Spooky Ghost Cupcakes

These are fondant ghosts wrapped over lollipops.

Happy Halloween!

I made these chocolate purple spider cupcakes for a birthday party this past weekend at the request of the birthday girl. I used buttercream frosting and then made chocolate spider webs as toppers. I was very lucky to find the chocolate spiders at a candy store pre-made!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Costume Party Treats

This past weekend my sister and I threw a costume party for the kids and their friends. I made some pumpkin cupcakes for the event.  I also made pumpkin cookies. You can find the tutorial and recipe here.  The “ghost hunt” was the big hit of the day. My sis wrapped suckers in kleenex and drew ghost faces and hid them in the backyards for this kids to find.

The youngest party goers had to sit out the ghost hunt and get their photo taken! 🙂

Tutorial: Easy and Fun to Make Halloween Pumpkin Cookies

Okay, so maybe these aren’t as fancy as what you are used to seeing on here, but I love these cookies! These pumpkin cookies have been a tradition in my family forever, and are something we still look forward to. I had planned to decorate these a little more “professional”, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. They just didn’t look right, so I scrapped that plan and went with how Mom used to make them.

These cookie are cute, delicious and fun to decorate. And, they have a pumpkin puree in them, so they are almost good for you! Almost. These turn out no matter what your decorating skills are (all you need is a butter knife). Get your kids involved in decorating and have fun!

Leanne H. this post is dedicated to you since I promised to send you this recipe months ago, and forgot about it until I went to bake these. Leanne was one of my very first friends in my life. She was also a recipient of my mom’s cookies! I’ll never forget how horrified she was when my mom used to let us eat the cookie dough.It still makes me laugh.

Decorated Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients: (Makes approximately 36 cookies).

• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• 2 cups oats (instant is fine)
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Frosting:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 bag powdered sugar
• 2 t vanilla
• 1/2 cup water (don’t add all at once… just add a few tablespoons at a time until you reach the desired consistency)
• Beat for 10 minutes. Yes, really.
• Tint frosting using orange and green food colouring

• Assorted candies: candy corn, M&Ms or jelly beans work great, but you can use anything you like!

Directions:

1. Beat together eggs, butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add pumpkin. Mix the cinnamon and soda into the flour and add to wet mixture. Add oats and chocolate chips.

2. Roll cookies into balls. I do this to ensure all cookies will turn out approximately the same size. I roll them into balls approx 2″ in diameter. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. If you aren’t a parchment paper convert yet, trust me, this is not a step you want to skip. Flatten the dough into the shape of a pumpkin and add a little extra to make a stem.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

4. To decorate, simply spread the icing on with a knife (this is how my mom used to do it), and add candy faces.

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Cookies

Here’s my 2011 Halloween cookie collection. This set of 12 cookies contains four spooky ghosts, four witch hats, four jack-o-lanterns and four candy corns.  These cookies will be available in limited quantities, so order early. Price is $35/dozen. To order, email me at janna@sweetdreamsbakeshop.ca or call 341-3439.