Halloween Infestation Part Two

Just wanted to share a quick post showing the rest of my entranceway all done up for Halloween. You saw my easy paper mice a week or so ago:

You can see a glimpse of the "spooky fabric" hanging on the banister, so here is a more zoomed out view:

I used more of the fabric on the console table.

And added some spiders from Walmart, spider webs, and birds from Michaels.

And right outside the front door, I dressed up the front porch with my hand painted candy corn pots, some mums, and pumpkins:

I also put the smallest mums I could find in my window boxes, but they were still a bit too big.

I painted the pots three years ago - I think they need some touch ups and some sealer this time. I'll be sure to make a post on them when I do that in case anyone wants to give it a try!

So there's a couple more pics of my Halloween/Fall Decorating of my entranceway. Hopefully I will have a chance to decorate for Christmas this year and will share pics of that too!

Crescent Cinnamon Rolls

Last night I came home from work starving and decided I wanted breakfast for dinner. I perused Pinterest and came across this pin from How to: Simplify for crescent cinnamon rolls. They looked quick and easy so I figured, why not?

from How to:Simplify

The recipe begins by unrolling the crescent rolls into two rectangles and brushing melted butter and cinnamon and sugar on the top. 

The next step is to roll up the crescent rolls. Then cut the rolls up and place on a foiled pan. As you can see, my crescent rolls did not hold their shape when I rolled them up. They started to tear and fall apart. I think only one (in the middle) held its shape.

Throw the rolls in the oven set at 375.

While they were baking, I mixed up the icing. I had to add extra milk to the icing because it was way too thick and had a paste consistency.

 The recipe said to bake for 12-15 minutes. Mine were done in 8 minutes. Here's what they looked like fresh out of the oven:

And then here with the icing:

The Verdict: The jury is still out on this one. Although they didn't look that great, they tasted great. The icing itself was delicious and simple to prepare. Overall it was a quick and easy recipe- the presentation was just lacking.

I will say that while I was making them, I was starving and in a rush. Maybe if I took my time I could have had a better looking end product. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'd make them again. I may just stick with the 'place and bake' Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.



Things to Consider: I think the recipe called for way too much cinnamon and sugar then was needed for just one container of crescent rolls. Also, make sure to watch the baking time. I wasn't paying attention and they were close to burning after 8 minutes.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Another pumpkin free dessert! Shannon has tried these before and said they are always a hit, so I figured it was about time I give it a go. I was invited to an Oktoberfest party last weekend with some former co-workers, who all loved when I used to bake cookies, so I thought why not try these and enhance my already perfected chocolate chip cookie routine!

(source)

There are lots of fun things on Picky Palate - in fact there was just a post on Mini Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies - so cute!

Anyway, I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough Friday night using my usual recipe (a slightly modified Nestle Toll House recipe without the nuts) and put it in the fridge overnight to chill.

Then Saturday, a couple hours before we left for the party, I started the stuffing process. Shannon warned me not to use too much dough around the Oreos or I would wind up with a pancake of a cookie with a big lump in the middle. I found that my best method was to make a small flat circle of dough, plop the Oreo on there, and then try to use as little dough as possible on top to get the whole Oreo covered. I tried my best to document in photos, but I am still working on my photography skills:

(top sheet is halfway through baking, bottom sheet just got put in)

Fresh out of the oven.  A little lumpy, but not bad.

And here is the finished product:

Verdict: Delicious! Everyone who had one seemed to like them. They are a bit heavy though, so I don't think I would be in danger of eating a whole batch (like I could be with regular Chocolate Chip Cookies!). I will definitely be making these again. 

Things to consider: It seems to be easier to work with chilled dough. When its room temperature, it gets sticky and more seems to stick on your hands than to the Oreo. Also they were great fresh, but not sure how long they will keep.



Easy Oreo Truffles

As Grace promised, this weekend I made a dessert that did not involve pumpkin. Although I can't make any promises about the rest of the week!

I came across this pin from Kathie Cooks and it looked too good and too easy to pass up.


Kathie Cooks

This is another recipe that just involved 3 ingredients to prepare: Oreos, cream cheese, and Baker's chocolate. You begin by crushing up a package of Oreos.

Unfortunately, I do not have a food processor so I improvised by putting the Oreos in a zip lock bag and crushed them with a roller.

Then its time to mix the Oreos with an 8oz package of cream cheese. This time I made sure the cream cheese was softened before mixing! At first I tried to mix the Oreos and cream cheese together with a wooden spoon. I quickly realized that would never work. I ended up just getting in there and mixing it with my hands.

Once you have the Oreos and cream cheese thoroughly mixed, the next step is to form the mixture into one inch balls. I think mine were a little bit on the larger side.

The dough balls should look something like this^. At this point, they should be put in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Then it's time for the fun part - dipping the Oreo balls into the melted chocolate.

This was my first experience dipping anything in chocolate and of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't run into at least one issue. This time, my mistake was that I didn't thoroughly read the recipe beforehand. I only bought one package of Baker's chocolate and I ran out half way through dipping all the truffles. Luckily I had a package of milk chocolate chips that I melted and used for the rest of truffles.

