Happy Halloween Dessert Table

Happy Halloween! 

In the interest of getting you in the spirit, I thought I would share a few pictures from the dessert table I helped put together at a friends party this weekend.

Cupcakes, cookies, candy and delicious homemade doughnuts in the kitchen rounded out the menu and a fun time was had by all!

My Mummy and The Dapper Zombie Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Ghoulish Ghosts

Hope you have a frightfully fun Halloween!

Bwahahahaha!

More Monster Madness

Short of baking cakes, decorating sugar cookies has got to be one of my most favorite things to do in the kitchen.  After taking a long hiatus from sugar cookies, I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the holidays and the opportunity to jump back in to the fray.  And what a fun and lovely fray it is!

I'm constantly on the look out for new, fun cutters and ways to decorate them and I love the challenge of stretching myself to do something I haven't tried before with regard to decorating.  I was thrilled this year to come across this fantastic cutter used to make the Dapper Zombie and My Mummy.  The cutter is available from: www.coppergifts.com and is the creation of expert cookier Sweet Dani B.  Her designs and creativity are truly inspiring and I'm constantly in awe of her work.

In order to keep my sanity in tact I often times will pick one or two detailed cookie patterns and make the rest a bit more simple.  While the zombie and mummy cookies are a bit labor intensive, making them is very rewarding.  For complete directions on how to decorate the cookies, check out Dani's website, www.sweetdanib.com .

The other cookies shown above are made using a Martha Stewart Halloween set which is available at Macy's.  As the holiday's approach I will devote an entire blog to baking and decorating sugar cookies, but for now I'll give you the recipes for the cookies and icing as well as information on where to get a fantastic book to help you along the way.

Hoping you have a wonderfully fun Halloween in store!

Rolled Sugar Cookies

3 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C. unsalted butter, softened

1 C. sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

Sift flour and salt together in a medium bowl.  In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter and sugar, beating until incorporated and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla, combine.

Turn mixer to low and add the flour mixture slowly.  Remove from bowl and divide the dough into 3 equal portions.  Place the first portion of dough between two sheets of waxed paper. Using two 1/4 wooden slats on either side of the paper, roll the dough to a uniform thickness.  (The balsa wood slats can be purchased at the hardware or craft store for a little bit of nothing and do a fantastic job of keeping the dough an even thickness).

Keeping the waxed paper over the rolled dough, transfer it to a baking sheet and refrigerate until firm. Repeat with the remaining dough portions.  

Once dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Cut shapes and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment, re-rolling and chilling as needed.  I often times utilize my freezer for fast re-chilling.

Bake for 12-16 minutes depending on the size of your cookies, less time for smaller, more time for larger.  Cool slightly and transfer to a cooling rack for the remainder of the cooling time.

Recipe courtesy of  "Cookie Craft" From Baking to Luster Dust by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer.

This book is a must if you are interested in becoming adept at making and decorating sugar cookies.  It's my go to book for just about everything.

Sweet Dani B's Royal Icing

Makes 5 Cups

2 lbs. confectioners sugar

2/3 C. water

1/2 C. plus 2 T. meringue powder

Gel paste food coloring

Combine the sugar, water and meringue powder in a large bowl and mix with a hand held mixer on low for 7 minutes.  Icing will be very thick.  Add 1-2 additional tablespoons of water to the icing and combine.  Run a knife through the icing at the surface and count the number of seconds it takes for the icing line to disappear.   The ideal time is 20 seconds.  Add more water if necessary, 1 teaspoon at a time to achieve desired consistency.

Color icing with desired colors and fill decorating bottles or pastry bags (using a small round tip).  Outline the cookie with icing to create a dam then fill in with enough icing to spread evenly across the cookie.  A toothpick squiggled in the icing works really well to move icing around.  You can also use an offset spatula to smooth as well.  Shake the cookie gently to further spread icing evenly.  

Decorate with candies, jimmies, sanding sugar or whatever else you feel inclined to use to make your creation sing!

Monster Meringues

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Wait, no it's not that time of the year,  but the other most wonderful time of the year.  Halloween!

Next to Thanksgiving and Christmas, Halloween ranks right up there as one of my most favorite holidays.  When my kids were little I went a little nuts with the baking and decorating.  And if I'm being honest with myself, I still go a bit nuts.  No spare inch of the house is left unadulterated by Halloween decor.  Cupcakes, cookies, carmel apples, smoking cauldrons, witches brooms, jack o'lanterns, (the list goes on and on) in every room of the house on every available surface.

My poor husband. He is always very happy to see November arrive.   

I love it so much and had always harbored such visions of fun parties, costumes and trick or treating  with my kids that when my boys hit the terrible two's and three's and decided they wanted nothing to do with Halloween, I was CRUSHED.  No costumes, thank you very much, no scary jack o'lanterns, thank you very much and trick or treating in the dark? Forget it!  Even the lure of all those sweets was not enough to get my kids out the door.

Thankfully that trend did not last long.  I have more than had my fair share of Halloween fun with the boys and even though they are adolescents now they still very much love to celebrate; and believe me I will definitely hang on to every holiday I have with them before they grow up and move away.  Which all too sadly, will be very soon. 

So in the spirit of all things Halloween I've made these yummy meringue cookies to help get us further in to the mood.  Very easy and cute to boot.  You can never have too many recipes like this in your repertoire.

Enjoy!

