Broiled Angel Food Cake with Fresh Whipped Cream and Berries

1 angel food cake, (store bought, from a mix or homemade)
4 tablespoons butter, melted

2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
1 container blueberries
1 high-quality dark chocolate bar (optional)
Fresh mint sprigs (option)

Cut angel food cake into evenly sized slices. Do not cut into wedges around the center of the cake as they will not brown evenly under the broiler.

Using a pastry brush, coat both sides of angel food cake slices with melted butter. Place on a metal baking sheet and place under broiler. Toast until golden brown. (Watch carefully because this will occur quickly). Remove from oven and turn slices to toast other side. Remove from oven.

In a glass mixing bowl, mix heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract with electric mixer. Beat until soft peaks form.

To serve, top two slices of toasted angel food cake with homemade whipped cream and fresh berries. Top with shaved dark chocolate and/or sprigs of fresh mint, if desired.

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HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN PANCAKES

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Reindeer Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans, divided
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Instructions:

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add one egg at a time mix well after each addition.  In a separate bowl blend together flour, baking soda, salt, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and the ginger.  Slowly stir 1/3 of the flour mixture into the sugar mixture.  Then stir 1/3 of the pumpkin into the sugar mixture.  Next stir in 1/3 of the flour and then the rest of the pumpkin. Finally stir in the last of the flour mixture.  Gently fold in chocolate chips and 3/4 cup of pecans.  Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Pour mixture into loaf pan and sprinkle with remaining pecans. Bake for one hour until a knife inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool completely.  For the icing stir together the confectioners' sugar and heavy cream. Add cinnamon and nutmeg and stir until smooth. Drizzle icing over bread loaf when completely cooled.

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Almond Cinnamon Icebox Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
2 (2.45 ounce) packages whole unblanched almonds*

Instructions:

Cream the sugars into the butter.  Add eggs, one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.   Gradually add the flour, baking soda and cinnamon.  Lastly add the chopped almonds and try to distribute as evenly as possible.  Split dough in half and shape into log like rolls.  Wrap the rolls in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or until ready to bake.  Slice about 1/4 inch thick and top each slice with a whole almond (*you can substitute sliced almonds if you don't want to use whole ones).  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown edges start to appear, then cool on wire racks.

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Candied Apples

Ingredients:

2 cup granulated sugar
2 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup cinnamon candy
1 cup water
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teapoon cloves
3/4 teasppon red food coloring
6 of your favorite type of apple, roughly medium in size 
wooden skewers (these are often found in the produce dept this time of year)
cookie sheet sprayed with no stick cooking spray or a long sheet of waxed paper

Instructions:

First thing you want to do is as you usually would remove the apple stems and wash them up.   Grab a skewer and stab it right into the middle of the apple and repeat for each apple.  Be careful not to poke out the other side of the apple though.  In a small or medium sized saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon candies, and water.  Stir and keep stirring until everything is dissolved.  Then stir some more to make sure it's all dissolved.  Medium heat here, you don't want it to boil at this point because that will just make a mess.  Once you've got it all dissolved add cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, and food coloring to the mix.  Now we want that to boil to a 300 degree temperture on the candy thermometer.  Dip your apples into your candy coating and be sure to coat them well.  Place them skewer pointing up on the waxed paper or cookie sheet and allow them to harden.  Make sure you let them cool completely to room temperture before eating!  They will be hot for sometime and no one wants a burnt mouth on Halloween.

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Party Parfaits

As Donkey would tell Shrek, everybody likes parfait!

Ingredients:

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fat-free milk
1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese, cubed
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges
1 (20 ounce) can unsweetened crushed pineapple, undrained
1 (8 ounce) container reduced-fat frozen whipped topping, thawed
1/2 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs, divided

Instructions:

Combine gelatin and orange juice and let stand for 5 minutes.  Heat milk until boiling and add to gelatin.  Transfer to blender and blend until well blended.  Add cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, orange peel and blend again.  Drain oranges reserving the juice in a small dish.  Add pineapple and reserved juice to gelatin mixture and blend again.  Fold in the whipped topping.  Divide up half the oranges into 8 dessert dishes.  Layer with half the gelatin mix and half the cracker crumbs.  Repeat, gelatin, crumbs, and top with oranges.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving, sprinkle with more crumbs and maybe a dollop of whipped cream on top.

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Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and drained          
4 tablespoons margarine, melted
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 9" pie shell, baked
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Mash together your cooked sweet potatoes with melted butter or margarine.  Whip in eggs, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  When well mixed add in the milk and vanilla.  Pour it all into your baked pie shell and heat in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.  It's done when the center is somewhat firmed up.   Scatter chopped pecans over the top of the pie before serving. 

