Chunky Monkey Smoothie

If you've been on my Pinterest page lately, you'll notice that I've created a board just for yummy drinks and smoothies. This morning I tried the protein packed Chunky Monkey smoothie and it was so good that I had to not only repin the recipe but share it all with you! There are many different variations of the Chunky Monkey but this is my favorite because it's the simplest and I had all the ingredients at home. The drink is a great post workout replenishment or breakfast meal.

INGREDIENTS
1 Medium ripe banana
1 Cup of Silk Dark Chocolate Almond milk (more calcium than regular milk and best tasting premade chocolate milk I've had) or any low fat chocolate milk
1 Tbsp of low fat peanut butter
1 Cup of ice 

Let's Hang Out!

PINTEREST   FACEBOOK  TWITTER

Apple Ice Cream Sundaes

I'm on a huge apple kick right now. Macintosh and Granny Smiths are my favorite varieties, so yummy, healthy, and the perfect snack for autumn. I saw this delish seasonal recipe on Pinterest that includes apples, vanilla ice cream, and caramel. I know I just had to share it with you all! Apple ice cream sundaes are not only pretty to look at but a perfect dessert; each person will get their own apple bowl and it's easy to assemble. I like that you can personalize your own sundae with your favorite toppings like cinnamon, chopped nuts, or sprinkles. Now your dessert can help you get in your daily 5 fruits.

 

Ingredients 

Caramel sauce (you can buy pre-made or whip some up at home, here's a wonderful recipe)
Apples (ones that stand up nicely)

Vanilla bean ice cream

Lemon juice
Chopped nuts (optional)

Sprinkles  (optional)

Cinnamon (optional)

Instructions

1. Wash off the apples and dry with a clean towel.
2. Cut off the top of the apples and scoop out the inside flesh. Try using a melon baller, a teaspoon should work.
3. To prevent browning, squeeze a little lemon juice over the apple.
4. Optional: mix in the ice cream with a pinch of cinnamon.
5. Fill in the apple with a scoop or two of ice cream.
6. Drizzle the caramel over the ice cream. If the sauce has harden, gently heat it up again.
7. Add your favorite toppings like chopped nuts or sprinkles.

 

What's your favorite apple dessert?

The Best Sugar Cookies Ever

I'm a huge cookie lover. I'd like to refer to myself as 'The Cookie Monster" because I'm not one to share my treats, sorry ain't going to happen. Last week I tried Fifteen Spatulas' The One and Only Christmas Sugar Cookies recipe for Halloween and the title doesn't lie. I made a whole bunch so there were still some left over after a few days and guess what? The cookies were still soft and delicious!


Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 extra large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
7.5 oz all purpose flour (1.5 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt (1/4 tsp)


Instructions

1. Cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract, and beat until blended.
2. In a bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar and beat just until the flour disappears. Scrape the dough out into plastic wrap. The dough may look slightly crumbly, but it should come together well as you shape it into a disk. Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Flour your counter top, and roll the dough out to the desired thickness (I do somewhere between 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch thick). Cut the dough with your cutters and place on your baking sheet (no need to grease the pan or use parchment if you don't want to). Refrigerate for 25 minutes, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Bake for 10 minutes until very faintly golden brown on the edges. Cool on a wire rack completely before decorating. 
5. For frosting, you can mix together confectioner’s sugar, water or milk, splash of vanilla, and a little food coloring. I just eyeballed the measurements based on the desired thickness.

 

What I've learned about how the cookies came out so good: the butter must be at room temperature (don't know why but it makes a hell of a difference). Mix the dough only until the flour is gone, if you over mix, the cookie becomes tough and hard. "Aging" or refrigerating dough also is a big help because it allows for the ingredients to really blend together and interact well. 

Baked Carrot Fries

These carrot fries have been nothing but trouble for me but they taste so good so they're forgiven. Baked carrot fries taste just like sweet potato fries and they have less carbs. They're an easy way to get your children or stubborn eater to eat their veggies by presenting them as fries. So how did these "fries" cause me so much trouble? Well, I learned that both my smoke detectors do not like it when my oven reached 500 degrees.

