Pumpkin Dip

  I went to a friends house the other night and she had this amazing pumpkin dip.  I watched her put it together so I gave it a try.  I am  not sure I had it exactly like hers but it was pretty good either way!

All you will need is:

1 large container of cool whip (12 to 16 oz)

1 15oz can Pumpkin Puree (or 2 cups of real pumpkin puree)

Vanilla Pudding (either 1 large box or 2 small boxes)

1 tsp of Pumpkin Spice Mix

Mix the ingredients all together in a medium bowl.  Refrigerate before serving.  Serve with graham crackers or vanilla wafers or something similar to this.  I also had yogurt covered pretzels on had and they were pretty good too!

~Stacy~

Mummy Cupcakes

Everyone was saying they wanted to know how to make these so here you go:
You will need:
1 cake mix
Chocolate frosting (I just bought mine)
tic-tacs (orange or green)
fondant icing (recipe below)

The fondant icing is best made the night before and stored in the fridge, but I didn't realize that and made mine when I was ready to frost the cupcakes, so I made it and put it in the freezer for 1 hour and it worked great too. Make your cupcakes according to box directions and let cool. When your fondant icing is ready to use, roll it out thin, then cut strips using a pizza cutter. After I cut one way making thin strips of all sizes (thicker and skinnier strips), I cut the other direction the length of a cupcake (about 2-3 inches) so they were all strips fit perfect for a cup cake. Frost your cupcakes with the chocolate frosting. Put tic-tacs on for the eyes, about 2/3 of the way up on the cup cake so it's equivalent to a face and then layer your fondant icing around it. It is so easy to do, if you make your fondant the night before, once your cupcakes are cooled I bet you could be done rolling out fondant and decorating cupcakes in a half hour tops.

For the fondant:
You will need:
1/2 bag of mini marshmallows (16 ounce size) use a good quality brand
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1-2 1/2 Tablespoons water
1/4 cup Crisco (for greasing hands and counter top)

Melt marshmallows and a tablespoon of water in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir and continue microwaving 30 seconds at a time until all melted. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes total. Grease your hands and counter top generously with Crisco. Place 2 cups of powdered sugar in a pile on the crisco-d countertop and pour melted marshmallows on top. Start needing like you would bread dough. This stuff and sticky at this stage, and be careful because it's hot at the beginning. Continue regreasing hands and countertop as needed. Add the rest of the powdered sugar (1/2 cup) and knead some more. Regrease when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is too dry so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and knead in). It usually takes about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing easily. Form it in a ball and put a small coating of Crisco around it. Wrap twice in plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight. It sounds more complicated than it is, it's really easy.

Hope you guys enjoy!
Heather

More Halloween Fun

The Bats and Pumpkins

The Mummies

The whole group together with the twinkie mummies

and an oreo spider!

   My boys and I had some friends come over to make mummy cookies and twinkies.  This turned into making bats and pumpkins too.  It was really fun and I was impressed with how creative the kids could be.  My oldest made pirate pumpkins and put "stitches" on the mummies for effect.  The recipe below is for the cookies and the frosting we used.  The cookies are so soft and delicious.  I will often add just a little bit of vanilla to them also, but you don't have to.  For this recipe it made about 6-7 dozen cookies.  We had to make double the recipe for frosting and I still ran out, so it makes a lot!

Soft Sugar Cookies

2 C Sugar
1 C Butter, softened
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Eggs
1 C Milk
4-6 C Flour

Cream the sugar, butter and eggs.  Add the baking powder, soda and salt.  Then add the milk and slowly start adding the flour until the dough is no longer sticky.  Refrigerate for easier rolling.  Roll out to 1/4 to 1/2" thick.  Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.


Sugar Cookie Frosting

4 oz Cream Cheese
1 Cube Butter, softened
1/2 tsp Vanilla
4 C Powdered Sugar

Combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Add powdered milk until frosting is the consistency you would like.  If it gets to thick, add a small amount of milk to thin.  Separate into bowls to mix colors.
Stacy

Halloween Party

So we had a little Halloween Party on Friday, and I had so much fun making all of these little treats. For these cupcakes I just food colored the vanilla batter and frosted orange, and just put reece's pieces on top. 

 I attempted to make mummy cupcakes, but Heather's turned out so much cuter!

 Some of our few decorations

 Mummy prezel sticks. Which I think turned out to be my favorites. You just dip them into white chocolate. Use milk chocolate for the eyes dipped on with a fork, and put the rest of the white chocolate in a bag and drizzle it over the top. So cute!

 Frankenstien pudding was a close runner up. I think they turned out pretty cute. Once again I just put green food coloring into vanilla pudding, 3/4 of the way, and filled up the rest with smashed oreos and drew on the faces.

 We didn't quite get to carving pumkins before the party, so just threw on a little vinyl!

Happy Halloween everybody!!!

-Michelle