Halloween Themed Food

I've been saving up most of the goodies for this post since last year! I am so excited to finally be sharing. I'll just put here a bunch of ideas for Halloween themed food that you can use for the dinner party I'm sure you're planning. :)

Everything on this list is pretty simple to make, though it can take some time. But it's all so worth it. Have a spooktacular time!!

First for the hors d'oeuvres. :)

Jack-O-Lantern Oreos
Melt down some orange candy melts {I used Wilton brand and bought them at Walmart} according to package directions.
Dip your Oreo into the melted candy.
Smooth it out so you have a somewhat flat surface for your jack-o-lantern. Allow the candy to harden. You can pop these in the refrigerator to speed up that process.
Once the orange candy is hardened, pipe on jack-o-lantern faces using black frosting.
I think these would be a lot of fun with lollypop sticks stuck through the center {just be sure you get double stuffed so they don't fall apart}.

Now time for dinner. 

Mummy Dogs:
Wrap hotdogs in crescent roll dough. Bake in a 350 degree oven or until crescent dough is golden brown. Use ketchep or mustard to give the mummy some eyes. Eat up!

Bones n' Blood:
For this recipe you use bread stick or pizza dough {here's a recipe until I can get you mine}. Roll the dough out and cut it into two inch strips, with whatever length you'd like your bones to be. On each end, use sharp kitchen shears and cut into the bread stick, right in the center {does that even make sense?}. Curl the edges out and around and stick them to the long part of the "bone". Bake according to directions. Serve with marinara sauce.
 
 
Spiderweb Pizza:
If you want toppings {including cheese} on this pizza, just put them on the pizza crust before the sauce. Then put your pizza sauce on top of that. Using ranch or alfredo sauce, pipe {for lack of a better word} concentric circles onto the pizza. Place a few olive slices to be the "spiders". Bake the pizza according to directions. When it's all baked up, slice it up to create the web.

Candy Corn Pizza:
This is a basic cheese pizza, using at least two different kinds of cheeses. You'll need a white cheese {I used mozzarella} and a yellow cheese {I used cheddar}. Put the white cheese in the very center of the pizza {and I suggest using more white cheese than orange so it doesn't get taken over as mine practically did} and the orange cheese around the outside. Bake it. Slice it. Eat it. Yum!




 Mashed Potato Ghost:
This might be the easiest thing in this post. Maybe. And isn't it so stinkin' cute?? I love this. I can't claim this idea at all. My sister-in-law did this and I think it's so much fun!
Anyway, it's easy. Whip up your mashed potatoes and then pile them onto a plate in a big mound. Add two olives or black beans for eyes. Voila! Potato Ghost. I think this would be really cute as a bunch of small, individual potato ghost mounds, too. Have fun with it!

Not the greatest photo. Sorry. Check out the link for a better one.

Mummy Meatloaf:
We got this idea from Family Fun and isn't it fun?  
Here's how to make it:
Make up your meatloaf. {We used this recipe but I think it would be delicious using this recipe and even using the glaze.}
In a 9x13 pan, form the meatloaf into the shape of a mummy. Don't forget the arms! {Suggestion: line your pan with tin foil. You'll be happier.}
Bake it according to directions until the meatloaf is done.
When it is done, place mozzarella slices all over the meatloaf to give the mummy his wrapping. The thinner the slices, the better it looks and the faster it melts. We used toothpicks to hold some of the cheese on until it melted.
Put it back in the hot oven for 3-4 minutes or until completely melted.
Place two olive slices for eyes on the mummy's head. Mmm.

Now for the best part: Dessert!

 Brainiac Cupcakes:
These cupcakes are so so easy.
Just bake up your favorite cupcakes.
Make some buttercream frosting. {I'll work on getting a recipe up for that.} Tint it a light orange/pink color {note: if you use gel coloring instead of liquid coloring, you'll get a richer, truer color}. Frost the cupcakes with a thin layer of the frosting {you can see I frosted mine with white - I didn't have enough orange} and put the rest in a baggie. Cut the tip from the baggie and just draw squiggle lines on the cupcake. Ta-da! Brains! :)

 Bloodshot Eye Cupcake:
These cupcakes are almost too much for me. Yes, I have a thing with the way things look grossing me out. But these are sure fun to make {and quite a favorite, actually}.
Bake your cupcakes.
Make some frosting.