In the original recipe, it called for the oven to be at 500 for 10 minutes. During the time, both alarms went off and I panicked because I could hardly reach to turn them off. Thank heavens for my trusty little black Target stool for helping me with the downstairs detector. Turning the upstairs one was tricky. I was still too short with the stool to twist it off. I tried throwing my lotion bottle at it to stop, nothing. I used a broomstick, nothing. Finally I pulled out my computer chair from my office, climbed on it (did I mention my chair was on wheels and I'm terrified of heights?) and was able to twist the damn thing off. So with all that being said, there is no Finished/Done photo. The fries still tasted good too!

Ingredients
5-8 large carrots
1/2 Cup parmesan cheese 
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp honey
Salt and pepper 
Pinch of garlic and onion powder
 
 Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Clean and cut carrots into 1-inch fries. Be careful with cutting the carrots, keep a steady hand.
3. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients but salt and pepper.
4. Toss to combine.
5. Pour out tossed ingredients onto a large baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, stir occasionally (you must stir or the fries will stick!).
7. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top of baked fries and serve hot.    

Step 3

Step 5

What kind of other "fries" do you prefer?

Baked Mac N' Cheese

Mac and cheese is one of my all time favorite childhood meals. The warm, creamy, cheesy, carb-filled dish has always been able to comfort me. I have a deeply hidden secret and once I say what it is you got to promise not to think I'm a monster. I....prefer....boxed powdered mac and cheese. It's what I grew up on and it's so good mixed up with tuna, peas, and crumbled potato chips on top. I understand how some like the baked real cheese kind and I do too; I just love the baked aspect of it. To gather the best of both worlds, I've created a mashup recipe of the powdered and real mac and cheese and it's super good.


Ingredients
1-2 Cups veggie spiral pasta (or your favorite kind of pasta)
1 Packet of powdered cheese (from the Kraft box)
1 Cup shredded parmesan and monterey jack cheese
2 Cups of broccoli (or your favorite vegetable)
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 Tsp garlic powder
1/4 Tsp onion powder
Salt and Pepper for taste
Optional: tuna without mayo or cooked shredded chicken

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Boil water and add salt 
3. Boil pasta and veggies for 7-8 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.
4. In a large bowl mix in the rest of the ingredients with the cooked pasta and veggies.
5. Grease the casserole pan and pour in the mixed pasta.
6. Baked for 15-20 minutes.
7. Enjoy!

Step 5

Step 7

What's your favorite childhood dish?

Peach Crisp

Last night I had a sweet tooth. Usually chocolate will solve my problem but I wasn't feeling it (shocking, right?) I actually felt for a sweet fruit based dessert. Using what I had in my cupboards, I made a quick and scrumptious version of peach crisp. It was so good I ended up having two servings which I kind have regretted right after. Will power? Nope, not for this girl. 


Ingredients
1 Can of peach pie filling
1 Package of ready crisp mix
2 Tbsp of packed brown sugar
1/2 Tsp of ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp of room temperature butter
Optional: Vanilla ice cream, chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix peach pie filling, brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped pecans, and butter into a sauce pan on medium heat for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
3. In a medium bowl, follow the ready crisp's directions. My package only called for adding 1-2 tbsp of water and mixing it in well, yours might be too.
4. In a baking dish, pour in the warmed mixed peach filling. Add the crisp mix on top of the filling.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
6. Enjoy warm with vanilla ice cream!

Step 2

Step 4

Finished!

 What's your favorite fruit based dessert?

Sun Dried Tomato Sauce

The other night I had a big craving for a huge plate of pasta with Italian herbs and chunky tomato sauce. I didn't have any of the ready made sauce on me so I improvised. I don't mess with my pasta craving, I was going to eat. I took what I had at home and made a chunky, creamy, and savory sun dried tomato sauce.


