Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Last week, Lisa Hall at Fatal Foodies wrote that she was planning on making cupcakes in ice cream cones for a party. She shared her idea and it got me thinking, I had bought at some point in time a silicon mold that made cakes into ice cream cones. I had never used it. My son's birthday was Sunday so it would be a perfect time to try it out.

This was at the end, I didn't think to take pictures until I had baked them.

I had run out of time on Saturday (the day of the party) so I opted to us a cake mix. The mix filled the mold and most of a small tray of mini-cupcakes. My first mistake was that I over-filled the mold. I had done it intentionally, thinking that the extra would make a lovely rounded top giving it a more ice cream on a cone look. (think muffins) That's not what happened, the batter just oozed around the top and over the sides.

They came out of the mold really nicely and were so cute.
Right away, I noticed a problem. The stems were soft. I made up a quick peanut butter frosting (peanut butter, powdered sugar and a bit of milk). The idea was to frost a thin layer of peanut butter and then a scoop of Cool Whip making it look like ice cream.


These pictures tell a lie, it was work to make them look like this for the pictures. The cake was not firm enough to stand up to the weight of the frosting and Cool Whip. The tops fell off. The one in my hand lost about an inch of the bottom due to the weight. I made them look so cute and then dumped them Cool Whip first into a bowl so they could be eaten.
I want to try the mold again but it will have to be with a homemade batter and a denser cake. The packaged mixes are far to light to hold up to this but they were still a cute idea and the taste was amazing.
To see Lisa's end result visit here.

Halloween Party Planning Part 4 - Beverages

When it comes to drinks my family is fairly basic - they drink water or soda but mostly water. When we have family get-togethers water and soda are more often what we serve so I often forget to think about beverages. When winter comes we do pots of spiced cider or wine, occasionally a special coffee but rarely anything more. (unless you could our endless consumption of tea which is like water).
On Halloween, I would often serve Bug Juice which is the only punch I ever make.
However, you don't need a recipe to dress up your Halloween drinks.
You can choose to go more traditional with hot drinks such as cider or hot chocolate. The adults might like a bit of spiced wine.
The real trick is to alter the perception of the drink. Give your drinks Halloween names - Cauldron punch, larve shake - whatever. Then dress them up. Use gummy bugs, body parts, worms, mice - the varieties are endless. Drip blood from the glasses - mix corn syrup with red food coloring and dip the opening of your glass. The syrup will slowly run down the glass (this does stain so be warned).
Add dry ice to give it a steamy effect.
Create spooky ice cubes - freeze green olives for eyes and creepy toys if you are not serving to small children. Freeze different colored Kool-aids in ice trays. You can use black cherry and orange to make Halloween colored cubes.
The ideas are really endless if you open up to them.

Halloween Party Planning Part 3 - Things to Dip in Blood Sauce

When planning a holiday party it's really fun to plan the desserts. Desserts just seem to be more party like but you can't have a meal of all desserts, especially on Halloween when the kids will already have an assortment of treats to choose from. For me, I try to plan healthy snacks and a solid meal for the day so that when my son does trick or treat, he's not gorging on sugary stuff. I'm grateful that he's not huge on the sweets (well wasn't as he gets older he eats more candy). I can fill him up with good food and since I always make too much, there's always some waiting for him at home if he gets hungry. He would prefer to snack on the "food" than the candy. He's also one who likes it when houses give out apples and he snacks on those.
One fun thing to add is finger food with sauces. You can make pretty normal sauces sound really gross with a few signs. Chicken strips can become werewolf or witch fingers (add an almond sliver to the pointed end for a fingernail if you so desire). Ketchup can become blood drizzled over the top. Or you can use sweet and sour sauce. Mustard, ranch or sour cream can become pus.
Slice up apples and serve them with raspberry, cherry or strawberry sauce/syrup for bloody fruit. A quick and easy fruit sauce - thin jam with a little water.
I, personally, avoid artificial colors. There are a variety of reasons why and everyone has their own - me, I figure there's enough junk in the candy that it's my job to balance it with good wholesome foods.
Creative labeling, and even some arranging, can make your every day dish something spooky.
Any red sauce can easily become blood. Don't forget spaghetti sauce. You can make breadsticks and twist them to give them a gnarled appearance and dip in spaghetti sauce. Decorate a pizza with large plastic flies and spiders and call it something yucky (a cheese pizza could become bloody bandage pizza - just don't make it so gross no one will eat it).

Halloween Party Planning Part 2 - Brains

No Halloween party is complete without a dish of brains. Over the years I have experimented with a varity of techniques that are rather tasty and just goulish enough to be fun.
For years I made a lumpy brain dish out of rolls that I stuffed with pepperoni and cheese. I used the rolls to make a monkey bread version of a brain and would paint them with red and blue food coloring. For added gore, I would drizzle pizza sauce over the top (serving with pizza was a must).
Last year, we bought a zombie brain mold for about $4. I used it to make panna cotta and served it with raspberry sauce. If you are not familiar with Panna Cotta, it's a white milky gelatin dish that molded beautifully. It was gruesome.
Here are two more ideas.
Brain cupcakes - this is more a technique than a recipe since you can use any cupcake to make these.
Melon Brain I'm tempted to try this but fruit carving is not my thing.
Purchasing an inexpensive brain mold can open possibilities but you don't have to let that limit you.

Buttermilk Panna Cotta
3 teas gelatin
3 1/2 tbs. cold water
1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup + 2 tbs. sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
2 cups buttermilk
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in med bowl. Let stand untouched for 3 minutes. In small saucepan - combine cream, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and pour over gelatin. Stir well to dissolve gelatin. Let cool to room temp. Remove vanilla bean and add buttermilk, stirring to mix. Strain mixture through fine sieve and pour into grease mold. Cover and chill 6 hours.