Halloween Treats!

Ok, it's been way too long since my last post but I really do want to get back in the habit of updating so I'll start with my 2 recent Halloween treats that I made to take over to a friend's house for a get together. I saw both of these in my Taste of Home magazine and couldn't resist.



Strawberry Ghosts


30 fresh strawberries, washed and dried
8 oz white baking chocolate, chopped
1 tsp shortening
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Melt white chocolate and shortening; stir until smooth; stir in almond extract.
2) Dip strawberries in chocolate mixture; place on waxed paper-lined baking sheet, allowing excess chocolate to form ghosts' tails. Immediately press chocolate chips into coating for eyes. Freeze for 5 minutes.
3) Melt remaining chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Dip a toothpick into melted chocolate and draw a mouth on each face. Refrigerate until needed.



Source: Taste of Home



Next up, a Pumpkin Torte. This got rave reviews and is so easy to make. Delicious! I made it again for Thanksgiving because it is so good. The frosting part is my favorite because it is so light and fluffy.

Pumpkin Torte
1 box yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin, divided
1/2 cup milk
4 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 80z package cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
16 oz frozen cool whip/whipped topping, thawed
1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I omitted this time)

1) In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, 1 cup pumpkin, milk, eggs, oil and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice; beat on low for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round baking pans.
2) Bake on 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
3) In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar, remaining pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice; beat until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.
4) Cut each cake horizontally into two layers. Place bottom layer on a serving plate; spread with fourth of the filling. Repeat layers 3 times. Drizzle with caramel topping; sprinkle with pecans. Store in refrigerator.


Source: Taste of Home

Proof is in the Oven!

This Week's TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf (pg 232 of Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours) -- this pick belongs to Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen so make sure you check out her blog, which includes the full recipe. You can also check out all of the other members' entries by visiting the TWD blog.

Nothing like procrastinating. I decided at the last minute that I was definitely participating in this week's TWD. Lucky for me, I had everything on hand...well, except the loaf pan, that is. Oh, you heard right, I didn't even own a loaf pan...take one guess if I had ever made a loaf before. Yep, you catch on quick. After work, I took a slight decour to Marshalls where I picked up a nice Wilton loaf pan for $5...sweet! Did I mention I first had to assemble 2 pans of lasagna..one for our dinner tomorrow night and one to drop off at our friends' house on Thursday (they just had an adorable baby boy last week)? Ok, back to the loaf. I got started on it a little after 9:00 p.m. but it came together very quickly. It's the baking that takes forever. Keep in mind when starting that it bakes for 1 hr and 20-30 minutes. Yea, that's why I'm sitting here posting this at 11:00 p.m.(hey, hey, better late than never... and it's still Tuesday so I made it). And it's not even ready yet. The above picture will get me through until tomorrow when I actually cut it and can take a nice picture of the finished product. So far, so good....even the marbling looks nice. Go me! On second thought, the top marbling could mean absolutely nothing when it comes to the middle. Let's hope for the best, shall we? You shall see the inside tomorrow morning when I'm sure to be enjoying a piece for breakfast with a cold glass of milk. And then tomorrow night for dessert, I will definitely be trying it with a nice scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt. Can't let this pretty loaf go to waste now, can we? Didn't think so. Enjoy.

Update: This turned out great. It's a really nice texture and it's the perfect amount of banana and chocolate...and not too sweet. I'm so glad I decided to make it. Thanks for the great pick, Ashlee!

P.S. I baked for exactly 1 hr and 20 minutes...not bad but maybe next time, I would cut the time down by about 5 minutes. Also, I omitted the rum and the lemon zest. Instead of 3 oz of bittersweet, I used what I had on hand which was quite a mix... 1/2 oz of unsweetened, 1/2 oz of milk chocolate and 2 oz of semi sweet. I though it turned out great.