Candy Melts (and Spooky Green colored melts to make the dots on them) and then brushed them with green pearl dust when they were cooled.

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The irony is, my dad’s birthday is the 29th of October, so every year I try to make a big batch of cupcakes & use half for his birthday, half for Halloween. Some years it doesn’t quite work out, and I end up making two batches anyway. But it just so happens that this year he requested pistachio cupcakes weeks before Halloween, and I never mentioned the fact I had planned on making these. So killing two birds with one stone made everyone a happy camper this year. And who wouldn’t love chocolate frogs!? Even Harry Potter likes chocolate frogs! They’re clearly magical.

What an amazing looking set of cupcakes these turned out to be! And moist. And tasty. Who doesn’t love pistachio? I admittedly amped up the ‘nut’ flavor with some almond extract myself (which I included in the recipe below), but if you’re a purist you can just use a full 2 teaspoons vanilla.

EYE OF NEWT & TOE OF FROG CUPCAKES (adapted very slightly from Martha Stewart’s Halloween magazine ‘pistachio cupcakes’, 2011)

Makes 36

Ingredients:

• 14 ounces unsalted shelled pistachios (about 1 ¾ cups)
• 1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Line 36 cups of standard muffin tins with paper liners. Coarsely chop ¾ cup pistachios, and reserve. In a food processor, grind remaining pistachios to a paste.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, cream cheese, and pistachio paste until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add sugar; beat until smooth, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until each is incorporated, and scraping sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla & almond extracts. Reduce speed to low. Add flour & salt, beating until just combined. Fold in chopped pistachios by hand.
3. Divide batter among lined cups, filling each almost ¾ full. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. (Cupcakes can be stored up to 1 day at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.)
4. Place on wire racks that are over rimmed cookie sheets. Drizzle lighter glaze (see below) over each, let set until no longer tacky, 30 to 60 minutes. Drizzle with darker glaze, allowing the lighter to show around the edges, let set before decorating with chocolate frogs. Serve & enjoy.

GHASTLY GREEN GLAZE

Ingredients:

• 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ⅔ cup milk
• Gel-paste food coloring in Moss Green, Brown, Juniper Green and Royal Blue (all Wilton)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar and milk until smooth & combined. Transfer half to another bowl.
2. For lighter green glaze (base color), add 4 drops Moss Green & 2 drops Brown food coloring to one bowl; stir to combine, adding more of each color until desired shade is reached.
3. For the darker glaze (top color), add 4 drops Juniper Green, 2 drops Royal Blue and 1 drop Brown to the second bowl; stir to combine. Adjust by adding more until desired shade is reached. Use immediately (above).

I bought my pistachios at Trader Joe’s because they’re the only place that sells unshelled pistachios (other than perhaps Whole Foods, but Trader Joe’s is closer to me). The frogs Martha uses are from Black Dinah Chocolatiers. I, however, made my own. Like I said above, I bought a frog candy mold (slightly bigger than the Black Dinah “froglets”) and used Candy Melts to create the frogs. Do as you wish in that department. I also used slightly different colors of Wilton gel-paste food coloring (just the greens) for the glazes. I couldn’t find Juniper Green & didn’t want to order it online, so I used two other Wilton greens I already had. It worked just fine.

And also I carved my jack-o-lantern! I screwed up a bit, it’s supposed to be Jack Skellington but I broke two carving saws doing it & so he’s not the best. I had further plans for it, but like I said, I broke the tools & it was around midnight, so here it is. Not perfect. I’m a perfectionist, though, so it’s disappointing. Boo (pun intended). But it came out pretty decent, either way, better than a lot I’ve seen. And I roasted the seeds with Kosher salt & olive oil. Mmm. That makes up for any mistakes, right?

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In case you aren’t aware, the phrase “eye of newt & toe of frog” is Shakespearean. It comes from the same text as “double, double, toil & trouble” and “something wicked this way comes”, also very popular terminology in modern vernacular… all of which just so happens to be from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. I’m 100% certain most people who use these terms haven’t a clue what their origins are. However I do, and it’s one of my absolute favorite literary classics. Anyway, the line about newts & frogs is from the part where the Three Witches (or “Weird Sisters”) are concocting a spell in the final scene. For those of you who slept through high school English class, here’s the full excerpt:

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

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Those of you familiar with Shakespeare will align the image of the skull with another of his works, Hamlet. I guess these cupcakes are just totally Shakespearean! And now you know the origin of “double, double, toil and trouble.” Go impress your friends.

that ends our Halloween fare for the year (almost- bwahahahaha). I can’t believe in just 4 short days it’ll be Halloween- where the hell did the time go!? Insane. There might just be one more trick… or treat… before this month ends..

I was also clearly beyond inspired by the Martha Stewart Halloween magazine this year, as evidenced by my post at the beginning of October, and this is another something I took directly from it. Caramel apples with witches & “broomsticks”! They made me think of both that movie & also the Wicked Witch of the West. How cool are they?!

First Martha’s…

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And then mine.

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I know. Crazy easy & very adorable. But more importantly- easy. It’s just a little more than a few days before Halloween and I know that there are still some people thinking about last minute ideas. Here’s one.

The other day, I told you about my sort of failed but happy accident caramel apple syrup that I messed up making (but ended up with something awesome anyway). That was a more complex recipe, though, by far. This time I promise- there is no way you could EVER mess this up. First of all, caramel apples are so easy a trained monkey could make them. Second, by just adding a little witch cut out from cardstock & a skewer, you make them into a snack worthy of being a centerpiece, instead of just a sticky, boring little old-fashioned treat. Perfect for kids at a Halloween party.

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WICKED CANDY APPLES

Ingredients:

• 6 small apples, stems removed
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup dark corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash & rinse all apples. Dry and insert sturdy wooden craft stick or skewer in each. Prepare an ice water bath in a fairly large bowl, and line a baking sheet with waxed paper or parchment.
2. Boil cream, sugar, corn syrup, and butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Clip candy thermometer to the side of pan and continue to cook until mixture reaches 245 degrees, about 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately place pan in ice water bath to stop the cooking.
3. Dip the bottom of each apple in the caramel rotating it and using a spoon to coat apple halfway to three-quarters of the way up the sides. Transfer to baking sheet, and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes (or overnight) before serving.
4. Print witches out on cardstock. Cut-out, and using a small hole punch, punch holes on either sides of hands. Slide sticks in and poke them into the top of apples, replacing skewers.

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The apples I used were little ones called Ginger Gold. I thought they were the perfect size, and I got a ½ peck of them for about 5 bucks. I only made 6 of them into caramel apples, the rest were baked & eaten up in other ways. When pecks or ½ pecks are on sale, if you can’t go & pick your own, take advantage of it. Apples are crazy versatile & you’ll definitely use them up. Ginger Gold’s in particular are excellent for just about any use: snacking (they’re very slow to brown when cut), pie making (they hold their shape when cooked/baked), etc. However they don’t store well… so refrigerate ‘em & use ‘em ASAP.

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Other apples that are good for this are Lady apples, or any small-sized apple, really.

I used wooden shish kebob sticks/skewers for mine. You can use whatever you like. Fancy twigs, etc. As far as the caramel goes, I’d personally stick with just caramel, or maybe with a swirl of chocolate. If you want to roll it in chopped walnuts or something that’s up to you- I’d just advise you not to go too crazy. Maybe it’s just me but those candy apples with 5 different kinds of chocolate/caramel/nuts never look appealing to me, just messy. But again, it’s a personal thing. And like I said last time I used a Martha idea, I can’t give you the actual witch template, like I said before it’s only available in the magazine & I don’t want to violate her copyrights. I mean, Martha’s been to prison; I don’t wanna fuck with her. But if you don’t want to buy the magazine, with a little creativity & internet saavy, you can do-it-yourself. The internet is chock full of awesome vintage Halloween clip-art.