Take out three parts of the white frosting. Tint one blue {or some other color you think would be good for an eye}, one red and one black. Again, if you use gel coloring you'll be able to get a true black color. You'll need more blue than red and black, so just plan the amounts of frosting accordingly. Put all the tinted frostings in their own plastic baggies. Cut a small corner of the black and red frosting bag and a larger corner of the blue frosting bag.
Frost the cupcakes in white.
Pipe on some blue for the eye's iris.
Pipe some black onto the blue for the pupil of the eye.
Pipe red in lots of little squiggly lines from the iris out.

Skeleton Cupcakes:
For this cupcake {idea from Family Fun}, I made chocolate cupcakes and chocolate buttercream frosting. Before adding the cocoa to my frosting, I reserved a bit of the white frosting for the skeleton bodies. Frost all the cupcakes with the chocolate frosting. Place a miniature marshmallow at one side of the cupcakes for the skeleton's head. Pipe the bodies by drawing a little stick figure under the marshmallow and adding two lines across the center of his body to give him ribs. You can pipe on some black decorators gel for the face or do like I did and just use a toothpick dipped in black frosting to draw the faces on. 

 Spiderweb Cupcakes:
Easy peasy.
Bake your cupcakes.
Frost with white frosting.
Draw concentric circles {three or four} around the cupcake using black frosting or decorators gel. Gel probably looks the best. But if you use frosting like me, don't be like me and wait to finish the webs until all your cupcakes have circles. They look better if you pipe on the circles and then pull the toothpick through right after so the frosting doesn't have any time to set up.
Using a toothpick, pull lines from the center outward, creating the web.
Done!

Fuzzy Monster Cupcakes:
These are currently my favorite! Aren't they so cute?
Bake your cupcakes.
Make your frosting. Reserve a small amount of white frosting; you'll color the rest. Tint half of it orange and then flavor the other half with cocoa powder. Then pipe your frosting onto the cupcakes like grass. I used Wilton tip 18, which is a star tip, but you could also use a grass tip. {For a quick tutorial on how to pipe with this technique, check out this video.} Then pipe two white circles onto the cupcake for the eyes. Finish it off by piping a small black circle onto the white using black frosting or decorators gel.

There you have it! Some yummy and very fun Halloween food ideas! Have a fun party!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

I have always loved cooking and baking.

I've always put the two together and said I loved them both. Probably equally.

But not anymore. I think I have finally decided that my favorite of the two is baking. It is so, so much fun!

As I told a friend recently, there are a lot of variables when it comes to baking. There are all kinds of things you can do differently that will change the outcome of what happens when you bake. There are also things beyond your control, like the way your oven heats, that also affect your baked goods. The best thing to do with those things beyond your control is to experiment and learn what you can do to still get what you want with what you've got. For example, in one of the apartments we have lived in, our oven heated too warm. We experimented and finally learned that the best way to get things to turn out the way we wanted was to turn down the temperature 25 degrees before baking. No more burning or over cooking. Perfect.

As far as variables that you can affect, there are all kinds of secrets out there about what to do/not to do for your baking to be a success. I won't pretend to be an expert on any baking secret, but I have found a few things that really help with baking.

Number one: people like shortcuts. They like cutting corners, taking the easy route, simplifying things. And, hey, I'm all about simplicity! Life is way too complicated as it is, no use making anything more complicated than it has to be. However, when it comes to baking, cutting corners is a bad idea. If a recipe says to add and beat eggs one an at a time, do it one at a time. I know, it takes a whole two minutes longer. Must save those minutes, right? Wrong! In baking, it really does make a difference. Pinky swear. Now, let me just say that I am almost the complete opposite when it comes to cooking. Experiment, change things up, do things differently, whatever! But when it comes to baking, just follow the recipe instructions.

Number two: margarine cannot always be used as a substitute for butter. I am a total advocate of saving money and I totally get that margarine is so much more affordable than butter. And I'll be totally honest and admit that I use margarine in place of butter almost any time I make cookies. But I also almost always use real butter in cupcakes and frosting recipes. It truly does make a huge difference.

Number three: mixing sugars and fats {i.e. - sugar and butter or sugar and oil} needs to be done thoroughly. While you're beating the two together, if you mix it long enough {sometimes it only needs a minute or less, but longer than just enough to mix them basically together}, you'll notice that the color starts to change. That's a good thing and it's what you want. I don't know the science behind it, but it creates wonderful things in your oven. Not all recipes need this much mixing, but every time I've done it this way, I end up with a better product.

