TURKEY AND PEACOCK BAKE FOR THEIR BIRTHDAYS

TURKEY BAKES TERRIBLE MONSTER CUPCAKES...WITH FRESH STRAWBERRY BATTER, OF COURSE

PEACOCK CAREFULLY ADDS EYES TO HER NUTTER=BUTTER GHOSTS

Baking is a family tradition, even with my grandkiddies.  At a young age, they choose to spend a special baking time with me as their most desired gift from us...makes me feel pretty special.  Turkey's birthday  (4)  was last month...I was privileged to get him for several hours right on his birthday, and Peacock's once-a-year day (turning 5) is tomorrow, Halloween.  Since we did not want to compete with Halloween, we chose to spend the Peacock's day together yesterday deciding what to bake and then shopping for ingredients and then, BAKING.  My Penguin celebrates her day (turning 9) just before Christmas...wonder what she will choose to do with me?  Even though she is older, I don't know if she can focus on baking projects for hours at a time like her younger siblings...she'd rather beat me in a game of chess.

Peacock made Lolipop Ghosts, Nutter-Butter Ghosts, and a beautiful Pumpkin Cake baked and frosted as a Candy-Corn, and then decorated with RIP Tombstones...everything except tying the knot around her lolipop ghost's heads was totally done by my sweet turning five Peacock...even made her own cake plate.

Sorry, sweetie, but I did not get your tombstones with RIP writing and your finished cake...it was so bootiful!

Turkey used candies and cookies and frostings to decorate his birthday monster cupcakes.  He worked hard for hours to complete his baking...made the cupcakes and frosting and everything.  He was unbelievably focused and creative.  Even when his grandpa, Papaw, tried to get him to take a break to go out for ice cream, he just put in his order and asked Papaw to bring it back for him...he could not take a break, he was busy doing important work.

Even when we went out for a family pizza dinner later that evening, Turkey continued to bake, this time, with pizza dough.

 

I've posted all the photos I have so that my kiddies can copy whichever ones they want for their own use.  I had just as much fun as they did on their special days!

French Friday with Dorie: Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

PUMPKIN STUFFED WITH A CHEESY BREAD FILLING

MY SLICE

My pumpkin is baking.  I can smell the bacon and spices and it’s aroma is delicious.  I’ll take this time to write up my post as the baking time is about 2 hours.

"HALLOWEEN" PUMPKIN VS PIE PUMPKIN

I had first thought to use a small, sweet, non-stringy pie pumpkin, but decided that it would not provide a cavity large enough for very much of the cheesy-bread filling that would season the pumpkin and add so much to this dish.  With this in mind, I opted for a small, but much-larger- than-pie-pumpkin, a field pumpkin...or Halloween pumpkin.

I decided to roast my smaller, sweeter pie pumpkins along with today’s pumpkin and use them for their intent...pie.

ALL CLEANED AND SEEDS SAVED

I’ve always liked squashes, especially with sweet toppings like butter and brown sugar or maple syrup, but pumpkin is quite bland, so I’ve never given it the same use.

I NEED TO TRIPLE THE RECIPE TO FILL THIS "SMALL" PUMPKIN

When we had a huge garden while living in Upstate New York, we grew a few varieties of pumpkin.  I remember cleaning some similar to the pumpkin being used today, and  filling their insides with a stew-like mixture which was delicious. 

THE FILLING IS READY

But I’ve never used a filling similar to Dorie’s cheesy bread filling.  I admit I’m skeptical.  The filling looks and smells great, but that pumpkin was just begging to become a Jack-O-Lantern.  At this point, I’m more excited about making my pie from fresh sweet pumpkin.

ALL STUFFED...

AND OVEN READY

Part 2

OK...I learned something today.  This pumpkin is delicious!  The stuffing flavors, which were very tasty, permeated the pumpkin flesh, and the pumpkin, which I purchased from Trader Joe’s was not stringy or flat tasting as I had expected it would be...in fact, not stringy at all.

JUST OUT OF THE OVEN

When Hubby and No.1 Son tasted the stuffing they both commented that they thought it had a lot of meat and asked what was in the stuffing (they thought it was stuffed with something like meatloaf).  Well, just some bacon...I used a pound for my pumpkin (probably cooked down to 1/2 pound).  I found that I had to 3X the recipe to fill my pumpkin which I thought was relatively small.

