Halloween Cheesy Crackers

I've been baking a lot of sweets lately.  It's time to do something savory.  I love goldfish crackers, wouldn't it be nice to be able to bake some homemade cheese crackers?  I found this recipe online.  It looks simple to do and I get to make my own cookie cutters!  Of course I'm doing it with a Halloween twist!  After all, it's October, a whole month with Halloween fun!

Halloween Cheesy Crackers
(I made 272 crackers ~ 6 calories each)

Ingredients:
8 ounces, weight Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold water

Directions:
See how to custom make your own cookie cutter here

1. Pulse everything (except water) together in the food processor until the dough resembles coarse sand.












2. Pulse in water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

3. Remove dough from the processor, wrap in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes.

4. Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes. You can use a toothpick to make the eyes and smile if desired. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes, or until crispy.

 

Halloween cupcakes

I love baking cupcakes.  You can do so much with them!  This time I baked Halloween cupcakes :)

Halloween cupcakes
24 servings ~ 172 calories each

Ingredients:
1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist German Chocolate Cake Mix
1 1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light or fat free sour cream
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 egg whites

4 reduced fat Oreo cookies
1 package Pocky chocolate cream covered biscuit
12 pieces white fudge covered pretzels
24 Marshmallows
melted chocolate

2 cups Confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325F, line a standard muffin pan with cupcake liners, set aside.
2. Prepare cake mix by mixing cake mix, water, egg whites, applesauce and sour cream. Beat mixture on slow speed for 30 seconds then switch to medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. Pour batter into muffin tin 3/4 full and bake for 20-22 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely.
4. Prepare frosting: in a medium bowl, cream butter with an electric hand mixer, add Confectioner's sugar, coco powder, vanilla extract and milk, beat until it is the right consistency for frosting.

5. Frost cupcakes, try to make a dome shape.












6. Remove the cream filling from Oreo cookies, crash the cookies in a food processor, then dip the frosted cupcakes into Oreo cookie crumbs.

7. Dip marshmallows with melted chocolate, let dry, then draw faces on them with edible markers. Cut each pocky chocolate stick in half, insert the stick into the marshmallows then to the cupcakes.

8. Cut pretzels in half, place them on the cupcake as "bones".

Halloween "Scary" Ladyfingers

Halloween is fun!  You get to dress up and go trick or treating.  I still don't know what am I gonna be this year but I know what I want to bake!  Saw some great ideas on Google for homemade Halloween treats.  The original recipes use butter cookies. Hmmm...I don't like to bake too much fatty treats so I got the idea of transforming ordinary ladyfingers into scary Halloween ladyfingers.  How's that for a change?  It turned out excellent!  And it's only 15 calories each "finger".  Yeah, beat that! 

Halloween "Scary" Ladyfingers
~50 servings ~ 15 calories each
adapted from all recipes

Ingredients:
2 eggs, separated
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
50 whole natural almonds
 
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Line two 17 x 12 inch baking sheets with baking parchment. Fit large pastry bag with a plain 1/2 inch round tube.
2. Place egg whites in bowl and beat on high until soft peaks start to form. Slowly add cream of tartar and 2 tablespoons of the sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy. In another bowl beat egg yolks, vanilla extract, and remaining sugar. Whip until thick and very pale in color.
3. Sift flour and baking powder together on a sheet of wax paper. Fold half the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in flour, and then add the remaining egg whites. Transfer mixture to pastry bag and pipe out onto prepared baking sheet. Top with almonds on one end. Bake 8 minutes.  Serve plain or with strawberry syrup.  

Halloween Hot Dog Mummies and Cheesy Pumpkin Face Corn Buns

It's October! Fall is here. All I see is brown and orange these days. Halloween is around the corner. So I baked a few dishes to celebrate Halloween.  They are nothing out of the ordinary, but they are tons of fun to make!

Halloween Hot Dog Mummies and
Cheesy Pumpkin Face Buns

Hot Dog Mummies:
Hot Dog Bun
The difference is the way how to wrap the hot dog.  Don't wrap the hot dog all the way so you can draw faces on the hot dogs

Cheesy Pumpkin Face Buns:
Corn and Ham Buns
I left out ham on the recipe to make it vegetarian.  Made some strips of American cheese to make it "pumpkin" like. 

 

These buns look so much more delicious when they have faces on them!