Halloween

For Halloween this year, I was a chef. My boyfriend insisted that if my costume were going to be so lame (Huh?!?) I'd have to follow through and bring desserts. I also baked for the kiddies in school for our Halloween Scary Story party.

Here's a rundown of what I made. 

Mini-Halloween Whoopie Pies

courtesy of: www.marthastewart.com

I started receiving Martha's cookie of the day email in September, and had not had the chance to make anything specific from the newsletter until Halloween. The picture above is for the recipe, "Mini-Pumpking Whoopie Pies." Being that I know I have some very picky students (see: Snickerdoodles) I decided pumpkin would be too much for my students, so I opted to follow the recipe for the cookies, and use a whoopie pie filling from Cook's Illustrated. I dyed the frosting orange to go along with the Halloween 

theme. The cookies were very delicious. Ones that I did not fill were left over a few days later and got gobbled up for breakfast one morning. I love a cakey cookie and this one measured up (I also know it was a hit because each and every student gobbled it down). 

Brownie Coffins

courtesy of: www.Marthastewart.com

Another idea inspired by a cookie of the day email. The coffins are down at the bottom of the picture. I did not use the recipe that accompanied the picture, instead I opted to use the Truffle Brownie recipe from the cookie cookbook. 

The brownies were supposed to be baked in a springform pan, but I chose to double the recipe and bake it in a 13x9 inch glass pan. The brownies baked perfectly. I then freestyle cut each brownie into the shape of a coffin. The brownies were not uniform, and because of the texture of the brownie, were very crumbly. This recipe made a lighter, less dense brownie tha

t almost seemed to deflate.  I then made the ganache topping. I'm not sure if it was laziness or poor quality chocolate, but the ganache was less than spectacular. It was thin and never really set. 

I then used white chocolate to make the outline, and a cross in the center. 

The overall brownie and design were okay. My presentation got lazy, due to my exhaustion, but they were a hit at the party. The taste of the brownies was great. I anticipate making this recipe again, following the recipe to the T. 

Brain Cupcakes

courtesy of: www.marthastewart.com

I loved receiving the cookie of the day email, especially during October, because it had a lot of great ideas for Halloween. Above is another email that inspired me for Halloween.

I did not follow the recipe at all from this email. I used the idea, and the picture to bake my own concoction. I used another Cook's Illustrated recipe for red velvet cupcakes for the base of my cupcake. I added extra red coloring to really punch up the Halloween factor.

I used canned vanilla frosting (I know, the horror!) and dyed it a greyish pink using peach and green food coloring. I piped the brains using a pastry bag. This was actually extremely easy. I piped a ball in the center, two straight lines, and then squiggled on each side. Who knew a brain was so simple to make. 

The look of these cupcakes was amazing. It was the first time I can really say I hit the mark in presentation and had a cupcake that resembled the picture and the idea. I'm thinking of making them again for my students before a big test to remind them to use their brains. 

The taste was "eh." Everyone at the party was raving. But I'm hyper critical and too particular so I was not pleased with the canned frosting at all. Clearly, it was a time saver, but next time, I will take the extra time and use a fresh buttercream.

The good news about my "lame" costume was, that when we arrived to the party, someone asked "Wait, are you a friend of so-and-so, or are you the caterer?"