Ingredients
1/2 Cup sun dried tomatoes (Julienne cut)
1/3 - 1/2 Cup cream or milk
1/3 Cup roasted red pepper and tomato soup
1 Tsp garlic powder
1 Tsp onion powder
Dash of red pepper spice
Dash of salt and pepper


Instructions

1. Stir fry the sun dried tomatoes in a frying pan with olive oil spray for 5 minutes until they until they're lightly blackened.
2. In a blender, food processor, or magic bullet like appliance, add the rest of the ingredients and the tomatoes. 
3. Pulse 4-5 times until the mixture is chunky but not completely smooth. 
4. Then pour the sauce into a sauce pan and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
5. Pour over your favorite pasta and enjoy!

*If you want a smoother sauce, warm up the tomatoes to a hotter temperature and pulse the mixture a few times more, I just prefer the sauce chunkier*

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

Mini cakes are too adorable and fun to eat. When I saw this recipe for mini pineapple upside down cake, I knew I had to try to it. Who doesn't want their own little pineapple slice and cherry? It's a simple recipe they I think everyone will love.


Ingredients
1 Box of ready white/vanilla cake mix
5 Tbsp of pineapple juice

OR

Homemade Cake
2 Eggs
2/3 C white sugar
4 Tbsp pineapple juice
2/3 C all purpose flour
1 Tsp baking powder
1/4 Tsp salt

Topping
1/4 C butter (1/2 stick or 4 Tbsp)
2/3 C brown sugar
1 Can of pineapple rings  
1 Jar of Maraschino cherries


Instructions 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray your muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray. 

2. In a mixing bowl, beat cake mixture for 2-3 minutes, to not over mix that the lumps disappear. If doing homemade cake mixture: add eggs, white sugar, and pineapple juice, beat for 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add the dry to the wet ingredients and turn mixer back on for another 2 minutes. 

3. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and add the brown sugar.  Stir on low heat for one minute.

4. Spoon a layer of the warm brown sugar mixture into the bottom of each muffin tin, then place a pineapple ring on top. If you are using regular muffin tins, you will need to cut down the rings to fit or just use pineapple tidbits. Add a cherry in the middle of each pineapple. 

5. Pour cake mixture over to fill each muffin tin 3/4 of the way full.

6. Bake jumbo cakes for 25 minutes. Bake regular cakes for 20 minutes. The mini cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
   
7. Remove from the oven.  Let cool in pan for 3 minutes.  

8. Run a knife around the edge of each cake to help loosen in case it sticks a little.  Place a wire cooling rack on top, and quickly flip over on top of sheet tray to catch extra drippings. 

9. Place wire rack of cakes on sheet tray to cool or a cookie pan if you don't have a wire rack.

10. Enjoy! 

Brown sugar mixture

After a quick simmer

Cake batter (keep a little lumpy)

Spoon out one tsp of mixture

Cut up pineapple slices for smaller muffin pans

Finished!

When Johnny tried out one of the cakes, he said it reminded him of his childhood. Yes! I had my Ratatouille moment. I think you will really like this recipe, I hope you give it a try.

What dessert reminds you of your childhood?

Creamy Mashed Cauliflower

Creamy, cheesy, mashed cauliflower is a wonderful low carb substitute for mashed potatoes. The cauliflower, high in nutrient, is mild in taste which is perfect for the picky eaters. This side dish is easy to dress with different kinds of flavor. You can add garlic, herbs, (unsalted) butter, chicken (or veggie) broth, and your favorite kind of cheese. I used this recipe tonight and I think it's the best one I've found. Unfortunately, I don't have a food processor so my first time came out chunky, ergo, no photo.


Ingredients
1 Medium head cauliflower
1 Tbsp cream cheese, softened
1/4 C grated Parmesan (or your favorite cheese)
1/2 Tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder)
1/8 Tsp straight chicken base or bullion (may substitute 1/2 teaspoon salt or 2 Tbsp broth)
1/8 Tsp black pepper
1/2 Tsp chopped fresh or dry chives, for garnish
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
Optional: 1/4 C buttermilk or skim milk


Instructions

1. Set a stockpot of water to boil over high heat.
2. Clean and cut cauliflower into small pieces. Cook cauliflower in boiling water for about 6 minutes, or until well done. Drain well; do not let cool and pat cooked cauliflower very dry between several layers of paper towels.
3. In a bowl with an immersion blender, or in a food processor, puree the hot cauliflower with the cream cheese, Parmesan, garlic, chicken base, and black pepper until almost smooth.
4. (Optional) Garnish with chives
5. Serve hot with pats of butter.