That's enough "secrets" for today. Let's get on to these cupcakes, shall we? These cupcakes are so good. Seriously, I had about five different people ask me for the recipe within a couple days. I made two batches of these cupcakes within four days. They are just that good.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Recipe from Crazy About Cupcakes, page 53

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 medium sized tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped small


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Insert liners into a cupcake pan.
In a large bowl (I use my stand mixer) beat together the brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed. I usually mix it for at least a minute, or longer if it needs to be mixed more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition.
In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. I always sift in my first cup of flour and then add the baking powder and salt to the second cup to sift with the flour.
Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. I add about a 1/4 or 1/3 of the dry mixture at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat until well blended (don't forget to scrape your bowl!). Stir in the apples.
Fill the cupcake liners one-half to three-quarters full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan {I've tried cooling my cupcakes in an airtight container before to preserve the moistness, but I generally find that cooling them in the pan works just as well}.




To assemble Caramel Apple Cupcakes:
Once all your cupcakes have cooled, poke three holes in the tops of each cupcake using the handle of a serving spoon {it's best if your handle is nice and round so you get good holes}. Make up a double batch of Caramel Sauce {or do like I did and make one batch for pouring over the cupcakes and then another for drizzling - whatever your preference}. Pour the caramel sauce over each cupcake, being sure to fill up the holes really well. Once you've filled up each cupcake, go back and pour caramel sauce over them again. Did I mention that this isn't a cupcake for sissies? 'Cuz it really ain't. Yes, pouring caramel sauce over cupcakes twice might seem awful indulgent. But it is oh, so good! And somewhat necessary, that first round gets soaked up pretty quick. The second round gives it a nice soaking and really gives the cupcake that caramel flavor.
Now make up some Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting. Pipe it onto your cupcakes. Don't be stingy, now. Pipe it on nice and high {my husband keeps telling me that cupcakes don't need that much frosting. But come on! They look so awesome!}. If you'd like a little tutorial about piping frosting, check out Your Homebased Mom. She has a nice video tutorial with some good tips about cupcakes. Then spoon the remaining Caramel Sauce over the top of the cupcakes {I prefer to put the sauce into a squeeze bottle and drizzle it over with the small nozzle - this really gives me control of how my cupcakes look}. And lookie there - you've just made yourself a gourmet cupcake! Enjoy!

Pecan Tartlets - Variation

It may seem silly to do a completely different post on a variation of a recipe that was posted yesterday. There are just so many photos that I wanted to do this differently. I'm not going to be including ingredients in this post so if you want to know how to make this tartlet variation, check the Pecan Tartlets post first.

I made 3 dozen pecan tartlets and decided that I didn't want to make any more. However, I had enough dough and filling to make at least six more tartlets so I had to come up with something to use up what was left. My dear hubby helped me. This variation is what we came up with. We can't think of any good names for it though. Suggestions?

I actually really enjoyed this little variation. It tasted so yummy and had a less sweet flavor than the tartlets themselves. It also looked so pretty!

Directions:

Roll out pastry dough in a circle to be between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Place on a greased cookie sheet and roll the edges up to create a barrier. Be sure your barrier is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch high and that it is rolled tightly so it won't come undone.

Sprinkle chopped pecans on the crust. I also used up a few walnuts I had leftover from making Lemon Tea Cakes.

Pour some corn syrup mixture over the nuts.

This is why that barrier is so important. You don't want your syrup leaking out and making a mess all over your pan. Actually, forget the mess you'd get on your pan. Let's talk about how sad it would be to end up with a pastry with nuts and no syrup! That would be a sad day indeed. You really want it to stay on top of the pastry. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Serve cut into triangles.

Yummy!

Pecan Tartlets

You know me, I love pecan pie. It is my all-time favorite pie. You've heard that already. But because it's my favorite, when I saw the recipe for these Pecan Tartlets, I just knew I had to make them. And I'm so glad I did! They are so yummy and you pretty much can't go wrong with them! I will say that they are a bit time consuming, cutting out all the little circles of dough and forming all the tartlets. I don't think it would have taken me as long if I had more mini muffin tins, but since I only have one it took me a while.  However, they are so yummy and very worth it. I'm so glad I made them {and glad I gave most of them away or else I would have eaten them all!}.
Also, check back tomorrow for a little something different I did with my leftover tartlet makings.