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Christmas Spirit Eggnog

Ingredients:

4 cups milk
5 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups light cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Instructions:

Place a large saucepan over very low heat.  Put the cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, cloves and milk in the saucepan. Heat milk about 5 minutes bringing to a boil very slowly. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a large mixing bowl.  Egg mixture should become fluffy.  Slowly whisk milk mixture into the eggs until blended well.  Place egg milk mixture back into the saucepan.  Being sure not to allow the mixture to boil and stirring continuously, cook mixture over medium low heat for approximately 3 minutes or until mixture thickens.  Once the mixture thickens remove cloves.  Let mixture set and cool for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Once mixture has cooled stir in 2 teaspoons of vanilla, cream and nutmeg.  Blend well.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  When ready to serve sprinkle nutmeg over the top.

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All Butter Apple Pie Crust

There are times when a ready pie dish will do but Thanksgiving is special so why not try making your own pie crust… it’s not as difficult as you may think.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups sifted flour
½ cup chilled butter cut into cubes
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons cold water

Makes 1 9-inch pie crust

Directions:
Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter cubes and blend with a fork or your fingers until mixture is well blended.  Gradually add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing the dough gently after each addition.  Once dough is well blended shape into a large ball, wrap in cling film and place in refrigerator for approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from fridge and placed onto a floured surface.  Using a rolling pin roll dough to form a 10 to 11 inch circle.  Line a 9 inch pie pan with dough and chill until ready to use.  Reserve remaining dough to top pie crust.

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Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups sweet potatoes, cooked and drained          
4 tablespoons margarine, melted
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 9" pie shell, baked
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Mash together your cooked sweet potatoes with melted butter or margarine.  Whip in eggs, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  When well mixed add in the milk and vanilla.  Pour it all into your baked pie shell and heat in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.  It's done when the center is somewhat firmed up.   Scatter chopped pecans over the top of the pie before serving. 

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Rum Balls

A favorite holiday treat!

Ingredients:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 cup rum
2 1/2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/3 cup confectioners sugar

Instructions:

Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish. Heat for 1 minute to start off stir well, then heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between and continue until smooth.  Blend in sugar, corn syrup and rum.  Mix in the crushed wafers and nuts and stir until those are evenly spread out through the mixture.  Cover dish and refrigerate until it seems firm enough to shape.  Roll into bite sized balls between the palms of your hands.  Then roll the balls in powdered sugar.  If you like more nuts you can roll them in a mixture of chopped nuts and sugar.   Store in a sealed container for about a week to get the best flavor before eating and handing out these goodies. 

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Webtacular Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Filling Ingredients:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Topping Ingredients:

2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Melted chocolate, piping icing in various colors, spider candies

Instructions:

Combine smashed up wafer crumbs and butter.  Press into bottom of and sides of your greased spring form pan to create your cheesecake crust.  In the big mixing bowl beat cream cheese and sugars until nice and smooth. Add in the eggs and beat on low speed.  Whisk in the pumpkin, cornstarch, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice (aka your secret ingredient!)  Pour mixture into crust and bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour.  Cool for at least 10 minutes before doing anything else to the cheesecake, but don't turn off the oven just yet.  Mix up the topping ingredients’ and spread this over top of the filling.  Place back in the oven for 6 minutes to melt.  Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan first to loosen everything to make release easier later on.  Allow to cool to room temp and refrigerate over night.

Morning remove the spring form sides and pipe on spider web decorations and place a candy spider in each little web (try to space them so that each slice has a spider.)  You can even slice before decorating if you want to make them all even.

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Giant Warts

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, cubed
8 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 bags fun size candy bars, chopped into small pieces

Instructions:

Melt butter.  Remove from heat and add semisweet chocolate.  Cover and let sit until chocolate is meted (3 to 5 minutes approximately) then stir to smooth.  Gradually and carefully add in the heavy cream while stirring, keep stirring while you pour, chocolate will lose it's shine.  Refrigerate about 25 minutes to gain firmness. Roll globs of the chocolate into round balls in the palm of your hand, then roll them in the chopped up candy bars pressing so that it sticks to the edges. 

A great way to get creative with the Halloween candy haul after trick or treating or for a great handout at your party.  Remember not to give trick or treaters homemade candies, most parents will throw it away.

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Graveyard Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Prepared Cupcakes
Frosting of choice
1 package gummy worms
1 package chocolate cookies or graham crackers

Directions:

Place a few cookies in a plastic bag and using the back of your hand or a rolling pin press down until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Using a teaspoon make a small well in the center of each cupcake.  Frost cupcakes around well and sprinkle with cookie crumb mixture.  Stick a gummy worm into the center of each cupcake.

