Happy Halloween 2015

    This Halloween has been pretty fun so far! Since Frankie moved to Orlando this year, we thought it would be cute to go as Mickey and Minnie! I did a lot of celebrating this year! I thought it would be cute to compile some of my treats and ideas!

Spelled out in home made Butterfinger Bars!

Here's the recipe for my Homemade Butterfinger Candy!

Spooky Cakes!

I made some spooky cakes for the cake walk at our Fall Festival last weekend! 

I cheated and used boxed cake mix, but the decorations came out pretty cute! 

Googly eyes made with Oreos, junior mints, and Reese's pieces!

Haunted Graveyard! Crushed Oreos, ghost peeps, and candy pumpkins

My festive Cheese ball!

I made this for a friend's Halloween/Birthday Party! So good!

Here's the link: Easy Autumn Cheese Ball

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

So simple!

Here's the link: Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Haunted Graveyard Pudding Cups

Pudding cups with a little crushed Oreos, pumpkin candy, and spooky Peep ghosts!

Cheesy Ghosts 

Cheese sticks! Just draw on a little spooky face to make it a ghost!

Witch's Hat and Broomsticks!

Take some candy melts and stick a couple kisses on top of some Oreos!

 

Stick some pretzels into the bottom of mini reese's cups!

Scary Cookie Spiders!

Stick some pretzel sticks into some double stuffed oreos and top with some reese's pieces! 

Mozzarella Bones!

Refrigerated Pizza dough + pieces of mozzarella = yum!

Payday Candy Bars!

My favorite!

Here's the link: Homemade Payday Bars

Our spread from youth group on Wednesday!

I made a little plate to bring to work!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Homemade Payday Bars

    Oh man! Payday. The best day of the week! There's the reason that they gave the name to these bars of peanuty goodness. This homemade version of peanuts and nougat is a little less dense. Which, I like. They're not so hard. Super easy, super tasty!

Homemade Payday Bars

Ingredients:

- 1 bag (10 ounce) of peanut butter chips

- 1 can (14 ounce) of sweetened condensed milk

- 3 tablespoons of butter

- 2 cups of mini marshmallows

- 3 cups of dry roasted peanuts, salted and divided

    Butter the bottom and side of a 9x13 baking dish. If you want your bars to be a little thicker, use a 7x11 baking dish. Then, cover the bottom of the pan with half of the peanuts. In a medium sized heavy bottomed pot, melt the peanut butter chips and butter over medium heat. Add in the sweetened condensed milk and then the marshmallows. Stir until completely melted and combined. Pour the mixture over the peanuts in the baking dish and top with the remaining peanuts. Chill unti they are set, slice, and enjoy.

     

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

    They may look like candy corn but they don't taste like them. They're definitely better! They're pretty easy to make too. Take a basic sugar cookie recipe and create something festive!

  

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

- 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, room temperature

- 1 and 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar

- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

- 1 egg

- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 3 cups of flour

- red food coloring

- yellow food coloring

    Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and egg until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda, salt, and flour. Slowly incorporate the two mixtures. Divide the dough into three equal parts. Color one with the yellow food coloring and another with yellow and red to create orange. Layer the different colors, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for several hours. Once chilled and you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the dough to look like candy corns and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Bake them for 10-12 minutes.

Easy Autumn Cheese Ball

    It's totally that time of year you guys! Can you feel the holiday season approaching? A friend of mine had a Halloween/Birthday party last night and we had a blast. This cheese ball recipe was phenomenal, I really enjoyed it. It's so ridiculously easy, super festive, and sure to be a hit at any autumn get-together.  

Easy Autumn Cheese Ball

Ingredients:

- 2 (8 ounce) packages of cream cheese, softened

- 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

- 1/4 cup of minced onions

- 3 tablespoons of your favorite salsa

- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin

- 1-2 cups of crushed nacho cheese doritos

- the stem of one green bell pepper

    With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, onions, salsa, and cumin until smooth and creamy. Shape into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for several hours. Or in the freezer for 1 hour if you're in a rush. When ready to serve, remove from the fridge and coat with crushed chips. If you're feeling festive, top with the bell pepper stem and it will look like a pumpkin! Serve with crackers, pretzels, or chips.

Awesome party Ivy! We're totally Minnie and Micky this year!

Pumpkin Streusel Bars

    Is it time for pumpkin everything once again? It's the second week of October, I'd say so!!! I was searching for a recipe meriting the title of my first pumpkin recipe of the season. I found it! I like to describe them as pumpkin coffee cake meets pumpkin pie. They're really good! I'm pretty sure I've finally found the perfect ratio of sugar, butter, and flour for a really nice streusel topping.  Let the autumn baking continue!

Pumpkin Streusel Bars

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of flour

- 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

- 1/2 cup of butter, at room temperature

- 2 cups of sugar

- 2 eggs

- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- 1 (15 ounce) can of pumpkin

- 1 cup of milk

For the topping:

- 1/2 cup of cold butter, cubed

- 1 cup of packed light brown sugar

- 1 1/2 cups of flour

- 1/2 teaspoon of salt

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set flour mixture aside. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Once the mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture gradually, in thirds and alternating with the cup of milk. Once completely combined, pour the batter evenly into a greased 9x13 baking pan. To make the struesel topping mix all of the ingredients together with a pastry cutter or a fork until it resembles small peas. You can even get in there with your fingers! Spread the crumb topping over the pumpkin cake batter. Bake for about 45-50 minutes. Or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. Slice and enjoy. I really love these warm out of the oven.

Peanut Butter Bars

    Every other month our church youth group has a soup and sandwich luncheon fundraiser. I usually make something to help out. The adults bring the goods and the kids run the show with serving and clean up. This time around, I made two soups and a dessert! My Creamy Sausage and Cabbage Soup is definitely my fave. I tried my hand at a Lentil soup as well but, that didn't come out as good as I had hoped. I'll have to try that one again. I joke around and call these peanut butter bars Lunch Lady Bars lol! I remember when I was really little having something like these come on my school lunch tray! They're close to my Peanut Butter Bonbons! They're so easy that you make them in the microwave! You have to try these!

Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of graham cracker crumbs

- 2 cups of confectioners sugar

- 1 cup of creamy peanut butter

- 1 cup of butter

For the frosting:

- 1 and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips (I like milk chocolate)

- 1/4 cup of peanut butter

    To start with the bottom layer, place the cups of butter and peanut butter into a microwave safe bowl. Warm them in the microwave for a minute. Remove and stir until creamy. You may have to pop them back in there for another few seconds. Mix the graham cracker crumbs and the confectioners sugar into the melted butter mixture. Spread it all into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan and pop it into the refrigerator. In a separate microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter for 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave, mix well, and repeat until the mixture is smooth. Take the pan out of the fridge and evenly spread the chocolate mixture on top. Pop the whole thing back in the fridge for about 30 minutes, slice, and serve.

Church Luncheon success!