I used a good whole grain bread and switched out the cheese for a spicy pepper jack, a good melting cheese, as I wanted more flavor with all the bread and cream.  It worked well.  I baked this stuffed pumpkin for two hours.  (The pie pumpkins were done in 1 hour.)

Note:  There was plenty of oven space to bake Dorie's pumpkin and  two pie pumpkins...the first hour.

And, then there was room to bake two pies with Dorie's pumpkin during the second hour.

 I'm feeling energy efficient.

By grabbing 2 sides of my silicone baking sheet I easily lifted the pumpkin, which stayed whole, from the baking pan.

And I must admit that I’m thinking of this dish as a new Thanksgiving dinner vegetable.  It would grace our table beautifully and we always like to try something different each year. It would be perfectly seasonal.  This baked pumpkin is pretty when sliced and would not compete with pumpkin pie which is sweet and with different spices.

Just for fun, I saved all my seeds for roasting, and I’ll let my kiddies try them next time they come....maybe tomorrow.

A SLICE OF DORIE'S STUFFED PUMPKIN AND A SLICE OF FRESH APPLE PIE...AND I'M GOOD

I know, you all thought I was baking pumpkin pies...well,  I'll bake the fresh pumpkin pies tomorrow after my little pumpkins have cooled and that filling has been prepared.  What's a day without pumpkin during the week before Halloween?


Happy Halloween to all my cyberfriends...have a very fun and safe holiday!!!

Kris' Caramel Fall Snack Mix

YUMMY FALL CARAMEL SNACK

 My adult Sunday School class needs treats...actually they expect treats every time I teach.  I guess it's my fault.  I started bringing cookies and cupcakes and other fun treats to give my class a bit of a sugar rush so that they would stay awake and have energy to join our discussions.  We are studying the New Testament and sometimes the topics are heavy duty, so I help keep my class alert with a blood sugar jolt.  Actually works.  And, the adults are always so happy to get snacks and treats which seem to be more common with the younger crowd.

This week we talked about the Apostle Paul's writings in Ephesians when he instructs the people to put on the Whole Armor of God and to carry the Sword of Truth, or the Word of God, which protects against Satan's firey darts...we learned good ways to "Crunch Satan."   To get everyone geared up, I passed out bags of "Crunch" which helped keep our discussion lively and thoughtful.

The next issue is:  Everyone wants the recipe, so here it is...and it is for a crowd, but can be easily cut down to fit a family size.

Kris' Caramel Fall Snack Mix: (Crowd size recipe)

NOTE:  All ingredients can be found at Sam's Club for one stop shopping.  Probably available at Costco, but I've not checked.

First I popped lots of fresh popcorn.  Good to do this either in the microwave, with a hot-air popper, or in a pot with a little oil on the stove...just keep it moving so as not to burn.  The "bags" of pre-seasoned microwave popcorn will not work well.  Keep popping until you have 8-10 quarts.

Then I shook the popcorn, which was in very large bowls, so that any unpopped kernels fell to the bottom of the bowl.  I carefully scooped out the popped corn and discarded the unpopped kernels.

I mixed in a bag each of Cheerios, Corn Chex, Rice Chex, and Wheat Chex ( All the Chex comes together in one box at Sam's Club.)  Other cereals could be used depending on your tastes such as Life Cereal, Crunchy Oatmeal Squares, etc.

Then I added a large can of salted peanuts, also from Sam's Club.  There are a few varieties to choose from; your choice can be any that you like.

The Popcorn-Cereal-Nut mixture is the portion that will be caramel coated.  Popcorn should be the larger portion of this mixture (at least 2 to 1).  After mixing, you may need to pop more corn to get a good balance.

Next, make the caramel coating:  (Plan to make 2 batches caramel, may be  necessary to coat all the popcorn mixture depending on your add-ins.)

3 cups packed brown sugar

2 1/4 cups light corn syrup

3/4   cups  (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup and butter.   Make sure your pan is large enough to boil the ingredients...and they will foam up especially when baking soda is added at the finish.   Bring to a rolling boil and boil for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

 2 Tablespoons vanilla Extract

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Have the above 2 items measured in advance and ready for immediate use.