So put on Hocus Pocus or Bedknobs & Broomsticks, maybe even watch Once Upon A Time this Sunday night & cast a spell of your own to make some witchy caramel apples.

Have you ever heard the Irish legend of “Carman”, the Celtic witch?

Carman is the Celtic goddess of evil magic. She is a destructive witch who roamed ireland with her three evil sons: Dub (“darkness” in Irish), Dother (“evil”) and Dain (“violence”), destroying anything or anyone in their path. Carman put a blight on Ireland’s crops and terrorized the Irish until the Tuatha De Danann, the “peoples of the goddess Danu,” used their magic to fight and defeat her, and drove her sons across the sea. Just another Irish folklore to worry about while “Trick or Treating” this Halloween.

-source: The Irish Jewelry Company

Halloween is a big holiday for me. It’s not only my favorite, it’s just an all-around great holiday to decorate & bake for. I know I’ve mentioned that before. I’ve also mentioned before that I just love Martha Stewart’s specialty holiday magazines. Each year for Halloween & Christmas I’m like a crackhead feenin’ for her fix- I have to buy her Halloween magazine & Holiday magazine. Sure, her regular magazine is cool too but I’m all about the holidays. And of course the covers always pull me in when I’m on line at the supermarket anyway. “Ooh look, Martha’s dressed up as a moth-woman! It’s a must buy issue!” That and I’m pretty much a boring chick. Really. Yes, I have this “glamorous” blog that is world-renowned, this art-school slash fashion background, yes I’m the significant other of a police officer slash death metal bassist, yes I have a sidecut & nose ring & listen to some interesting music. But the highlight of my week last week was buying pumpkins on sale (that weren’t gross & motley because of Hurricane Irene) & getting spiffy new glasses. No, seriously. I got new glasses & I’m that psyched about it. As if I wasn’t already a nerd! You’d think my life would be a bit more exciting, but this is it. I get giggly over new spectacles & holiday craft magazines. So yes. I enjoy reading all of Queen Martha’s magazines & I’m that sucker who’ll buy one each freakin’ year season holiday..

This particular year, well since July anyway, has been a bit off for me; I’ve been dealing with a lot of shit & basically didn’t have a clue as to what I was going to do for any of the holidays. So I basically used Martha’s ideas. For Halloween, I should say, since that’s the only holiday that’s relevant so far. Yeah, it’s not the most imaginative, but really… is anything new? Everything has really been done before anyway. All we do is just recycle old ideas & implement them in slightly different ways, or “freshen” them up for the current social climate. At least that’s what I keep telling myself when I feel bad about not coming up with something amazing myself this year & I end up using an old idea or one of someone else’s.

But even though I felt guilty about not doing something ingenious & unique, had to do something holiday-appropriate. This is my favorite holiday, for goodness sakes! And let’s face it, being that I’m related (albeit by marriage) to the famous Van Tassel’s of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow fame, anything spooky & creepy & bizarre is an event I must participate in. Only if I were related to Mary Shelley or Bram Stoker or Washington Irving himself would it make me more of a Halloween-head. Seriously. Headless Horsemen, scarecrows, zombies, jack-o-lanterns, vampires, witches, black cats; bring it on. I’m not only ready for ‘em, I welcome ‘em!

So these cupcakes, regardless of how simple, are pretty awesome looking, I gotta say. Simple, but fun. Retro.

It sorta looks like they’re running away from the jack-o-lantern, doesn’t it?

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I just fell in love with the vintage cat clip-art/cupcake toppers she had in her magazine this year. It reminded me of some of the cardboard cut-outs my grandmother used to hang every Halloween, some of which were her mother’s. Aren’t they awesome? Both the cut-outs and the cupcake toppers. Oh- and that cake plate, which rocks my socks so hardcore because it came with a pink satin ribbon, but I can change the ribbon for every holiday and IT ALWAYS LOOKS AWESOME. Plus it gives me a really good reason to buy cute ribbon for every single holiday.

So yes, I made cupcakes & I had no idea what to do to decorate them. Turns out, the little cupcakes I made looked pretty close to exact to the ones Ms. Stewart had in her magazine; cupcakes in orange liners with these vintage-y cat faces. So that’s what I decided to do. On half of the cupcakes I put those cat face toppers, and on the other half, I went with marzipan pumpkins.

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Marzipan pumpkins that I made, myself. However I didn’t make the marzipan (I’m not insane)- I bought it. It was golden colored Dr. Oetker marzipan that I bought at an import market (where I buy my English chocolate & Irish tea). So no I didn’t totally make them. But I divided it, colored it, I rolled it up, sculpted it and painted it. Or one, anyway.

Yep, that little jack-o-lantern dude there. Here’s a better view, in natural light.

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You could obviously use fondant for the same effect, however I find that marzipan is tastier, so people don’t mind it as much. Sure, fondant looks pretty… but it tastes like an old diaper. Marzipan tastes like almonds & isn’t at all tough or rubbery, it has a really nice soft texture. It was also perfect because it was already a golden color, so I didn’t have to add much color to it to achieve a nice pumpkin color, and the green took to it really well too. It would be much easier to make faces if you get a black edible pen. I used black food coloring & a toothpick, which is why I stopped at one. I always have to make things harder on myself.

The cupcake recipe is a modified Martha recipe in & of itself, the frosting is a stabilized whipped cream one via Wilton that I felt was perfect with cupcakes that taste like pumpkin pie. Speaking of, the recipe supposedly makes 18 but I got closer to 24. The frosting recipe should frost that much, unless you pile it on super high.

PUMPKIN PIE CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

Those vintage black ruffle candle holders were my grandma’s too… she had some awesome stuff

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And this is not the last time you’ll be seeing Martha-inspired content this season. Trust me when I say my entire Halloween tableau & menu this year is almost entirely from her. I’m not even kidding when I say I didn’t have an original thought in my head this season. Well, in the aspect of treats, anyway. As far as other things, i.e. decorating, I held my own pretty well, as usual. Here’s my annual Halloween “tree” & hanging lanterns:

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I don’t know if I mentioned it lately, but it’s really awesome having a blog/website. I can look up previous years’ holiday cupcakes, etc. with the click of a mouse, & each recipe & post is archived for me chronologically. Its like a virtual online cookbook or ‘idea book’ that I can access anytime I want to. It’s pretty effin’ spectacular. I hope it’s just as spectacular for you, too, to access all of that. There may be many blogs out there: lots of them are great, some may be nothing more than clones of others, but I hope either way you all come here because mine gives you a little something different. Or because I’m crazy. Whatever. I’ll take what I can get. You’re all amazing too!

Anyway like I mentioned before, with each post this year I’ll be posting a brief story on a Halloween tradition that has it’s origins in Celtic myths/legends. Here’s another for you…

There is an old Irish legend about an Irishman named Jack who liked to drink a little too much.

Long ago on a cold, lonely Halloween night, as Jack staggered home from another night of over indulging, the devil appeared to take his soul. But Jack was a cunning Irishman. He tricked the devil into climbing a nearby tree to pick him a lovely apple for his final meal. While the devil was picking his fruit Jack carved a Celtic cross on the tree trunk. The devil couldn’t cross such a sacred symbol and was trapped in the tree. Jack only let the Devil pass when he promised never again try to claim his soul. Well eventually Jack finally died from the drink. But poor Jack was denied entrance into heaven because of his drunken ways on earth. So Jack then tried to enter the gates of hell, but the devil, remembered his promise and denied Jack entry into hell. But the Devil was so impressed with his shrewdness he threw him a glowing hot coal to light his eternal wanderings. So Jack placed the red hot coal in a hollowed out turnip to form a make-shift “Lantern”.

