Halloween Week: Halloween Pumpkin Bars

I know, I know: I missed yesterday's Halloween-themed recipe. But this week has been long and stressful, and I've decided the only way I can cope is to take some of the pressure off of myself. On Wednesday night, that meant eating fast food for dinner and resting on the couch instead of cooking dinner and making chocolate-caramel apples (I know, don't those sound good? I'm definitely keeping them in mind for next year). But yesterday I did muster up the time and energy to make these adorable treats for a work potluck today:

Aren't they cute? They were so much fun to make. I think the guys on the right look like Easter Island statues. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Halloween Pumpkin Bars
source: inspired by Taste of Home and ...and a cookie for dessert

Baked pumpkin bars (use Taste of Home's recipe, or this one, which is truly the best)
Cream cheese frosting (canned will work, but homemade is much better)
Yellow and red food coloring
Candy corn
Black decorating gel

1. Bake pumpkin bars according to recipe directions; cool.

2. Meanwhile, tint frosting with yellow and red food coloring to make orange; spread over cooled bars. Cut bars into squares.

3. Using candy corn and decorating gel, make a face on each bar.

Halloween Week: "Scream" Cheese Swirl Brownies

It's day three of Halloween Week! Today, I'm so excited to share these "scream" cheese swirl brownies with you.

Honestly, who doesn't love brownies swirled with sweet, tangy cream cheese? In this Halloween-themed version, the cream cheese mixture is tinted orange with food coloring to make them fun and festive. These are made with boxed brownie mix, which makes them even easier. And the best part? They taste AMAZING. In fact, I can't wait to go home and indulge in a couple of them tonight!

"Scream" Cheese Swirl Brownies
source: Betty Crocker

For the filling:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
4 drops red food color
4 drops yellow food color
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the brownies:

1 box (1 lb 6.5 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 13 x 9-inch pan with shortening or cooking spray. In small bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Set aside.

2. In large bowl, stir brownie mix, pouch of chocolate syrup, oil, water and eggs until well blended. Spread 3/4 of brownie batter in pan. Spoon filling by tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter. Spoon remaining brownie batter over filling. For marbled design, pull knife through batter and filling in wide curves; turn pan and repeat.

3. Bake 26 to 30 minutes or until set. Cool completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until chilled. For brownies, cut with plastic knife into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

Halloween Week: Monster Eyeballs

For day two of Halloween Week, behold: monster eyeballs.

Pay no attention to that guy on the left. He's a little...lazy.

These treats caught my eye because basically, they're nothing more than Buckeyes with miniature M&Ms stuck in the top to serve as the pupils. Buckeyes are my favorite holiday dessert without question, so I'll take any opportunity to get a jump on eating them. (Here's a question: Are Buckeyes as popular a dessert outside of Ohio as they are within the state? I'm just wondering how much of their popularity here has to do with our football team.)

After I'd already assembled these, I thought how perfect it would have been to melt some white chocolate and paint that over the exposed peanut butter section. I think I may do that if I make these again to make them look even more like real, honest-to-goodness eyeballs. Regardless, these are an easy and irresistibly delicious treat.

Monster Eyeballs
source: Epicurious

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 (1-pound) package confectioners’ sugar (about 4 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
2 tablespoons solid vegetable shortening
1 (3-ounce) package miniature M&Ms

1. Blend the peanut butter with the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl.

2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with wax paper. Roll the peanut butter mixture by teaspoons into small balls and place on the baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up the eyeballs.

3. Put the chocolate chips and shortening in a microwave-safe bowl and melt the chocolate in the microwave: Heat on high for 60 seconds, and then stir well. If it’s not quite smooth, heat in two or three 10-second bursts, stirring well after each burst. (Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate, stirring frequently, in a double boiler, over just-simmering water. Avoid overheating, which can cause chocolate to seize up into a stiff mass.)

4. Take the sheet of balls from the refrigerator; use a fork or a toothpick to dip each one most of the way into the chocolate, leaving a round or oval opening of undipped peanut butter on top. (This opening in the chocolate will be the cornea.) Hold each ball over the chocolate to catch the drips, and then return to the wax paper, cornea side up.

5. Place an M&M in the center of the peanut butter cornea to make an iris. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Store the eyeballs in the refrigerator or freezer and serve chilled.

Halloween Week: Vampire Cupcakes

Welcome to Halloween Week! This week I thought it would be fun to highlight some quick, easy, and festive Halloween desserts. Halloween is a holiday I'm enjoying a lot more now that I have a little one (and another little one on the way). Everything seems so fresh and fun again -- the candy, the pumpkin carving, the costumes.

For today's recipe, I present to you these vampire cupcakes that I actually made way back in September, for the finale of my favorite TV show, True Blood. How fun are these?! I adapted the recipe from Baking Bites, but made the cupcakes a lot simpler by using boxed cake mix and canned cream cheese frosting (something I probably wouldn't do again, since store-bought cream cheese frosting in no way compares to the real thing). I've never made a white cake from scratch that wasn't dry, but have always had good luck with boxed white cake mixes, and this time was no exception. The bloody cherry center helped make these nice and juicy, too. These cupcakes are delicious and festive, and would be a fabulous addition to any Halloween party.

Vampire Cupcakes
source: adapted from Baking Bites

1 box white cake mix
Oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
1 can cream cheese frosting (or make your own)
1 can cherry pie filling

1. Bake cupcakes according to directions on box. Cool.

2. Meanwhile, puree cherry pie filling in a blender until smooth.

3. Using a paring knife, cut a cone out of the center of each cooled cupcake. Trim off the pointy end of the cone, leaving a flat circle of cake. Set circle aside to use later and repeat this process for all the cupcakes.

4. Spoon about tablespoon or so of the cherry pie filling into each cupcake cavity, filling it almost to the top. Top off with the flat circle of cake you just removed to seal the hole and hold the “blood” filling in place.

5. Frost cupcakes. Dip a wooden toothpick or skewer into some leftover cherry pie filling and poke two fang-holes, about 3/4 inch apart, in the frosting on one side of the cupcake. Dribble a little extra filling from the holes for effect. Repeat process with all cupcakes.