Pecan Tartlets

Recipe from Cooking During Stolen Moments

Time: 1 1/2 to 2 hours

Makes: 3 1/2 dozen tartlets

You will need a mini muffin tin

For the pastry:

6 oz. cream cheese {I used 1/3 fat cream cheese and it worked really well}

1 c. butter

2 c. flour

1/8 t. salt

Place cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl and beat until creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Add flour and salt and beat until dough comes together and forms a ball.

For the pecan filling:

2 eggs

2/3 c. corn syrup

2/3 c. sugar

2 t. flour

2 T. butter, melted

1 t. vanilla

1/2 c. chopped pecans

Combine all ingredients, except pecans, and beat or whisk until combined. Reserve pecans for assembling the tartlets.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Roll out dough about an 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. I prefer my dough to be a little thinner but if you like a thicker crust, a 1/4 inch would be perfect, too. If your dough is excessively sticky or too soft, refrigerate for 15-20 minutes before rolling out. This helps give it a firmness.
Another trickI have is to handle the pastry dough as little as possible. Mix it up, roll it out, cut the circles. Gently combine the scraps from that batch then roll it out again. In other words, you don't have to get it perfectly in a ball the second time before you roll it out again. The less you handle your pastry, the more flaky and soft it will be when it's baked. However, don't let my "handle with care" tip scare you away from making these yourself. This is probably the easiest pastry dough I've ever made in my life.
{Because I only have one mini muffin pan, my pastry dough was sitting on the counter between batches. If you find that it begins to get too warm in your kitchen, the dough will soften and get stickier, thereby making it more difficult to handle. This is when the fridge trick will be especially helpful. Put your dough in the fridge while one batch is baking. When that batch is finished baking, you can take them out of the oven, put the tartlets on cooling racks then pull out the dough from the fridge and make more circles. This also helps give your pan time to cool down so you can make more tartlets without having to use a hot pan.}

Using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter or glass, cut out circles. Press into mini muffin tins, going all the way up the sides of the cups. I used my knuckle to press the dough into the baking cups {I have long nails so using my fingers didn't work for me}. I also found that a bottle cap from my baby's bottles worked really well.

Using my knuckle to press the pastry into the baking cup.

Your pastry should look like this.

Sprinkle a generous teaspoon full of pecan pieces into the bottom of each tartlet. 

You can use a teaspoon to spoon the pecans into the pastry...

. . . or do like me and just dump some pecans in there until you have the amount you want.

Spoon about 1 1/2 t. of the syrup on top of the pecans, covering the pecans and filling at least 3/4 of each tartlet.

I found that a teaspoon was about enough.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden brown and filling is set. Note that the filling won't appear to be very set right when you pull it out. You can jiggle the pan a little to see if the filling moves a lot. It is seems like it mostly there, they are probably done. Your best judge at this point will be the pastry dough. It should be lightly golden.

Note: these are super sticky.

Delicious!

Variation: The pastry dough can also be filled with your favorite jam before baking. Bake as directed above and sprinkle with powdered sugar after the tartlets have cooled.

Oatmeal Wafers

These oatmeal wafers are super yummy! They are a different kind of cookie. my Farmor {she's Swedish - I think I've mentioned her before} says these are authentic Swedish oatmeal cookies. They are crunchy with the perfect amount of spice. They are also easy to make. So if you want to try a different kind of cookie that's crunchy and uber yummy, these are for you. :D

Oatmeal Wafers

Known in Swedish as Havreflarn

Recipe from Grace Lindquist via my Farmor

Ingredients:

½ cup butter or margarine

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup oatmeal

2 Tbsp. sifted flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

Directions:

Melt butter; remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Mix until blended. Butter cookie sheet generously and dust with flour. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet, 3 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 1 minutes before removing quickly with sharp knife. Cool. For more decorative effect place cookie immediately on handle of wooden spoon. Make one pan at a time.

Baklava

This is a traditional dessert found in the Mediterranean. Actually, it is kind of an interesting thing, if you look it up. All over the Middle East, countries will claim it as their own, asserting that other countries stole the recipe or that their country improved it. You can click HERE to see a history of this fantastic, crunchy, sweet dessert. There are also apparently many different recipes. This particular recipe is Greek. Which seems appropriate since phyllo dough (the most important ingredient!) is also Greek. Or at least the word "phyllo" is Greek. 