You see there were no pumpkins in Ireland. Some legends say you can still see the fire of “Jack’s Lantern” as his spirit wanders the earth with nowhere to go. Years later all across Ireland people began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” or simply “Jack O’ Lantern.” So the next time you look down the dark road and see that glowing light in the distance, be careful. Because it just might be Jack, Jack of the Lantern!

- source The Irish Jewelry Company

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And so the Halloween season starts. SO EXCITING. By now, if you’re a regular reader, you know that Halloween is my most favoritest holiday. Last year, I put together a compilation post of some of my best Halloween ideas, but I did it before I posted any new ones, so be sure to check out the NEW compilation post and also Halloween category if you’re in search of ideas. Anyway, Halloween & me are BFF’s from way back. Seriously. I’m kinda obsessed with this holiday. It goes back further than me, though, it was my great-grandmother Rooney’s favorite holiday & my maternal grandparents loved it too, so in turn my mother always loved it. So growing up my house was always filled with different kinds of papier-mâché pumpkins & ghosts & goblins; many of which were vintage, handed down through the generations. As a matter of fact I see much of it in Martha’s Halloween magazines each year, labeled as ‘rare’ or ‘sought after.’ I have two pumpkins from the 1940′s that hang in my windows with lights in them that are probably worth a pretty penny. Not that I’d ever sell. As it is, my dumb ass just last week broke the last jadeite bowl of my grandmother’s that I had left in an act of stupidity.

So anywho, in the new 2011 Martha Stewart Halloween magazine (aka my 2nd bible, the first being this), stewed & honey-drenched figs are featured along with cheese as part of a Halloween menu. Ironically, the day I bought the magazine *cough*way back at the beginning of September because I’m insane*cough* I had also bought a delicious looking pound of fresh figs at my favorite market. Also equally ironic was that that evening, Punk Domestics posted a link on Facebook titled something along the lines of “Fig it up.” Hm. Were figs trying to send me messages? Are they trying to mess with my subconscious?

*cue theme from ‘Psycho’*

Not likely. It was just fig season, is all. But my story is far creepier. Either way, I got the message: time to work on those figs!

I hadn’t planned on preserving them, bit upon further inspection a few were ripening, and if you know figs you know that happens quite quickly. And once it does, it’s an express train to no-good town. So I decided to make some fig preserves, knowing full well I can’t leave well enough alone & that they would soon turn into something else…

The Common fig (Ficus carica) is widely known for its edible fruit throughout its natural range in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern region, Iran, Pakistan, northern India, and also in other areas of the world with a similar climate, including Arkansas, Louisiana, California, Georgia, Oregon, Texas, South Carolina, and Washington in the United States, south-western British Columbia in Canada, Durango, Nuevo León and Coahuila in northeastern Mexico, as well as areas of Argentina, Australia, Chile, and South Africa.

Figs can also be found in continental climate with hot summer, as far north as Hungary and Moravia, and can be harvested up to four times per year. Thousands of cultivars, most named, have been developed or come into existence as human migration brought the fig to many places outside its natural range. It has been an important food crop for thousands of years, and was also thought to be highly beneficial in the diet.

Figs can be eaten fresh or dried, and used in jam-making. Most commercial production is in dried or otherwise processed forms, since the ripe fruit does not transport well, and once picked does not keep well.

-Wikipedia

It looks lovely in the sunlight…

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As it got closer to October, I thought figs were an appropriate thing to use around this time of year. Seeing as how not only are they plentiful & in season, but they also look a bit sinister in the form of jam or preserves. Blood red & seedy, it could be any kind of body part or bodily organ in a jar for your Halloween pleasure. As a matter of fact, even when not in the form of preserves & just sliced figs look a bit strange. Plus, it pairs well with cheese, so it’s great to have a small plate of sliced figs or jar of preserved figs open for your Halloween party, with some Humboldt Fog cheese (as Martha recommends) or Brie, or even Mascarpone cheese & crackers. Alternately, you could make haunting little fig cookies, such as I did. You know, fiendish figlets; cookies somewhat like Fig Newtons… but scarier. Muahahaha. They even resemble cut-up fingers, sort of, especially if you roll your dough strips a bit thinner. Very Halloweenie. And also kind of vampirical (is that a word?) when you think about it. You cut through the flesh of a fig, which if ripe is almost bruised like human flesh, and you get to the bloody middle. How creepy & morbid am I!

I used Black Mission figs, which are a very sweet variety, therefore I added some lemon juice to my preserves as to add a little balance (and to add some acidity for preservation, just to err on the side of caution). I also chose to add a smidgen of super-finely chopped crystallized ginger, and by smidgen I mean smidgen. I didn’t want it too overwhelming, just a slight hint of it. Another excellent option is anise, if you like that, or even lemon zest. But just the fig alone is divine, however, so don’t sweat it if you’re not into the additions. I used (and slightly altered) an incredibly easy Emeril Lagasse recipe that you don’t need to process in a water bath; you can just jar it and refrigerate it for immediate use. And if you’re using it just for the cookies or for a date/time not too far in the future, and you’re just going to refrigerate it, then you can do that.

Speaking of those cookies…

It’s also pretty lovely in artificial light, wrapped in dough.

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FIG & GINGER PRESERVES

Ingredients:

• 1 pound figs, washed
• 1 cup sugar
• ⅛ cup lemon juice
• ¼ – ½ teaspoon finely chopped crystallized ginger (or even more if you want a significantly more powerful ginger flavor)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, mix figs and sugar together and cook on low heat, uncovered, about 30 minutes. After the figs break down slightly, about 10-15 minutes, add lemon juice and ginger, then stir.
2. If processing, pour hot preserves mixture into a hot, sterile 1-quart or 2 (1-pint) glass canning jars, filling jar to within ⅛-inch from top; wipe rim and seal jar with lid. Put jar in water-bath canner or on rack set in a deep kettle and cover with hot water by 1 to 2 inches. Bring to a gentle simmer (180° to 185° degrees), and process, covered, 5 minutes. Transfer jar to a rack using tongs and let cool completely. Store in a cool, dark place. If not processing, pour into a warmed jar and cool then refrigerate and/or use immediately.

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FIENDISH LITTLE FIG COOKIES (adapted from The Boastful Baker/Desserts by the Yard by Sherry Yard)

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 large egg white
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 8-oz. jar fig & ginger preserves

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, for 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape down the bowl and paddle. Add the egg white and vanilla and beat in. Scrape down the bowl and paddle again. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, or overnight.
2. Place racks in middle and lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350° degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into two 6 x 8″ rectangles. Cut each into 4 equal strips. Spoon a line of filling down the center of each strip. Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the edges together. Place on the parchment-lined baking sheets, seam side down. Place baking sheets in the freezer for 10 minutes.
4. Using a serrated knife, slice each log on the diagonal into 10 cookies. Bake, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, for 12-15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

The more I look at them, the more they look eerie. Maybe it’s just me, but they remind me of a Halloween candle I used to have that was in the shape of a hand, coated in flesh colored wax, but then when you burned the fingers… the wax inside was red. These are some spooky little cookies, huh?