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Fruity Ghosts on a Stick

It just turns out that pears are just the right shape for making spooky ghost treats!  These are an interesting alternative to the traditional candy apples. 

Ingredients:

Wooden craft sticks, like for a popsicle
6 medium sized pears
10 - 12 squares of almond bark (2 ounce squares)
Handful of mini chocolate chips for ghostly eyes
Halloween cupcake papers

Instructions:

Line a cookie sheet or other flat serving tray with waxed paper, we aren't actually putting in the oven so any moveable flat surface is good for this treat.  Line up the cupcake papers across the sheet.  Melt almond bark following the package directions.  Poke craft sticks firmly into the pears. Dip each pear into the melted bark, you can use a spoon to help evenly coat the entire pear.  Place each one in a cupcake paper, standing up as much as you can get it to.  Place mini chocolate candies for face decoration.  You can use any leftover almond bark to spoon ghost tails into the paper cups.  Refrigerate until ready to eat.

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Ghostly Eyeballs

Ingredients:

2 packages red gelatine
Vanilla ice cream
Raisins
Red decorating jell

Directions:

Prepare jello according to package instructions.  Fill individual glass serving bowls with jello and place in refrigerator to set. 
Once jello has set, using a spoon scoop out a circle of jello in center of bowl.  Fill circle with one scoop of vanilla ice cream. 
Place one raisin in center of ice cream and using red decorating jell paint lines going down the side.  This will create a "bloodshot eye" swimming in "blood".

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Rocky Horror Picture Show Halloween Squares

Ingredients:

1 (12 oz.) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp. butter
2 cups dry roasted peanuts
1 (10 1/2 oz.) pkg. white miniature marshmallows
Assorted soft Halloween candy

Instructions:

Line a 13x9 baking pan with waxed paper, trust me you'll be glad you used waxed paper at the end!  Melt chocolate in double boiler with milk and butter, remove from heat.  Combine nuts and marshmallows.  Fold those into the chocolate.  Press mixture into the lined baking pan, spreading it out evenly as possible.  Sprinkle the soft candy mixture evenly over the top of that.  Refrigerate until firm enough to cut into squares, then store at room temp.

This is a nice adaptive recipe, if someone has an allergy to peanut use another nut, or mix in some candy pieces or dry cereal.  You can even add other things in addition to what's listed here!  Make it colorful and fun. 

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Eewy Gooey Eyeballs

Ingredients:

3 oz lemon gelatin
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup pineapple juice
1 8-0z. pkg cream cheese
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
1 cup mayonnaise

Instructions:

Dissolve lemon gelatin in 1 cup water in double boiler.  Add marshmallows and stir constantly to melt.  Remove from heat and add the pineapple juice and cream cheese, beat together until smooth.  Fold in whipped cream and mayonnaise.  Allow to cool until firm. Get out the melon baller and scoop full balls.  Decorate using food coloring and a clean small paintbrush (the kind that kids get with watercolors)  Now you have gross slimy eyeballs ready for the party goers!

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Easy Halloween Party Mix

Ingredients:

10 cups prepared popcorn
1 package peanut butter chips
1 cup candy corn
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

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Cornbread Muffins Made with Real Corn

Traditional cornbread muffins are made with cornmeal, if you don’t have any on hand or prefer fresh corn, you can still make cornbread muffins. This recipe is easy to make and the results are delicious.

We’ve made them with whole wheat flour, but all purpose flour can certainly be substituted.

Ingredients:

    3 cups corn kernels. You can use fresh, canned or frozen. Just defrost first.
    2 cups whole wheat flour
    2/3 cup sugar
    1 tablespoon baking powder
    A pinch or two of salt
    4 eggs, beaten
    2 cups milk
    ½ cup vegetable oil

Makes: 24 cornbread muffins

How to Make Them

Start by preheating the oven to 400 F.

Next, chop up the corn until it looks something like this. I’ve used a Pampered Chef food chopper on a cutting board to achieve this. You could use a food processor, but don’t create a puree…unless you want to hide the texture of the corn in the muffins. It’s actually quite delicious with little bits of corn in it, so I just chop it. Set aside.

Now combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Then, add the beaten eggs, milk and vegetable oil. Stir until well combined.

Then fold in the corn, until it’s evenly distributed.

Now, you can pour the batter evenly amongst 24 muffin tins. The paper muffin cups are optional. I like to use them for easy clean up and then we put the papers in the green recycling bin when we’re done.

Bake at 400 F for about 20-25 minutes. They’re done when you gently press your finger on the top and the muffin springs back.

Serve warm. Add a little butter for an even more special treat.

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