Back With A Vengence!

My theme this Halloween shall be bats. There will of course be the occasional spider, black cat and witch, but the main theme will be bats.

It took me a long thoughtful time to come to this conclusion. XD

I want to throw out my previous menu for something more fun!

The first thing that comes to mind food wise is chocolate/cherry cupcakes with bat decorations.

Courtesy of Sandra Lee

Of course I probably wont make the frosting from scratch, cause I'm lazy.


Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 (18.25-ounce) package butter-recipe chocolate cake mix (recommended:

• Betty Crocker)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups cranberry-cherry juice
• 1/2 cup cherry pie filling

~Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Then line 24 (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper liners; set aside.

~In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, butter, eggs, and cranberry-cherry juice with an electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Scrape the mixture down the side of bowl, then beat for 2 minutes on medium. 

~Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each prepared muffin cup. Spoon 1 teaspoon cherry pie filling on the batter in each cup and top with 1 tablespoon of cupcake batter.

~Bake for 12 to 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cupcakes comes out clean.

~Cool the cupcakes (still in the muffin tin) on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the muffin tin and them finish cooling on the wire rack.

I'm still pondering what bat decorations to use on the cupcakes. One idea is to skip the frosting altogether and use a bat stencil to dust on confectioners sugar.
Much like what is done in this image:

Recipe

I'm not a sugar lover, so skipping the frosting is appealing.  Plus I want to have my baby cousin over for the party and I don't want to add to her sugar high : )

Despite my wanting to limit the sugar level, I'm also thinking about throwing in a few of these:

Courtesy Of Martha Stewart and Delish.com

Cause they're so cute!

As for the rest of the menu?

1. Mummy Dogs

Recipe

Ingredients

• One 16-ounce package bun-size hot dogs (8 hot dogs), each halved crosswise
• 2 ounces Cheddar, cut into 16 thin slices
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 sheets phyllo dough
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• Ketchup, yellow mustard, barbecue sauce or your favorite dipping sauce, for serving and decorating

~Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper

~Cut a slit in each hot dog piece and stuff with a slice of cheese. Set aside. 

~Combine the salt, garlic powder and pepper in a small bowl.

~Working with one sheet of phyllo at a time and keeping the rest covered under a damp towel or paper towels, lay a phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or counter and lightly brush with melted butter. Lightly sprinkle with some of the spice mix and fold in half lengthwise. Brush the top with more melted butter and cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips. 

~Using 2 pieces of stuffed hot dogs per phyllo sheet, wrap half of the strips around each piece of hot dog to create a mummy look. Leave a small section of hot dog exposed towards the top so it looks like the top part of the face peeking out from the phyllo wrappings. Don't worry about frayed edges or tears-- it will add to the mummy look.

~Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining phyllo, melted butter, spice mix and hot dogs. Remelt the butter if it cools down too much while forming the mummies.

~Bake until the phyllo is crisp and golden brown, about 25 minutes. If desired, dot ketchup or mustard eyes on each mummy using a toothpick and serve with extra sauces for dipping.

2. Ghost Chips

Recipe

The ones pictured are made of bread, but I was thinking of using a ghost shaped cookie cutter on corn tortillas. The fried tortilla recipe was briefly mentioned in my previous Halloween post.
Here is a more detailed description:

Ingredients
One package of soft corn tortillas
Canola oil
Sea salt

~In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat canola oil (or peanut oil) until hot, and add a layer of tortilla ghosts, trying not to overlap

~Flip them a couple times as they cook (use metal salad tongs), and when they are crispy, arched, no longer laying flat on the pan and no longer sizzling, remove them and place on paper towels to dry

~Add a tiny bit of sea salt after they’ve cooked and the salt soaks right in

Recipe Courtesy of Food Loves Writing

3. Monster Munch

Recipe

The recipe calls for making caramel but, as I mentioned before, I want to keep the sugar level down. So I thought it might be fun to try mixing dried apple slices with popcorn and nuts, leaving the caramel out. I'll do a few taste tests to see if it needs spices (a little cinnamon could be nice).



4. Eyeball Punch

Recipe

My family dislikes blueberries (which is the main ingredient in this drink). So the only thing I'm keeping from this recipe are the spooky, floating eyes, even though the pupils are blueberries (they don't have to eat them). I'll probably make sweet tea with eyeball ice cubes. Simple and still a little fun.

I even could do grape juice and cranberry juice, letting people chose their drink of choice.

Ingredients

• 12 to 24 fresh blueberries
• 12 canned lychees in syrup, drained

~Stick 1 to 2 blueberries, depending on their size, into the cavity of each lychee. Then place the eyeball on a foil-lined baking sheet. Freeze for about 1 hour. (Wait until the "eyeballs" thaw a bit before eating, so that you don't choke on them.)

Now on to decor!

I was thinking about displaying candy in a neat way.

Instructions

However I am admittedly a little afraid of dry ice (a result of watching too much CSI), so I may have my uncle do this for me.

As for the rest of the house, I plan to cover it in paper and cloth bats : )

Country Living

Martha Stewart Living

I really need to get started on the printing and cutting. I'll probably spray the paper with Rust-oleum Ultra Cover in Matte Clear to make it sturdy. That way I can reuse the bats if I want.

Since Halloween must have pumpkins I am strongly considering doing this craft:

Instructions

My pumpkins will probably be hollow plastic (less work *wink*) and white to contrast strongly with the black houses. I may or may not have them light up.

It'll look a bit like this:

Country Living

You can find templates for other spooky decor here:

Halloween Templates

Now let's rock out!