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This recipe can be adapted to use whatever kind of figs you have, actually almost any kind of jam, preserves or paste (i.e. guava) as well. The full recipe includes directions on making a fig filling instead of my preserves, if that floats your boat. I like mine for this time of year because they’re a redder color than the traditional fig filling, adding to the creepy vibe. You could also roll the dough into strips, fill it, fold it and them gently roll it thinner & cut out different shapes or just use the dough to make thumbprint style fig cookies. Use your imagination, that’s what this time of year is all about, isn’t it?

I sprinkled some orange sugar on each cookie before baking (black sugar would work well too!), and then when they were cooled, I stacked ‘em up and stuck in some cute little labels; similar to cupcake toppers I guess. I created them myself in Photoshop and have oh-so-kindly prepared & uploaded a .PDF file for your use, should you wish to use them for your own fiendish fig cookies. All I ask is that if you post them on your website or blog, please give credit where it’s due. If you have any questions or trouble with the PDF & you desperately want to use it, e-mail me & I’ll see if I can help you out.

Otherwise… enjoy eating your fiendish fig cookies. Eat them before they eat you, or serve them to your favorite vampire.

Image courtesy of the wonderful HBO

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*ahem* Oh, wow, how did that picture get there? Ha. Okay, last week in my Halloween compilation post, I mentioned I’d be sharing Halloween legends & their Celtic origins in detail this year. And so, here’s a scary little vampire tale for you to kick things off, in keeping with the season:

Did you ever hear of the Irish Vampire “Dearg Due”? No, not the infamous Dracula who was created by an Irishman named Bram Stoker but a true Irish Vampire that haunts central Ireland. The very name, Dearg-due means “red blood sucker” in Irish. She is a fiend that seduces men with her beauty and then sucks them dry of their blood.

Ancient Celtic folklore speaks of an Irish girl well known through the Irish countryside for her great beauty. To her father’s fierce dismay she fell helplessly in love with a poor local peasant. Her father condemned their love and arrange for her to marry a wealthy business man who was anything but nice to her. So angry with her father and distraught by her plight she committed suicide.

Legend said she was laid to rest near Strongbow’s Tree in Waterford. On one cold, windy Irish night she rose from her shallow grave. She then hunted her domineering father and abusive husband and sought her vengeance by sucking their bodies dry of blood until they took their last breathe and died.

From such evil acts she will eternally be known as Dearg-due. The Red Blood Sucker Vampire who is forever dammed to rise once a year and to use her beauty to lure men to their deaths.

-source The Irish Jewelry Company

It’s the big day! All you freaks out there are hopefully all dressed up in various costumes, scaring people & getting candy for free. What a great holiday, huh?

BOO!

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I’m a bit busy today, answering the door to little mini-goblins and ghosts and giving them the tooth-decaying sweets they demand, but I wanted to share my jack-o-lantern and an interesting recipe with you. Just in case there’s anyone out there who’s carving a pumpkin tonight or has seeds laying around… traditionally, I just salt mine & bake ‘em. But this year I had a LOT of seeds in my pumpkin, so I split it into 2 batches and made one in a new way: covered in sugar and spices.…

BROWN SUGAR SPICED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (I used light brown)
• ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• butter flavored cooking spray

Directions:

1. Separate seeds from stringy pulp and rinse off in warm water. Drain completely, and dry on paper towels.
2. Spray a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone. Spread seeds in a single layer and coat with brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Spray lightly with butter flavored cooking spray to “set” ingredients.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy!

I’ve noticed a sad decline in the amount of kids that go trick or treating nowadays. I’ve always loved Halloween, and I want you all to get down with some delicious treats today, some candies that stick to your teeth & are bad for you, Halloween cupcakes, caramel apples, pumpkin muffins, all that good stuff. But I want you to be safe too. Be careful out there, especially with little ones… there are scarier (and realer) things than mummies & witches lurking tonight. And if you don’t usually do it, go buy a mask and wear it, even just to answer the door. Just for me. I promise you’ll have fun. I know I am…

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Speaking of True Blood and treats, if you’re still looking for Halloween-worthy baked goods, check these out: True Blood Velvet cupcakes. They’re so awesome they’ve been talked about on the Tru Beverage website. There are more too, just take a peek at the Halloween category.

I’m sure you’re tired of hearing by now how much I love Halloween. Well, tough noogies I say. I’ve got my costume all ready (Merlotte’s waitress, complete with bloody vampire bites on my neck & requisite t-shirt, black shorts, & black Adidas sneakers), my house is all decorated with orange & purple lights, pumpkins, mums, zombies, faux spider webs, scarecrows and other assorted scary creatures, my jack-o’-lantern is carved (well actually, it will be tonight), and I’m excited. Bring on the monsters! Anyway, today I’m not going to be showing you a cupcake that’s gorey, just gooey. No gimmicky Halloween stuff, just… Ovaltine. Yep. Ovaltine.

Ovaltine always reminds me of vintage, old-fashioned things. Maybe it’s because you don’t often hear of it anymore, maybe it’s because of ‘A Christmas Story’, who knows. Either way, to me, Ovaltine & “malted milk” are really old-timey notions. Notions? I’m even talking old-timey now. This is a recipe I got from Bon Appétit’s September issue. Chocolate malt cake with malt crumbs, chocolate fudge sauce mini-marshmallows). Sounds amazing, right? Yeah that’s what I said too. So I decided to adapt it into a cupcake for Halloween, since it was dark & chocolatey. I omitted the malt crumbs because they just didn’t fit in with a cupcake version of the recipe- since you don’t “layer” a cupcake, there was nowhere to put them! I figured there was enough going on with these as it is, you know?

So here we are. Chocolate-malt cupcakes, filled with malt-fudge sauce, topped with amazing marshmallow Fluff buttercream (& if you like, you can add some charred mini-marshmallows, or just char this frosting itself!), adapted from a recipe by Christina Tosi, Momofuki Milk Bar‘s pastry chef. You can also use Swiss meringue, but I know some people find it tricky. So I included a recipe for an easy and delicious frosting alternative that’s equally as “pile-able” and smooth. Happy Halloween!

Have a fang-tastic Halloween… perhaps I should’ve used those toppers on these?

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CHOCOLATE-MALT CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate (70% to 72% cacao), chopped
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 ¼ cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup whole milk
• 3 tablespoons Ovaltine Chocolate Malt mix (Classic Ovaltine can be used also)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place chocolate in a small, microwave safe bowl. Melt in microwave in 15-second intervals until just melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Combine butter, sugar and corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium high speed until fluffy and pale, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs; beat on low speed to incorporate, then increase speed to medium high and beat until mixture is fluffy, about 2 minutes.
4. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add melted chocolate & Ovaltine. Beat until blended, about 1 minute. Add buttermilk, oil, milk and vanilla; beat on medium high speed until pale brown, about 2 minutes. Add dry ingredients; beat on low speed until just blended- about 45 seconds.
5. Divide batter amongst muffin tins, filling about halfway full. Bake until tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool completely in pans on racks.

MALT-FUDGE SAUCE

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups Ovaltine Chocolate Malt mix
• 4 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate (70% to 72% cacao), chopped
• 1 teaspoon mild-flavored molasses
• Pinch of coarse Kosher salt
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• ¼ cup sugar

Directions:

1. Place first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Combine cream, corn syrup, and sugar in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
3. Pour cream mixture over chocolate mixture in bowl. Let stand 1 minute.
4. Stir until smooth. Whisk until sauce is glossy, about 1 minute.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

First you get:

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 (7½ ounce) jar Fluff, or similar marshmallow cream
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Then you’re gonna:

1. Beat butter in a large bowl with mixer on high speed until creamy. Beat in marshmallow cream. Reduce speed to low, and beat in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Increase speed to high; beat until fluffy.
2. Frost cooled cupcakes.

SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup butter, cut into pieces
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.
2. Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.
3. Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Don’t worry if the buttercream appears curdled after all the butter has been added; it will become smooth again with continued beating. Add vanilla, and beat just until combined.
4. Switch to the paddle attachment, and beat on the lowest speed to eliminate any air pockets, about 5 minutes. If using buttercream within several hours, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature in a cool environment. Or transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator, up to 3 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature, and beat on the lowest speed with the paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 minutes.

PERFECT CUPCAKE FROSTING (courtesy of Our Best Bites)

First, get this:

• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk (whole milk is best)
• 1 cup unsalted butter (NOT margarine!)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

And then yer gon’ do this:

1. Whisk together the flour and the milk. Heat in a small sauce pan on medium heat.
2. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken. Let it cook, while stirring, until you can start to see the bottom of the pan. It should still be liquid-ish though. It’s okay if you have lumps, because we’re gonna strain those out right now. Place the mixture in a mesh strainer and stir with a rubber spatula to push it through.
3. You should end up with a nice, smooth mixture. It’s almost like pudding before it’s set.
4. Put this mixture in the fridge and let it cool completely, it’s fine if it stays in there long enough to get chilly, you just don’t want it warm at all. When it is chilled, you can move on to the following step.
5. It an electric stand mixer, beat the butter and the sugar for a minute or two until well combined and fluffy. You’ll want to use the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, not the flat paddle. Then while beating, add in the thickened milk mixture and the vanilla. Beat to combine and then scrape down the sides. Don’t be scared. It’s going to look like a goopy mess and kind of lumpy and separated.
6. But you just wait. It’s gonna blow your mind in a few minutes. Beat on med-high for 7-8 minutes. Yes, that long. I know it seems like forever, but that’s when the magic happens!
7. After 7-8 minutes it will have transformed from that sloppy mess into something gorgeous, fluffy, and incredibly light and silky.

I should tell you I halved the cupcake recipe, but not the sauce recipe. I got 18 cupcakes and had PLENTY of sauce, so if you’re planning on making the entire recipe as cupcakes, you might not have to double the sauce.

Now you can use these elements in any way you like. What I did was I cut a hole out of the middle of each cupcake using a round Wilton 2A tip, then filled it with the malt-fudge sauce (when they were completely cooled but when the sauce was still warm and gooey). Then I frosted them high with a fluffy, creamy, shiny marshmallow Fluff  frosting that I split into two batches; I colored one batch violet and one green. I had already done the black & orange thing, and the blood red thing, so the only option left to cover this year was zombie skin green and mottled-flesh purple. Of course, to stay truer to the Momofuku version, you can also spoon the sauce over the tops of the cupcakes, then use mini-marshmallows on top and char them or just the frosting using a kitchen torch. That is if you use the marshmallow frosting. Don’t try and char Swiss meringue!!

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Can you say DELICIOUS? It’s like eating a cup of Ovaltine with chocolate candy… in cake form. And if you added the marshmallows, it would be like hot chocolate or hot Ovaltine in a cupcake. Perfect for Halloween when everyone indulges in sweets & treats that really are just a bit too decadent. The fudge-malt sauce is to die for, and when it sets, it doesn’t get too hard, so it’s the perfect filling. But like I said, you could even use it as a frosting.

Liners and toppers are Martha Stewart for Michael’s, and the cupcake stand is by Wilton. Happy Haunting! And if you’re still looking for Halloween-themed treats… look no further than here, here and here.

]]> http://cupcakerehab.com/2010/10/vintage-style-chocolate-ovaltine-for-halloween/feed/ 4 http://cupcakerehab.com/2010/10/the-devils-road-is-paved-with-orange-marshmallow-buttercream/ http://cupcakerehab.com/2010/10/the-devils-road-is-paved-with-orange-marshmallow-buttercream/#comments Tue, 19 Oct 2010 04:29:34 +0000 Marilla @ Cupcake Rehab http://cupcakerehab.com/?p=7145

Before I get started on this post, I want to say how awesome it is that on October 13th the official Tru Blood Beverage website wrote a post about my True Blood Velvet cupcakes on their news page! So exciting, especially for me, I’m a huge fan of the show True Blood & the Sookie Stackhouse books. It was really spiffy that they noticed me & my lil’ ol cupcakes. I really geeked out over it for a while, truth be told (and still am, kinda). If you missed the post, and can’t find it, don’t worry. If you check out my press page, you’ll see a screenshot of what was written.

In researching my latest cupcake endeavor, I found out an interesting new fact. I didn’t know that black licorice was referred to as ‘Devil’s Road Tar’, but once I did I was so excited. I’m a big black licorice fan, I’m that person who eats all the black jelly beans and gum drops and leaves the rest. Not to mention there’s nothing like a good quality piece of licorice candy. I love it. Fennel, anise, licorice… whatever. I love it all. When I was little, my grandpa used to share his licorice pastilles with me, when I was a kid I’d devour Good & Plenty’s like there was no tomorrow, and as I got older I fell in love with Luden’s Honey Licorice cough drops (which are really hard to find, but I’ve been suckin’ ‘em down like crazy the past few weeks since I’m just getting over a bad ass cold) whether I was sick or not. I used to brush my teeth with Tom’s of Maine fennel toothpaste for a while, too. And Sambuca? Yes please. But all that aside, when I discovered that alias above, I knew it was perfect that I make these for Halloween. I stumbled upon a few different licorice cupcake ideas on the web. Some didn’t really appeal to me, to be honest, and others were combined with odd flavors. I don’t like chocolate with licorice, sorry. Vanilla was a safe bet, but I wanted something a little different. And so inspired by a few other bloggers, I decided the best bet would be an orange marshmallow topping made with Fluff. Why orange? Well, there’s an ice cream called ‘Tiger Tail’ (thanks Tania) that is orange ice cream with licorice sauce, and also there was a candy made by See’s that was a licorice stick, but orange & licorice together. The combination intrigued me, since both flavors are in my list of favorites. And really, what’s more Halloween-y than black & orange? Plus they match my Halloween cupcake cookie jar & cupcake candle… heh.

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Admittedly, these will not be for everyone. Most of you will probably gag at the thought of these. That’s alright. It’s my blog & I’ll bake licorice cupcakes if I want to! And if no one else likes them, then more for me. This recipe only makes 12, so it’s not like a lot will go to waste. Honestly, they were really delicious. Not too much of an in-your-face licorice flavor, just a pleasant anise taste. And I even added more anise to mine! Don’t be afraid to try them, even if you cut the recipe in half. I am not ashamed to say I ate three in a row. Okay, maybe I’m a little ashamed. But they’re made with egg whites, so they’re healthier. Right?

The cupcakes, with an interesting cast of characters on top.

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.You know what I learned while looking up licorice? Licorice is not the same thing as fennel or anise, despite having the flavoring compounds.

The flavor of liquorice comes mainly from a sweet-tasting compound called anethole (“trans”-1-methoxy-4-(prop-1-enyl)benzene), an aromatic, unsaturated ether compound also found in anise, fennel, and other herbs. Additional sweetness in liquorice comes from glycyrrhizin, a compound sweeter than sugar.

But for our purposes, for this recipe, anise = licorice and does a pretty good job of it. Licorice has quite a rich history. It’s been used in drinks & teas for ages, and used to soothe many ailments. Not only that, but it’s just plain yummy.