Monster Meringues

4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 drop of gel orange food color
24 edible googly eyes
6 oz. dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.  In a large heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar.  Set bowl over a pan of boiling water.  Whisk until the sugar has dissolved 3 to 3 1/2 minutes.  Once the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and use a hand held or a stand mixer to whip the mixture until stiff peaks form , 7-10 minutes.

Carefully fold in the vanilla and the orange food coloring.
Fill a pastry bag or a large plastic baggie with the meringue, snip off enough of the point to create a hole 1/2 inch in diameter.  Pipe 2 inch mounds of meringue to form the monster on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Place one googly eye in the center of the monster.  Bake 11/2 to 2 hours until, meringues are dry to the touch.

Once cooled, dip in melted dark chocolate.  Let chocolate set and enjoy!
Makes 24

Perfect Fall Pear and Cranberry Clafouti

Ever had or hear of Clafouti?  Me neither, until recently that is.  Clafouti falls into the category of one of those easy, homey desserts that I love to make especially when the weather turns chilly.  Simply put this dessert is fruit in batter, baked golden brown.

Traditionally this French dessert is made with cherries, but I think it can be made with any fruit you have on hand with maybe the exception of citrus and melon fruits.  Reminiscent of an American Pandowdy, the difference here is the addition of Calvados (apple brandy) giving the dessert a lovely, delicious layering of flavors.

Super easy to make, warm and comforting and equally mouthwatering with slightly melted vanilla ice cream, you can change up the flavors by making a few simple swap outs.  Cherries and Amaretto? Cranberry and Apple?  Blackberry and Pear? The list could go on and on.

I served this for our Sunday dinner dessert yesterday and was lucky enough to have some left over for breakfast.  I did have to hide it however from my always starving, fruit dessert devouring teenage son, in order to have some left.  I'm already busy thinking up some other variations, maybe a pumpkin, ginger, pear Clafouti next?  Yum.

Pear and Cranberry Clafouti

1/3 C. sugar

3 large eggs

6 T. all purpose flour

1 1/2 Cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

1/4 tsp salt

2 T. Calvados or pear brandy

2 ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 C. fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.   Butter and lightly sugar (sprinkle a few teaspoons of granulated sugar in pan and shake to coat) a 10 inch round baking or quiche pan.

Beat the eggs and the sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer until eggs are frothy. On low, add the flour, cream, extract, lemon zest salt and brandy.

Arrange fruit in the bottom of the dish, pears on bottom and cranberries sprinkled on top.

Like so.

Pour the batter over the top and bake on a lined baking sheet for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Serve warm sprinkled with confectioners sugar and or slightly melted vanilla ice cream.

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

Chocolate?  Yes. Orange?  Yes.  Two things that were made from the dawn of time to go together. At least in my humble opinion.  Chocolate and any fruit really were made to go together.  This cake, rich, decadent and bursting with bright, crisp orange flavor is really a masterpiece. 

The recipe comes purloined from a family friend/acquaintance who really was a master in the kitchen. A university professor by day and home pastry chef at night.  Although, not really about the pastry chef thing. He could have been though!  Thank you George wherever you are, I'm most grateful for your willingness to share with us this little bit of gorgeous deliciousness. 

In our family September is the month for anniversaries.  My Mother and Father, Aunt Sue and Uncle Dave, Aunt Linda and Uncle Dan, and my husband Bob and me.  Recently in honor of those wonderful events, my mother asked me to make a special cake for our annual anniversary dinner celebration.  I love the idea of celebrating anniversaries. We celebrate everything else, why not this? 

As we all well know marriage is tough, sometimes really tough. And for many of us it just doesn't work.  So if you are in the latter camp and don't have a marriage anniversary to celebrate, celebrate another anniversary! Your anniversary from work, the anniversary of the beginning of a friendship, the anniversary of anything you've accomplished and continue to do on a regular basis; i.e. working out, eating better, you name it!  Celebrate the things in life that you've worked so hard for and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.   Just make sure you have some of the cake too! 

Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

1 C. chocolate wafer cookies, crushed

Grated peel from 2 oranges

1/4 C. melted butter

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

4 tsp. Grand Marnier or orange extract

8 oz. full fat cream cheese

1 C. sugar

4 eggs

2 C. full fat sour cream

 6 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

Glaze ingredients:

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. Grand Marnier

1/3 c. freshly squeezed orange juice

Butter a 9" spring form pan and set aside.  Mix crushed wafer cookies with 1/4 of the orange peel, the melted butter and 1 tsp. of the Grand Marnier.  Pat into the bottom of the pan and chill until firm. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 40-60 seconds until melted, stir to dissolve the remaining solids.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese, beating until light and fluffy. Add the sugar gradually.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Add the slightly cooled chocolate, half the remaining orange peel and 2 tsp. of the Grand Marnier.  Combine well and pour into the chilled pan.

Bake at 300 for 45 min to 1 hour or until center is firm and no longer jiggly.  Cool 5-10 minutes on a rack. In a separate bowl blend the sour cream, cocoa, 6 T. sugar and 1 tsp of Grand Marnier and the remaining grated peel. Pour over the top of the cake and bake for an additional 10 min. at 300.  Let cake cool in the oven with the door ajar for 1 hour.  Chill overnight.

Top with the glaze.  Combine chocolate and butter in a medium size bowl and microwave for 60 seconds.  Stir to combine and melt ingredients. Add the sugar, Grand Marnier and juice. Blend and pour over the chilled cheesecake.  Spread with an off set spatula, then tap pan on counter to further smooth surface.  Garnish with chocolate curls if desired.