*Another way to whip up mashed cauliflower is to use your mashed potato recipe, just forgo the potatoes*

Source

Healthier Mac And Cheese Balls

The first time I tried mac and cheese balls was at the Sugar Factory in Las Vegas. They were so unbelievably good, I still have dreams about that special meal. I wanted to try to recreate them at home but I don't have a fancy deep fryer appliance. What I do have is a healthier recipe that doesn't require a deep fryer and it's easier on the heart without sacrificing the taste. I saw this recipe, again on Pinterest, and I waited only one day to test it out. The only issue I had was a difficult time scooping them out without ruining the shape. My suggestion: wait 5-10 minutes to cool and then scoop them out of the muffin pan, the shape will stay. I didn't have all the vegetables available so I substituted the carrots, winter squash, and peas with frozen corn. I need to go grocery shopping!

Source's Photo

Ingredients 
1 Cup or 1 box of whole wheat elbow macaroni
1 1/2 Tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Medium onion (if non available, a few of onion powder) 
2 Finely chopped carrots,
1 Package (16 oz) frozen peas 
1 Box (12 oz) frozen cooked winter squash

1 1/4 Cup  2% milk 

1 3/4 Cup shredded cheddar and monterey jack blend 

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard (or any flavor of mustard)

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

1/4 Cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs 

2 Tbsp finely grated Parmesan

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°F and lightly coat 12 muffin cups (1/2-cup capacity) or 2 1/2 to 3 qt baking dish with olive oil spray. 
2. Prepare macaroni al dente according to package directions. 
3. Heat olive oil in large pot over medium heat while macaroni cooks. Add onion and carrots and cook until softened (about 5 minutes). 
4. Stir in peas, squash, and milk and bring just to a simmer. 
5. Add shredded cheese, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce and stir until cheese is melted.
6. Remove cheese mixture from heat. 
7. Drain macaroni and immediately add to cheese mixture. Toss until well combined.
8. Mound in prepared muffin cups and toss bread crumbs then parmesan cheese evenly over top of macaroni. 
9. Bake pan in middle of oven until tops are golden brown and cheese sauce is bubbling for about 20-22 minutes. 
10. Let stand 10 minutes before serving (this will help maintain shape)
    
    
    

Looks gross I know but it'll taste amazing!

Ready for the oven

All done and ready to go!

What I learned about the healthier mac and cheese balls is that it's basically baked mac and cheese but in little adorable ball shape, still worth trying!!!

Homemade Honey Butter

The one thing I think of when someone mentions home made butter is the classic episode of "I Love Lucy" when Ethel's hands become stuck onto her churner because she spent hours trying to churn milk into butter (wasn't that a wonderful show?). To be honest I knew making butter couldn't be that hard but I didn't know how to make it. I came across this wonderful cooking website, 15 Spatulas, written by the talented Joanne Ozug, and she writes for those who aren't professional chefs but are interested in cooking and creating fresh home made recipes. She has an easy recipe for homemade orange honey butter. I didn't have orange honey or orange zest on hand so I substituted with regular honey.


Ingredients
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp honey
1 pinch of salt
(Optional: herbs e.g. cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, orange zest, paprika, garlic)


Instructions

1. Pour heavy cream, honey, and any optional herbs into large bowl. 
2. Using a hand or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix on highest speed you can go without splattering cream everywhere (medium high for me) for 10 minutes.
3. It will take about 10 minutes to take your whipping cream to the butter stage. Let’s break it down.
4. In the first few minutes, the mixture will turn into honey whipped cream (good to know if I want to make fresh whipped cream).
5. After a couple more minutes, the mixture will start to clump up, and by the 7 or 8 minutes mark, the butter will really separate from a liquid that collects at the bottom of the bowl. This is true buttermilk!
6. Once the butter has clumped up, scoop it out from the bowl and form it into whatever shape you like. I usually use a disher to portion it out into little balls. Spread it on pancakes, muffins, toast, whatever your heart desires. Enjoy!!!