Licorice. Just the word by itself evokes certain memories in each of us. Now imagine tasting some licorice right now; yum! In fact licorice has been enjoyed throughout the ages by pharaohs, kings, and people like you and I! Licorice comes in more varieties than the candy vines, it is used in teas, medicine, booze, food, and all sorts of candy. Let’s take a look at how licorice has become such a delectable treat worldwide.

Now, licorice wasn’t always used in candy of course, it was often put into a drink consumed by the ancient Egyptians. Often time warriors would use licorice because it could help out on long marches when a thirst needed slaking. Many wise men in many countries like Alexander the Great and the Indian prophet, Brahma, encouraged the use of licorice for its healing properties. Even today the Aveda Company makes a comforting tea using the licorice root, Glycyrrhiza Glabra. Licorice has even been used to soothe coughs and heal peptic ulcers.

In spite of all its medicinal qualities, its most popular quality is its wonderful sweetness and its use in candies. It can be found around the world: In the United States of course, and in Germany, England, the Netherlands, and Nordic countries. Its popularity knows no boundary.

In 1914 the American Licorice Company was founded in Chicago, Illinois. Black Vines were born that year and have remained a popular treat ever since. The chewy black goodness evolved into “yummies” such as: Black Crows, Licorice Snaps, Black Scotties, and an all time favorite, Good and Plenty. My favorite was a product call “Allsorts.” These were originally manufactured in England and looked like beautiful candy jewels with licorice surrounded by pink, blue, and yellow confections. They were cut into squares, cylinders, and rounds; usually layered so you could see the licorice in the center of say a pink round candy. The look was tempting and the taste magnificent. You can still buy these today.

Eventually, in 1920 the classic Raspberry Vines made their debut, and while they weren’t really licorice, they became synonymous with licorice because they were produced by the same company and had the same chewy characteristics as real black licorice. However, red licorice is made with strawberry or cherry extracts; they are not made with the licorice root, therefore, they don’t taste anything like black licorice, but are delicious in their own right.

Licorice has been used for kinds of purposes throughout the ages. One thing that stands true is the tastiness and the memories we get when licorice is on our palate. We reminisce a bit about when life seemed to move a bit slower, or when grandpa would hand us a licorice morsel out of his jar. Whatever the memory is, there is no denying the history and goodness of a licorice treat!

BLACK LICORICE CUPCAKES

First you get:

• 1 1/3 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons anise extract
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 2 oz white chocolate (good quality)
• ¾ cup sugar
• 5 egg whites at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Then you:

1. Melt chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water, or in the top of a double boiler. When completely melted and combined, stir in the sugar, and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in separate bowl.
3. In a large glass measuring cup, mix together the milk, vanilla, and anise extracts.
4. Transfer chocolate mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk mixture in 2 parts, starting and ending with the flour. Beat just until ingredients are combined after each addition.
6. With clean bowl and beaters, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on low speed for one minute,then on high until soft peaks form.
7. Transfer 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the batter bowl, gently fold to combine. Fold in the rest of the egg whites.
8. Fill 12 cupcake papers to ¼ inch from the top rim. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool slightly in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I frosted them with an orange marshmallow Fluff frosting that I striped with black & orange stripes, then piped it on and sprinkled it with orange and brown sprinkles with miniature black bats. I don’t often do the “holiday themed jimmies” thing, but these were so freakin’ cute with the mini-bats, I had to. The toppers are vintage, they include a jack-o-lantern, a flying witch, a black cat face, a witch’s head, a black cat, a scarecrow and a skull & crossbones. Cute, right? The liners are Martha Stewart for Michael’s, of course. She always pulls me in with these adorable liners and then I always buy way more than I need to. But that’s alright, it just means more cupcakes and muffins for this delicious holiday.

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Honestly, even if you aren’t a big licorice fan, you might like these. They aren’t bold at all, they have a very light flavor. And if you’re looking for the frosting recipe, it’s here. Just add orange extract to it instead of vanilla and you’re ready for Halloween. And Arwyn, my darling little creature the color of licorice, is ready for Halloween too. As always.

This is a recipe I’ve had for a looong time and it’s just been sitting there in my Bible getting no love. I can’t even remember where I got it from, so if you read this and it’s your great-grandma’s recipe, then by all means let me know and I’ll give credit where it’s due.

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COCO-RUM PUMPKIN MUFFINS

Ingredients:

Coco-rum “balls”

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons rum (*I’d suggest a dark rum, I used light & next time I’d definitely use dark)
• 1 ½ cups dessicated (dry) coconut
• 1 egg

Muffins

• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin (or squash, pureed, if you prefer)
• ¼ cup orange juice
• ¼ teaspoon orange zest
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. First, make the buttered-rum coconut “kiss” by melting the 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes, watching very carefully, until the butter turns nut-brown (this is called “buerre noisette”) and is very fragrant. Be careful not to burn. Immediately remove from heat and add sugar, rum and coconut. Combine well to mix butter and rum throughout and to cool slightly. Stir in egg, combining well. Using a rounded teaspoon as a measure, separate the coconut mixture into 12 portions and roll them into balls, resembling meatballs. Space apart on a plate and put in refrigerator to firm up while preparing the muffin batter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. For the muffins: Cream butter for 1 minute. Add sugar and beat 4 more minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs.
3. In separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, orange zest and juice and sour cream.
4. In a third bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
5. Stir 1/3 of the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture; mix in ½ the pumpkin puree mixture and add another 1/3 of the flour mixture. Stir in remaining pumpkin puree and flour and mix well.
6. Distribute batter evenly among 12 well-greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Place a coconut “kiss” onto the top of each muffin and press in so nearly half the kiss is immersed in batter.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin batter comes out clean.
8. Enjoy!

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Okay a few things. One- I didn’t use dry coconut. I used regular sweetened coconut you buy in the supermarket. Also, I only used one cup of it. Because of this, my mixture was a bit “wetter” and didn’t stick together as well, so what I did was I just spooned it over the top of the muffins. Because of this, I ended up with amazing, coconut-y, crunchy tops on the muffins instead of a “kiss” in the center. So either which way you decide to do it, it’ll work out for you. I also used canned pumpkin, because that’s what I had. I ain’t gonna be choppin’ up pumpkins & pureeing them for muffins, ya heard? The liners are by Reynolds, the people who make the aluminum foil. Yes, I got them in the supermarket. They’re foil-lined, so the grease doesn’t seep through. I really like them, I wish they had more patterns. For $2.50 (or something like that), they were worth it.

These are, I’m told, some fantastical muffins. I should’ve stuck little vintage pumpkin toppers in them… eh, hindsight is 20/20. If you’re into pumpkin, I have a few recipes involving it, take a peek. And again, if you missed it, check out my “best of” Halloween post for more ideas. And have you seen my True Blood Velvet cupcakes? I’m excited for Halloween, aren’t you?

True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball, who also created Six Feet Under. True Blood is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, and details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small Louisiana town. The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a bar, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).^[1][2]

Following the creation of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a telepath and waitress at Merlotte’s in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, owned by Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), a shapeshifter—though this secret is kept hidden. One night, Sookie meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old vampire who has returned to Bon Temps following the death of his last remaining relative. As she cannot hear his thoughts, she finds it easy to be in his company and, over the first season, the two become romantically involved.

Not only all that… but the show has one of the best theme songs ever. Case in point:

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Back at the end of August, me & Jay went to a wedding and the cake was red velvet. This created a monster, (no pun intended) because Jay, my steadfast and boring vanilla cupcake eater, became a red velvet fan after deciding to try it (admittedly under the influence of mucho alcohol).  So while I’ve made them in the past, he’s never tried them. Ever. I guess I never plied him with enough alcohol. But he’s a big fan of cream cheese frosting too, so I figured I’d make some red velvets being that I hadn’t made them in a long time, and Halloween is fast approaching, making it a perfect time for some vampire themed-cupcakes. And of course, in said true cheeseball fashion, I went with that vampire theme- bats & all. Yeah, I know. But they look awesome, don’t they?