Anyway, I saw some Baklava in a food catalog and decided it looked really good. I didn't really want to pay the price to try it through the company, so I looked up a recipe and made my own. I'm glad I did. I thought this stuff was wonderful! I took it to a family Thanksgiving party and everyone who tried it liked it. It's a little more labor intensive but that doesn't mean it's hard to make. It's actually super easy, it just takes time. However, I think it's well worth the time!

Baklava

Recipe from allrecipes
18 servings or 3 dozen squares

Ingredients:

Filling and dough:

1 (16 oz) package phyllo dough {this dough can be found in the frozen section of your grocery store - look near pie dough}

1 pound chopped nuts {I used walnuts though I think pecans would be even yummier!}

1 cup butter, melted

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Sauce:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 pan.

Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut off about two or three inches from one end so it will fit into your pan. 

I know this is probably the worst picture ever known to man. Or at least it's pretty close. {I have no idea why it turned like that. Sorry.} And the blue tint makes it even worse. I know. But I wanted to demonstrate just how thin phyllo dough really is. "Phyllo" is "named after the Greek word for leaf', being 'thin as a leaf'" {see above link}. Really, I would go with paper. This dough is paper thin.

Cover phyllo with dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan; using a pastry brush, butter throroughly. Butter the dough sheets carefully. Since they are so thin it can be easy to tear them if you aren't careful. Repeat until you have 8 sheets of layered dough.

You can see that my phyllo dough is climbin up the sides of my pan a little. I didn't experience any problems with this and actually liked the little extra dough it provided. You can, however, trim the dough to fit your pan exactly if that's what you want.

Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top of phyllo dough layers.

Top with two sheets of dough, butter those sheets, then add more nuts. Continue layering in this manner until you feel the pan is full enough or you run out of nuts {which is what happened to me}. Just be careful not to use all your dough. You need 6-8 sheets for the top and final layer. Also, buttering the dough sheets after you start layering in the nuts can be a challenge. I found it easiest to get my pastry brush really buttery and then pat the butter onto the sheets. This kept the dough from tearing but enabled me to butter it thoroughly.

Cover the last layer of nuts with two sheets of phyllo dough and butter them. Then add two more sheets and layer as in the beginning until it is 6-8 sheets deep. On the final set of two sheets, be sure to butter well. That will help make that top layer nice and crispy!

Using a sharp knife that has been well buttered, cut into square or diamond shapes {I found squares easiest and they go further}. Be sure to cut all the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 40-50 minutes or until Baklava is golden and crisp. My Baklava was definitely done after 40 minutes so be sure to check it at the lowest baking time.

Make the sauce while the baklava is baking.

Boil sugar and water until sugar is dissolved and incorporated. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. The Baklava will be completely drenched in this honey liquid. Don't be alarmed. You did, in fact, do everything you were supposed to! The honey sauce will thicken as the Baklava and sauce cool and the nuts and dough will soak it up.
Let cool.

For a pretty touch, serve the sqaures in cupcake baking cups.

Leave it uncovered or it will get soggy.

Baklava freezes well. Just put individual pieces in a good freezer container and pop into the fridge. Pull it out a couple hours before serving and allow to thaw on the counter top.
Enjoy the crispy, honey goodness!

Orange Bursts

These are very yummy, very subtly citrus-y cookies. I think they are perfect holiday cookies. The slight orange flavor is enticing and fresh

Orange Bursts

Recipe from Guittard White Vanilla Chips

Makes: 4 dozen 3-inch cookies

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups unsifted all-purpose flour

¾ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

½ tsp vanilla*

1 Tbsp finely grated orange zest

1-2 cups Guittard Choc-Au-Lait Vanilla Milk Chips {I used about one cup and I thought the ratio was perfect}

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture until combined. Stir in orange zest and chips.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake about 10 minutes or until golden around edges. Cool for several minutes on sheets before transferring to rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Substitute: lemon zest for orange to make lemon bursts.

*Note: If you want more orange {or lemon, depending on which you are doing} flavor, you could substitute the vanilla extract for orange or lemon extract.