Remove the caramel mixture from the heat;  stir in vanilla (which may spit at you as it sizzles in the hot caramel)  and baking soda until mixture is light and foamy...about 10 seconds or until incorporated.    Yield: enough caramel to cover about 20 quarts with a thin coating of caramel.  Note:  A thick caramel coating is tasty, but will be more difficult to dry in the oven for a crunchy caramel snack.

Immediately pour finished caramel over popcorn mixture; toss to coat. Bake on baking sheets either greased or lined with silpat mats or parchment paper, uncovered, at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Then, remove from oven and cool completely.

Next, add your choice of the following:  ( I added all these except for the goldfish.)

2 bags Fall candy corn mix (with candy pumpkins, etc)

Bag of tiny twist pretzels  (Sam's club has large containers of Christmas pretzels that work well) (Salty goes well with caramel)

2 large (party size) Bags Reese's Pieces or Fall colored M&M's  (Reese's Pieces also from Sam's Club)

Pepperidge Farms chocolate goldfish are fun, but I used chocolate "cat" cookies from Trader Joe's.

A great family snack size, or the large bowl in the photo, would be about 1/3 this recipe size.

One could just make the caramel corn and then add in anything that is personally enjoyed.  I have found, however, that chocolate candies do not work well as this is an eat-with-hands or portable snack and in AZ, the chocolate melts.

Place in sealed containers; keeps well for 2 weeks.

FAMILY SIZE CARAMEL POPCORN WITH ANY FUN ADD-INS

Baked Sunday Mornings: Chocolate Mint Thumbprints

CHOCOLATE HEAVEN

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!  Before I post with this group again, that fun holiday will be history, so I'll wish you all a fun and safe treat day.

THE ROLLING SUGAR

I'm baking for Fall holidays with the wonderful pumpkin, caramel, apple, cinnamon kinds of ingredients.  Mint with chocolate is a year round favorite, however, I'm into other things right now. ..especially since Halloween is in just over a week.  There are so many terrific seasonal favorites and other things to try this week.

DARK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES (DUSTED WITH UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER)

I did make the cookie base for these chocolate thumbprints, however, without the minty flavors.  Instead of a minty filling I chose to use a dark chocolate truffle filling mostly because today was very stressful...computer problems, a friend needing help at 6 am, another friend who lost her keys and asked me to help look for them...I actually found them in the middle of a busy intersection 3 miles from her home...miracle.  She had set them  on the hood of her car and had forgotten them when she went out to run her Saturday errands.  And on and on...things never stopped and lots of panic type things to deal with.  So...I needed chocolate.  Dark, rich, comforting, delicious chocolate.

DOUGH BALLS ROLLED IN SUGAR CRYSTALS BEFORE BAKING

Before baking I rolled the balls of chocolate cookie dough in sparkling sugar crystals which made my unbaked cookies look so pretty I had a hard time putting holes into their middles.  (I had previously purchased this sugar from King Arthur Flour to use on wedding cupcakes...it worked really well on these cookies too.)

GANACHE MELTING IN THE HOT COOKIE THUMBPRINT CENTERS

Alice Medrich, the chocolate queen,  has a lovely truffle recipe that is like a ganache which has set up, is rolled into balls, and finished with a dusting of cocoa powder.  I'll tell you what, these little yummies cure whatever ails me.  I made them and then, deciding they were a bit large, cut them in half, laid them in the thumbprints of the hot just-out-of-the-oven cookies where they melted to cover the holes and....heaven.  Dark chocolate heaven.  I think I'm fixed.  Hubby and I enjoyed this plate of cookies, but never fear, I have lots more dough for Frolicking Night Owl's kids to bake tomorrow.  When they bake their cookies with  the ganache cookie centers I'll let the kiddies use Halloween sprinkles to decorate theirs before the centers set up.

HUBBY AND I DEVOURED THIS PLATE OF GOODNESS

Love these cookies.  I promise to make them again in a month or so using the minty filling.  These will be a great Christmas treat especially with the mint flavors.