1-4 minutes

4-7 minutes

7-10 minutes

Creamy honey butter

 What's your favorite flavor of butter?

Pumpkin Cake. Only 2 Ingredients!

Autumn is knocking at my doorstep and I'm delighted to answer. To help usher in the new season I thought I try out this amazing Pinterest recipe for pumpkin cake. It only calls two ingredients: classic yellow cake mix and pureed pumpkin. Instead of cream cheese or frosting, this recipe uses delicious apple cider glaze, again only a few ingredients.The apple cider compliments the pumpkin in a delicate manner.

I took pictures of the baking process so you can see what it looks like. I apologize a head of time for the lack of professionalism in the photography, my IPhone can only do so much :) 


Ingredients
  
For the cake
1 box of classic yellow cake mix
1 can (15 oz) Pureed pumpkin


For the glaze
3 Tbsp apple cider
1.5 cups powdered sugar
3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice



Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven 350 degrees.
2. Pour cake mix and pureed pumpkin into a large bowl. Using a hand-mixer or stand mixer beat until well incorporated. The batter will be very thick, but will come together nicely. There will be no need for oil or eggs. 
3. Pour batter into a small greased pan and bake for 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Do not over bake.
4.  Let cake cool for 5-10 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a platter.
5. While waiting for the cake to bake, proceed to make the glaze.
6. For the glaze mix, pour in the apple cider, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice a small bowl. Mix gently. Glaze should be thick but pourable.
7. Pour glaze over the cake while still warm and same some to pour over each slice when served.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

There you have it. A classic pumpkin cake without oil, eggs, and less fat but with the yummy creamy fatty taste (that's a win-win right there!).

What's your favorite pumpkin baked goody?

Spookified and Yummified Halloween Recipes

Yummify and spookify your food for Halloween! I have found the cutest, simple, and easy to make recipes you can make for Halloween and all month long.

Beverages

Witches' Brew

Total Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients:
Lemonade Mix for 1 quart
6 drops of green food coloring
3 drops of yellow food coloring
1 liter of cold ginger ale
2 liters of cold seltzer
Optional: pineapple juice, cherries, gummy worms, or red food coloring

Directions:
Mix the lemonade with the food coloring. Then add the ginger ale and cold seltzer. Mix the ingredients and pour into punch bowl.

Photo by Ralph Anderson

Halloween Hpnotist

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
2 oz Hpnotiq
1 oz supreme premium vodka
splash or lemon juice
1 glow stick

Directions:
Pour the ingredients into the cocktail shaker with ice, shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and add the glow stick.

Copyrighted Hpnotiq Liqueur

Sidedishes

Bat Fries

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
Bat shaped cookie cutter
Paper towel
Oil
Russet potatoes
Salt

Directions:
Heat the oil to 325 degrees in deep fryer or skillet. Peel and slice the potatoes 1/4 inch thick. Cut the slices with the bat shaped cutter. Pat the slices dry with paper towel and fry the slices in small batches until cooked throughly but not brown. Remove the fat and place the bat fries on paper towels. Reheat the cooking oil to 375 degrees and refry the bat fries until brown and crispy. Drain the oil and fat on the paper towels, salten and serve hot.