~from Guittard vanilla milk chips bag

Pecan Pie

I loooovvvee pecan pie. It is my all-time favorite pie and a necessary food tradition at Thanksgiving and Christmas. If there were fifty other types of pie, I would still choose this one. Because it's the best one. Honest. It's a good thing it's pretty much a once-a-year pie because I could eat several slices of it every time I sit down. Heck, I could eat several slices of it while I'm standing. And not feel guilty. {At least not right away ;) !} If you like pecan pie, you'll love this recipe. It is rich and fantastic and turns out every single time. My mom has been baking it for years. She got this cookbook from an old ward {or something like that} and has never felt the need to find another recipe because this one is perfect. Enjoy your pie!

Pecan Pie

Recipe from Irene Westernfelder in Treasure Chest of Tested Recipes

Prep time: 10 minutes

Start to Finish: 1 hour 20 minutes

Makes: 1 Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

1/3 cup shortening

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup milk

3 eggs

½ tsp. salt

1 cup corn syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans
Unbaked pie shell

Directions:

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and mix well; then add all remaining ingredients except pecans. Make sure everything is mixed well. Add pecans last and stir in. Pour into unbaked pie shell. 

These are the unbaked pies. They look a little sloobery {I just made that word up...} and they can potentially make a mess. See how full they are? They need to be just that full. Trust me. You don't want to skimp on pecan pie filling. But since they are so full, I recommend baking them on cookie sheets so the mess doesn't end up on the bottom of your oven. If you really want to avoid a mess, put on tinfoil on the bottom of the cookie sheet, then place your pie on top of that. You'll be glad.

Bake in preheated oven to 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Finish baking at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. The pie is done if it is set and not jiggly {or sloobery!} anymore. If the top of the pie starts to brown too quickly but the pie is not done, lightly cover with tinfoil until it is finished baking.
Serve with homemade whipping cream. Or don't. It's fantastic by itself.

Lemon Tea Cakes

I recently bought a book titled "Betty Crocker Cookies: 100 Favorite Recipes" {the link is the closest thing I've found to what I have}. I bought it at Barnes and Noble in their bargain books section for about $7.00. I was so excited! For some reason, this book has me excited about cookies and baking and I have already been through the book twice and I'm itching to make so many things from it! One of the recipes I've made already is Russian Tea Cakes {also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies} - though I actually made lemon because I was in the mood for a bit of citrus flavor. They are so yummy! They were pretty easy to make, though a little bit time-consuming, just because you have to crush the lemon drops and roll the cookies in powdered sugar. However they are worth it!  These cookies are best within about three days of making them . . . and I love them just a tad warm. Yum!

Lemon Tea Cakes

Recipe from Betty Crocker

Prep time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Start to Finish: 1 hour 35 minutes

Makes: about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. lemon extract

1 tsp. grated lemon peel

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts - I used walnuts, and chopped them up nice and fine in my food processor

1/2 - 1 cup crushed lemon drops, divided - I think I used about 3/4 cups of drops

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Crush the lemon drops in a food processor or blender. Lemon drops are really hard and I will warn you, crushing the drops by either method is very loud. Earplugs are seriously recommended! I found that my food processor was considerably quieter than my blender - my baby really hated my blender! What I found easiest was crushing them first in my food processor, then putting the larger chunks in a plastic baggie, putting the plastic baggie between a towel and then breaking those chunks into smaller chunks using using a rolling pin. Unless your food processor is better than mine. Then it might just crush them all in one try.

In large bowl, beat butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the lemon extract with an electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with a spoon until creamy and fluffy. Mix the grated lemon rind with the flour. Add flour mixture and salt to the butter mixture. Stir in nuts and 1/4 cup crushed lemon drops.

Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into 1-inch balls. On un-greased cookie sheet, place balls about 2 inches apart.

Bake 7-9 minutes or until set but not brown. In small bowl, place addition powdered sugar. Immediately remove cookies from cookie sheet; roll in powdered sugar; wait 10 minutes, then roll in reserved crushed lemon drops. Cool completely on cooling rack, about 30 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Variations:

Russian Tea Cakes

Substitute vanilla extract for the lemon and omit the grated lemon rind and crushed lemon drops. Everything else as directed.