Sink yer teeth into these. Haha! Another cheesy joke. I’m full of ‘em tonight.

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Talk about the best red velvet recipe EVER. And nothing says ‘drama’ like red velvet. They can be adapted for so many holidays- Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, even an Oscar party (red velvet/red carpet!?) And when decorated simply, they are so striking. These are Magnolia Bakery‘s red velvet recipe. I’ve had bad results with any other recipe, so I refuse to even attempt a new one. I used black liners (how spooky!) and topped them with a vanilla cream cheese frosting, put black bat toppers  on ‘em and on some, I just drizzled red gel icing.

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If you watch the show or have read the books, you’ll understand why these scream “FANGTASIA” to me. Especially the ones with the red icing on top.

The measurements here are a bit wacky, but that’s because it’s halved. Halved, you’ll get about 21 cupcakes. That’s mainly because they rise like crazy, so you have to only fill the liners halfway. Otherwise you’ll get mushroom-looking cupcakes. The full recipe makes way more than anyone needs. Unless you’re having a Halloween party. In which case, double this recipe and where’s my invite?

TRUE BLOOD RED VELVET CUPCAKES

First get together:

• 1 & ¾ cups cake flour
• ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 & ¼ cups sugar
• 1 & ½ large eggs*
• 3 Tbs red food coloring
• 1 Tbs + 1 ½ tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¾ cup buttermilk
• ¾ tsp cider vinegar
• ¾ tsp baking soda

Then you:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line pan with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside.
3. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
5. In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not over beat.
6. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
7. Fill cups ½ full and bake 20-25 minutes, Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.

*Use one whole egg and then crack one in a bowl, beat it and use half.. or you can live dangerously and use two eggs (which is what I do every time I make these).

VAMPIRE’S VANILLA CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Get yer dirty vampire-lovin’ mitts on the following:

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar

Then put ‘em all together this here way:

1. Whip the cream cheese mercilessly in a mixing bowl until smooth.
2. Add butter and beat that mixture senseless to combine it.
3. Add vanilla and beat in powdered sugar a little at a time into submission until frosting is as thick and sweet as you’d like.

So dramatic. Eric Northman would approve.

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Some other decorating ideas would be to put little sets of plastic fangs on top, like the ones you use when you go as a vampire for Halloween when you’re a kid. Or, take one cupcake and crumble it into fine crumbs, and sprinkle that on top of the rest. Or, sanding sugar in red or black. Adding vanilla bean to the cream cheese frosting would really add something flavor-wise, too. Plus you’d get those awesome little black flecks. I’d serve these with Tru Blood bottled beverage at a Halloween or True Blood-themed party. Tru Blood is a bottled blood-orange flavored non-alcoholic soda that mimics the synthetic blood that the TV show it’s featured on gets it’s name from. Tru Blood is a bit pricey, true, but it’s a cool novelty drink idea for a party (or for big fans). Another option is to serve these with Bloody Mary’s, or a Black Widow: simply add some ice to a highball glass, then pour in some cranberry juice. Then top it with 2 oz. of Blavod black vodka and you have an awesome looking drink. If you’re not into any of that, plain ol’ POM Wonderful pomegranate juice or fruit punch works just as well as a bloody-looking cocktail.

This is a perfect time of year to take advantage of the spookiness of the way certain food & drinks look. Even guacamole at this time of year can be a great food choice, because you can call it anything gross and it’ll work. Same with refried beans! Dark chocolate cupcakes, red velvet cupcakes & white cupcakes colored green, purple or orange with food coloring can all contribute nicely to the theme. And drink-wise; any drink with Midori would fit into a witchy-theme too. Just go crazy! Anything goes.

I’ll be back later on this week & next with more Halloween-y recipes. If you’re not satisfied with that, check out this post; you may have missed it before. It’s all about fall and Halloween themed cupcake and other dessert & treat ideas.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain).^[1] The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes ^[2] regarded as the “Celtic New Year”.^[3] Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.^[4][5]

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows’ Even (both “even” and “eve” are abbreviations of “evening”, but “Halloween” gets its “n” from “even”) as it is the eve of “All Hallows’ Day”,^[6] which is now also known as All Saints’ Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,^[3] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints’ Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints’ Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

God, what a great fucking time of year.

All the stores have already had all the Halloween decorations and candy out since late August, so I don’t think the first week in October is too early to be gearing up for it. This year, I decided to start out the season with a little compilation of my top 4 favorite Halloween cupcake posts, and also links to some of my other Halloween-ie themed baked goods, so that I might inspire some of you in your fright night baking. So I sat down with my favorite tea from Teavana and picked out some cupcakes worthy of a “Halloween Best Of” post. Don’t worry, I’m still making cupcakes this year (specifically something very special coming next week… bwahahaha), I’m just showing off some of my past ones.

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These were my absolute favorite Halloween cupcakes ever. They look perfect, they were a fantastic tasting cupcake, and the white chocolate bones were too cute (and also delicious). You can find the original post and the recipe here: Creepy chocolate stout cupcakes with white chocolate “funny bones.”

…Now these… THESE are some bad ass cupcakes! Another perfect looking cupcake, and even though I made it after Halloween, it’s totally appropriate for the holiday. The key here is to use cinnamon oil, not extract, so you get the heat of the “Red Hots” flavor. Otherwise it’s just like tasting cinnamon gum. Also in this post I uploaded the files so you can print out these toppers and use them yourself! The original post is here: Coop’s devilishly delightful cupcakes.

…These were made to match a Jessie Steele apron Jay bought me for Halloween, but they’re perfect for those of you who aren’t into the themed Halloween stuff, or are more into celebrating fall than dressing up like a witch (spoil sports!). Delicious chocolate flavor with a hint of pumpkin. A grown-up pumpkin cupcake. The recipe and more can be found here: Jessie Steele (inspired) pumpkin cupcakes.

…These are such fun. Lyns sent me some sweetmelt white chocolate monster eyes and I knew right away my cupcakes would be little green monsters. Great for kids, it’s just a plain vanilla cupcake and vanilla buttercream colored green. The fun comes in with the black frosting used for facial features & the amazing edible eyes. In this post I also explain why Halloween is my favorite holiday. Check out the post here: Slimer’s fright night gorey eyeballs cupcakes.

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But sometimes, you may not really be in the mood for cake. Or frosting. So now we move on to non-cupcake treats. ‘Cause like I said, sometimes you aren’t in the mood for a cupcake, but maybe something else spooky, sweet & appropriate for the season. Or maybe you’re having a Halloween party and you want something that’s impressive but yet not as time consuming as cupcakes. Well I’ve got you covered on that too. Are you ready?

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These little treats were so easy to make, plus they were a HUGE hit. Everyone loved them! Homemade marshmallow bones… great in hot cocoa or eaten by themselves. Find the recipe & more photos here: Mr. Bones, Mr. Bones, how do you feel Mr. Bones?

...As far as baked treats go, I have a recipe for pumpkin muffins. But they aren’t like your average, boring pumpkin muffin made from pumpkin in a can. The interesting thing about them is that the pumpkin you use is the cut out parts of your jack-o-lantern! It’s a recipe I’ve had since kindergarten when my teacher passed them out for Halloween, and I’ve made them every year since. Get the recipe & the story behind it here: Mrs. Blach’s pumpkin muffins.