Copyright by perfect entertaining

Frankenstein's Spinach Dip in Pumpernickel Cauldron

Total Time: 2 hours
Serves 6

Ingredients:
Store bought spinach dip (trust me, it saves you so much time!)
Wilton leaf green icing color (optional)
Wilton black icing color
2 refridgerated breadsticks (from 11 oz can)
1 round loaf of pumpernickel bread
1 package of cream cheese (8 oz)

Directions:
Mix the premade spinach dip with the leaf green icing color. Cover and refridgerate for two hours or overnight. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll the 2 refridgerated bread rolls, twist, and form the two rolls into a handle shape. Insert a toothpick at each end and bake according to the package's directions. Once the bread handle is done baking, remove the rack and cool completely. Then paint the handle with the black icing color. Cut off the top of the bread and hollow out to create a bowl of the pumpernickel bread. Insert the bread handle ontop of the bread bowl. In a small bowl, take the 8 oz cream cheese and tint with the black icing color. Place the tinted cream cheese into a ziptop plastic bag. Poke a 1/2 inch hold in one corner of the plastic bag and pipe around the top of the cauldron. Serve with pumpkin shaped tortilla dippers and vegetables.

Photo by Mark Ferri

Main Dishes

Spiderweb Pizza

Total Time: 15 minutes
Serves one


Ingredients:
Mini 8-inch prebaked pizza crust
1/3 cup pizza sauce
2 1 oz mozzerella string cheese
3 large black pitted olives

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the prebaked crust on the baking sheets and place pizza sauce on top. Pull cheese into thin strings and place the thing strings in a spider web design. Bake the pizza for 8 to 10 minutes until cheese melts. Cool for 3 minutes. Cut off the ends of two olives to create a spider's body and cut up the thirdt olive into strips for the spider's legs. Place the spider onto the pizza.

Photo by Wendell Webber

Jack-O-Latern's Pasta Brain

Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
6-8 medium orange bell peppers (will be the jack-o-laterns)
8 oz of pasta
1 jar of favorite red pasta sauce
Green food coloring (optional)

Directions:
Wash and dry the peppers and cut off the top and clean out the inside. Carve one side of the pepper like you would to a pumpkin. Cook and drain pasta according to the package's directions (add 10-15 drops of green coloring during boiling of the pasta, if you want the pasta to turn funky green). Warm the pasta sauce and mix with pasta. Spoon pasta into the individual bell pepper so pasta oozes out of the eyes, mouth, and nose.

Dessert

Severed Fingers

Total Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

Serves: 15

Makes: 30 fingers

Ingredients:

2 tbs of red food coloring

30 blanched almonds

2 large eggs

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

5 tbs granulated sugar

1 pinch of salt
1 cup and 2/3 of all-purpose flour

Directions:
Heat oven for 350 degrees and place two sheets of parchment paper and set aside. Place food coloring in a bowl. Crack each whole almond into halves. and toss them into the bowl with the food coloring and stir them until the color is evenly distributed. Leave the almonds in the bowl and stir them every so often until the color is as dark as you like. Separate 1 egg. Set aside the white. In a small bowl, whisk together yolk, remaining egg, and vanilla. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Beat on medium speed until well combined. Add egg mixture, and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill until firm, 20 to 30 minutes. To make the knuckles more creepy just shape them big and uneven. To keep them from puffing out too much roll the fingers extra skinny (skinnier than you want them to look if that makes sense). I also try to get them out of the oven before they brown. I sometimes add a bit of almond extract to dough. Divide the dough in half. Work with one piece at a time, keeping remaining dough covered with plastic wrap and chilled. Divide the first half into fifteen pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece back and forth with palms into finger shapes, 3 to 4 inches long. Pinch dough in two places to form knuckles. Score each knuckle lightly with the back of a small knife. Transfer fingers to prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.When all fingers are formed, brush lightly with egg white. Position almond nails; push into dough to attach. Bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Cool completely.

Creepy Crawler Mud Cups

Total Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 12

Ingredients:
1 (18oz) refridgerated chocolate cookie dough
4 (3 oz) chocolate pudding
1 1/2 cup crushed chocolate cookie crumbles
24 gummy worms

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 12 muffin cups. Remove dough from wrapper and shape into 12 balls. Press into bottom and up the sides of muffin tin to create a cup. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until set on the outside but gooey in the middle. Gently press down with a spoon in the center to create a hollow again. Cool in pan 10 minutes and then remove cups from pan. Fill up each cup with pudding and sprinkle with cookie crumbs and top with gummy worms.

Do you have a traditional Halloween treat or meal? Please let me know!