Chocolate Filled Russian Tea Cakes

Use all same dough ingredients as Russian tea cakes, adding milk chocolate stars, chocolate chips or chopped pieces of chocolate candy. When dough is made, shape tablespoonfuls of dough around chocolate stars and form into 1-inch balls. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until bottoms start to brown. While baking make sugar coating: 1 cup powdered sugar; 1 Tbsp red sugar; 1 Tbsp. green sugar. When cookies are baked, roll into the sugar coating mixture. Reroll, if desired.

Peppermint Tea Cakes

Crust 3/4 cup hard peppermint candies in food processor or blender. Stir in 1/4 cup of the crushed candies with the flour; reserve remaining candy. Bake as directed. Immediately roll baked cookies in powdered sugar; wait 10 minutes, then roll in reserved crushed candy. Reroll, if desired. 

Cinnamon Tea Cakes

Add 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon to the cookie dough, at the same stage as adding the flour and salt. Bake as directed above. When baked, roll cookies in a mixture of 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Reroll, if desired. 

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

I really love good mashed potatoes. But I really hate not-so-good mashed potatoes. I personally love creamy, whipped, homemade mashed potatoes. One thing I hate: lumps in my mashed potatoes. If your definition of good potatoes doesn’t fit into that description, perhaps you should stop reading this post! 

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Time: 1 hour

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes

1/8-1/4 cup milk, cream or half-and-half {using cream or half-and-half will give you thicker, slightly more flavorful potatoes} 

1/4 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

First you must boil the potatoes. Scrub or peel them {I like some peel on my potatoes but it’s whatever you like} and cut them into small cubes. The smaller your cubes, the faster your potatoes will cook. Put the potatoes in a sauce pan and cover with an inch of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 30-40 minutes or until a fork inserted into a potato goes through easily. You want ‘em nice and soft. Drain the water off {you can save the water if you like to make pancakes or something with the potato water}. 

Mash the potatoes using some kind of masher. Mash ‘em up about as good as you can with that. 

Yes, I am aware that my "masher" isn't really a potato masher. Actually, to be honest, I don't know what it is really for.

Add the milk, sour cream, butter and salt and stir it around until well incorporated and the butter is melted. 

Use less milk if you prefer a stickier, stiffer mashed potato and more milk if you like them thinner.

Now use a hand mixer and whip the potatoes up for 3-4 minutes or until they are nice and fluffy. 

Voila! Perfect, non-lumpy mashed potatoes!

Lemon Cookies with White Chocolate

Here is another super-duper easy cookie recipe that you will love - especially if you like lemon! I really loved these cookies. This is the first recipe I'm going to be sharing from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Jamie Cooks it Up!, and I've made them a couple times. I did slightly adapt the recipe for my own purposes so I'll share here the way I did it but know that you can go to Jamie's site {see link to the recipe below} to find the original recipe and proportions to make more cookies. My sister thought these cookies tasted a bit like lemon bars in cookie form, which is a good way to describe them!

Lemon Cookies with White Chocolate

Slightly adapted from: Jamie Cooks it Up!

Time: 1 hour

Makes: approx. 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 box Lemon cake mix
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg
2 tsp. lemon juice {fresh or from the baking section}
1/2 cup white chocolate chips + additional 1/2 chips for melting

Directions:

Melt butter and add to the cake mix. Mix around for a little bit then add the egg.
Squeeze a fresh lemon and add to the mix.
Mix with a spoon or in a mixer until just combined.
Add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and mix until incorporated evenly. Note: at this point the dough can be refrigerated for up to 48 hours. Just cover well and put in the fridge, then pull out and allow to sit for about 5 minutes before finishing.
Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until bottoms are begin to turn golden brown. Do not over bake. Take the cookies out of the oven when they have cracked on top. Then let them finish baking on the sheets for about 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack or tea towel to finish cooling.
Melt the remaining 1/2 cup white chocolate chips in the microwave for 30-second intervals. You can add 1/2 tsp. shortening to help with this. Don't over-melt your chips because they will just harden and make drizzling pretty much impossible. Melt just until you see some of the shapes of the original chips left and then stir it around until it's all melted.
Drizzle the white chocolate over the tops of the cookies. Or do like me and put the chocolate into a plastic baggie, snip off the corner and squeeze it onto the cookies. I like this method better because I can control where and how much chocolate ends up on each cookie. I also put my chocolate on while the cookies were sitting on wax paper.

Sprinkle the cookies with a bit of powdered sugar. Let the cookies rest of a wire rack until the white chocolate has set up. Mmmm . . . delicious Lemon Cookies!