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And there you have it. That isn’t by any means the end of my Halloween themed treats, you can find more in my “halloween” category over there. I also have a recipe for roasting your own pumpkin seeds, which is another thing I make every year when I cut out my jack-o-lantern. If you’re looking for more cupcake ideas, another excellent cupcake recipe that would work really well for Halloween are Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes that have cinnamon and pumpkin in them, which I used for Thanksgiving a few years back, but it would be perfect for this holiday. So would cinnamon vanilla with Mexican hot chocolate buttercream, it’s a fall-flavor but it isn’t too overly-theme-y. Also, this recipe for mocha cupcakes with orange-vanilla buttercream is a great fall flavored cake & frosting combination. Another amazing cupcake recipe that fits this season perfectly are the apple cupcakes with brown sugar buttercream I made last year. Apples are a-plenty now and if you can pick fresh ones and use them, it’s even better. A great idea for fall-tasting treats that aren’t cupcakes are Donut-Muffins. They taste like donuts, but they’re muffins. The cinnamon sugar & nutmeg flavors are perfect for this time of year. Same goes for homemade apple cider donuts. And last but not least, Jay’s absolute favorite cookies… maple-iced fall leaf sugar cookies. And stay tuned later on this month for some new Halloween cupcake ideas. You know I won’t let you down.

As far as decorating goes, Lyns at Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Bakery & Cupcakery Supplies has an awesome section in her store called “Our Halloween Party” with awesome liners, cupcake wrappers and toppers that will dress up any kind of cupcake for the holiday. Another place that has awesome cupcake decorating ideas is sweet estelle’s baking supply. Black & white liners, vintage looking toppers like these or these and orange /black sugars can make your Halloween cupcakes look even spookier.

And like I said… stay tuned this week for the start of some new Halloweenie cupcakes & more.

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Last year I shared my recipe for pumpkin muffins that use up the cut-out pieces of the jack-o-lantern. I’ve been making them since I was in Kindergarten, the recipe is actually courtesy of my Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Blach. This year, I’ll share a recipe for toasted pumpkin seeds, another tradition around here. It wouldn’t be Halloween without them!

And in case you didn’t know, pumpkin seeds are really good for you. Don’t believe me? Read all about the 10 benefits of pumpkin seeds. And roasting them only makes them even better; by allowing them to keep the healthy oils that benefit us.

TOASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

This year for Halloween (a.k.a. thebestholidayevar), I decided to actually make two batches of different cupcakes for the big day, mainly because my dad’s birthday is tomorrow, the 29th, so I needed more than just Halloween cupcakes. I had this chocolate stout cake recipe for a long time (thanks to Bon Appétit), and I’d been wondering what to do with it, I mean, I knew I’d probably convert it to cupcakes but I wasn’t sure what or when I’d make it for. It seemed perfect for my dad’s birthday because it has beer in it so it’s a manly cupcake (sorta), but yet  I needed to think about my Halloween cakery plans. So I thought maybe I could incorporate the remainder of the cakes in with my Halloween treats. It was when I was trying to figure out how to make them spooky that my mother showed me a recipe she found online for “Funny Bones.” Funny bones are basically mini-marshmallows stuck on the ends of pretzel sticks, then dunked in melted white chocolate to create little bones. Genius!

(By the way, if you haven’t seen my first batch, it was these ghost cupcakes)

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So I made the cupcakes, and while they were cooling I made the bones. When I was making the bones I realized if I didn’t let the white chocolate get too liquidy, I could just mold the chocolate by hand instead of coating the pretzels and marshmallows, so that’s what I did. I’m gonna give the recipe for the funny bones here but I didn’t use it for mine. So I made those, popped them in the freezer to harden, and then put the little candy bones on half the cupcakes, along with my skeleton toppers that came with the liners. This way, I can use the other half as Birthday Beer Cupcakes for my dad (I just stuck some chocolate chips on top of those). This cake is made with stout, specifically chocolate stout, but I used cream stout. I used Samuel Adams Cream Stout, which is my new favorite (yes, more so than Guinness now). According to the website:

Samuel Adams® Cream Stout is a true cream stout, balancing body and sweetness with the natural spiciness of grain and hand selected English hops. Our Brewers use generous portions of roasted chocolate and caramel malts as well as unroasted barley to impart a fullness of body, a roasty malt character and rich, creamy head. Its dark mahogany color make it almost as easy on the eyes as it is on the palate.

It really is delicious.

So this cake recipe makes way more than two dozen cupcakes. I halved it, and half the recipe made 18 (I used 2 eggs).  I’m going to give the full recipe here. It’s absolutely delicious, but I seriously recommend buying the Samuel Adams Cream Stout to use for this, or another chocolate or cream stout. Guinness would totally work, as would any stout, but the cream/chocolate sweetness of the Sam Adams really makes the cake. Having a glass of the stout while eating the cake is amazing too. It’s great how they work together. Although I do really enjoy a few other stouts me & Jay have tried, like Rogue chocolate stout & Samuel Smith Imperial Stout, I just was able to get my hands on the Sam Adams stout. Otherwise, you can also use Sierra Nevada Porter or Sam Adams Honey Porter in this, and Brooklyn Brewery‘s Black Chocolate Stout would probably also be amazing.

It’d be really cute to drizzle some red food coloring on the tops, like blood. I didn’t have any left or else I would have. I used plain old chocolate buttercream, but vanilla would work well too. Especially a vanilla bean buttercream. Or, if you really wanna go all out with the stout theme, make a chocolate stout buttercream: instead of milk, add stout.

CHOCOLATE STOUT CAKE/CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped*
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 ¼ cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 large eggs, separated
• ¾ cup chocolate stout
• 2/3 cup freshly brewed strong coffee

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line muffin tins with liners and set aside.
2. Placed chopped chocolate in a medium metal or heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water and set aside.
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Set aside.
4. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 1 ¼ cups sugar until fluffy and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in lukewarm melted chocolate, then stout and coffee. Beat flour mixture into chocolate mixture in two additions, just until incorporated.
5. Using clean and dry beaters and a new clean bowl, beat egg whites and 3 tablespoons sugar in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into cake batter to lighten, then fold in remaining egg whites in two additions.
6. Divide batter between prepared muffin tins, filling each up about halfway. If making a cake, fill two buttered and floured 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 ½-inch-high sides with about 3 cups each, then smooth tops.
7. Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes or until cake tester inserted comes out clean and tops spring back. Bake cakes for 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted comes out clean.

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FUNNY BONES

Ingredients:

• 36 pretzel sticks
• 1 (12-ounce) package white chocolate chips
• 72 mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
2. Place the chips in a double boiler over just simmering water and melt, stirring frequently. As soon as the chips are just melted (there may even be a few solid ones left), remove the pan from the heat and remove the top section of the double  boiler so the chocolate’s temperature doesn’t keep rising.
3. Stick marshmallows onto both ends of the pretzels, with the marshmallow’s flat sides parallel to the pretzel.
4. Dip each pretzel in the chocolate and lift out with a fork, letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Lay the bones on the baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes to harden the chocolate. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or at a cool room temperature.

* I’d recommend using dark chocolate. I didn’t, but sorta wish I did. They’d have been more dramatic and Halloween-y looking.

For the half I used as my dad’s birthday cupcakes, I just put some chocolate chips on top.

Happy birthday, dad

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I highly recommend this recipe, it’s phenomenal. And make sure you crack open a stout to drink with them, like I said it’s awesome. The liners and skull toppers are Wilton for Target.

If you’re looking for some other Halloween cupcake or treat inspiration, check out my Halloween archives here.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!