I also learned that my dipping technique could use a little work. I tired to dip them with the least amount of mess as possible and as a result, I think my truffles suffered. They didn't come out quite as pretty as Kathie's (but they still taste the delish!).

Once the truffles are dipped, put them on a wax lined pan and place them in the refrigerator for an hour.

Can you spot the one that's dipped in milk chocolate?

The Verdict: These truffles are fabulous! Simple to prepare and delicious. They would be a great gift to bring for a hostess of a party.

Things to consider: The next time I make these, I would make 2 small adjustments. First, I would make sure the Oreos are completely and finely crushed. I had a few larger pieces that I think would mix better if they were crushed a bit more. Second, I would make the truffles a bit smaller so that they are easier to eat.

These might be fun to theme based on the time of year. You can dip them in white chocolate and cover them with red and green sprinkles for Christmas. Or you can put orange food coloring into the white chocolate and make them into little pumpkins for Halloween. Or you can theme them for Valentine's Day like Kathie did. The possibilities are endless!

Update: If you like these truffle, check them out in brownie form!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Are we getting sick of pumpkin treats yet? Since we only really use pumpkin for 2 months a year, I think Shannon and I are trying to cash in as much as we can!

I saw this recipe recently on Real Simple and pinned it so I wouldn't forget about it. They call them Pumpkin Cream Sandwiches, but to me its just the fall version of a Whoopie Pie:

(source: Real Simple)

I was waiting for a reason to bake them, and then I received a super secret facebook message from one of Joe's (my husband) co-workers inviting me to a surprise baby shower they were throwing for us. They scheduled it so I was able to come and be part of the surprise. In order to thank them, I thought bringing some sweet treats to the party would be a good idea. Since I had to leave the house by noon and also had to do some food shopping that morning, I needed to make something easy. Perfect opportunity for a Simple recipe. I mixed up the ingredients:

Baked the cookies:

And realized that one batch was only going to make 6 sandwiches. Not enough. So I had to make another batch, and even made them a bit smaller the second time around.

Here is my finished product:

(and that is two batches worth)

Verdict: The recipe was pretty easy and I had almost everything I needed already in my pantry. They tasted delicious and seemed to be enjoyed by all. I would definitely make them again.

Things to consider: The batch is very, very small so either double it or prepare yourself for at least two batches. Also I cheated a bit by using store bought cream cheese frosting. I find that making cream cheese frosting from scratch always comes out a bit too sweet for me. I was able to use one can for both batches. The sandwiches were great fresh, but I am not sure how well they would store overnight.

The shower was really sweet and I am thankful my husband gets to work with such great people!

Next recipe review from me won't be pumpkin related - I swear!

Pumpkin Pie Bites

I've been very excited to try my hand at these mini pumpkin pies ever since I saw them on Pinterest two months ago. They just look so scrumptious! This past weekend I finally got around to purchasing a pumpkin cookie cutter & refrigerated pie dough and got to baking! The original recipe and pin come from the wonderful bakerella website.


original pin from bakerella

I ran into a few minor issues when making this fall treat. The first issue I encountered was fitting the pie dough into the mini cupcake pan. The dough wouldn't fit all the way to the bottom of the pan. I think it was because the cookie cutter I used was too small. I just had to make due with what I had and tried to stretch the dough out a bit. Once the dough was placed in the pan, I brushed some egg white on the the stems.

Next up came the batter which is where I ran into my second issue. The recipe called for sugar, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, eggs, pumpkin, and room temperature cream cheese.

I left my cream cheese out on my counter for about 8 minutes before mixing it up. I learned the hard way that was not long enough to get it to room temperature. As a result, the cream cheese didn't mix very well with the other ingredients. The batter ended up having some white spots/chunks. Also, my batter was much lighter than the photos from bakerella.



At this point I was a bit discouraged and nervous about how these cuties would taste. But I continued on with the recipe and hoped for the best.

The next step was to fill the dough up the top of each little pumpkin.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Once the pumpkin pie bites came out of the oven, I threw the pan in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool it down quickly so I could get the next batch in the oven. Below is my finished product:

Adorable right? And they taste even better then they look! Below are some more of my finished pumpkin pie bites along with the cookie cutter so you can get a feel for the size cookie cutter I used.

The Verdict: Amazing! I sure I will be making these for years to come. Despite my cream cheese not mixing properly, they still tasted delicious and they are the perfect bite size. The best part is that the recipe was fairly easy and quick. I just wish I had two mini cupcake pans to speed up the baking time.

Things to Consider: All in all it was a perfect recipe! You definitely want to avoid my mistake and have your cream cheese room temperature so it mixes properly. Also, it may be easier to just forgo the pumpkin cookie cutter altogether. You can use a round cookie cutter or the bottom of a can and then form your own stem out of extra dough. That way you can be sure your pie dough is the right size for the pan.