ENTERTAINING: Halloween Special
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Jack O´Lantern Desserts • Decorations and Treats • The Elvis Presley Sandwich •
Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino Copycat
by Mary Canovas
Here are some scary and friendly recipes and decorations to celebrate the funnest (my word, not in dictionary) time of the year. Christmas is supposed to be everyone´s favorite, but Halloween is fast becoming almost as popular. Unlike Christmas, we don´t have to put up with “favorite relatives” at the dinner table, or spend loads of cash or shop til we drop to find just the right present for the family. Plus all the cooking and baking and clean up. Halloween is for creating spooky, out-worldly decorations, fun food, dressing up as what we would like to be instead of who we really are and celebrating with good friends or acquaintances and family any way we like.
It´s Halloween – for Heaven´s sake.
Have a Hell of a great holiday (pardon my French; it is Halloween after all!).
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Gelatin & Pudding Desserts and Treats
Video Tutorial in Spanish
Here are really easy and fast desserts and sweets to treat all your ghosts, goblins and vampires.
Fill a cup with orange Jello or any flavor pudding. Top with homemade whipped cream. Add small bits of chocolate or licorice for eyes.
Chocolate Oreo Dirt Cups with Gummy Worms
Fill a cup with chocolate Pudding or Cream or Mousse. Pound 3 or 4 Oreos until they look like dirt – yeah dirt – this is a graveyard dessert. Cover the pudding with the “dirt” and add some store bought gummy worms. How could anything so hideous taste so great!
Chocolate Cupcake or Oreo with Halloween Skull
Use any chocolate frosted cupcake or chocolate covered Oreo as a base. Cut a marshmallow as in video and add bits of chocolate or licorice for eyes.
Chocolate Oreo Witch Hat
Melt chocolate in the microwave or Bain Marie and have it ready. Dip an Oreo in the chocolate put it on a rack to drip off. Meanwhile dip one of those cones snacks in the chocolate and place on top of Oreo. Decorate with sprinkles.
Jack O´Lantern Decorations, Candleholders and Dessert Cups
Video Tutorial in Spanish
Jack O´ Lanterns are part of a Celtic tradition brought to the States by the Irish. We make them with pumpkins but in “the old country” they were made with large turnips. The Jack O´ Lantern is perhaps the most popular Halloween decoration and is supposed to ward off evil spirits on that night of All Hallows – Halloween. Aside from the Jack O´Lantern pumpkin, you can use this classic icon to make quick holiday decorations and desserts.
DECORATION: Paint your Jack face on oranges and tangerines with a permanent marker. If you´re really creative, put some white glue on face and add glitter – spooky with candle light.
APPLE CANDLEHOLDER: Cut out Jack face with cutters or sharp knife on a dark red apple. Sprinkle a little lemon juice in cuts so the apple won´t oxidize. Cut out a circle on top to put a tea light inside. Light the candle and you have an instant centerpiece or individual table favor for each guest.
ORANGE & TANGERINE CANDLES: Cut a top off an orange or tangerine. Paint the outline of the Jack o´Lantern on the fruit. Scoop out the inside. Cut out the Jack face. Place a tea light inside. (Don´t cover with top).
FOOD CUPS: Same process as the orange candles. Instead of putting a candle inside, fill it with chopped fruit and raisins or cut up gelatin or even chocolate pudding.
The Elvis Presley Sandwich
Video Tutorial in Spanish
This is one of the most famous (some might say infamous) sandwiches from the United States of America. It was the absolute favorite of Elvis Presley and in America, everyone who loves the King of Rock has at least heard of it. Hi mom prepared this recipe for him as a child and he became totally addicted for the rest of his life. Some say he also added some grape jam on top…
There are many famous people who adore this sandwich, such as (unexpectedly) the former mayor of New York, Bloomberg, owner of one of the largest financial empires in the world. He literally said that he would ask for the Elvis sandwich as his last supper before his death. Oddly enough, the combination of sweet and salty actually tastes great to most people who try it.
Are you up for the challenge?
Ingredients:
- 3 or more tablespoons of peanut butter
- 2 slices white bread
- slices of 1 ripe banana
- 3 slices bacon fried Oscar Mayer type
- 2 tablespoons butter
Directions:
This a grilled sandwich.
- Butter 1 side of each slice of bread –these go on the frying pan or grill
- Spread peanut butter on one side of unbuttered slice
- Top with a layer of banana slices
- Place fried bacon strips on top
- Cover the sandwich with the other slice – buttered side out
- Fry in a skillet or grill over medium high heat until golden brown on both sides and peanut butter is softened.
- Serve immediately.
Java Chip Frappuccino – Copycat Starbucks
Video Tutorial in Spanish
This is our version of the famous Java Chip Frappuccino from Starbucks. Ice cold frappuccinos are rich but light, and not as sweet as ice cream shakes with fewer calories and mostly made with coffee to lift our spirits and get us through the day.
Why do they call it Java? In English the word “java” today is synonymous with coffee. We´re aren´t certain exactly when the term came into general usage as coffee, but we do know its origin. At first “Java” referred to a specific kind of coffee grown only in one place in the world – the island of Java. Today the word “java” is used as a generic term for coffee in general and not just for the type of coffee produced in this island.
Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup or 180 ml strong coffee or expresso
• 1/2 cup or 120 ml milk or cream
• 3 tablespoons condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup to 1 cup crushed ice
• 1/3 cup or 4 tablespoons chocolate syrup (or more to taste)
• 40 gr or 1/4 cup chocolate chips or piece
• whipped cream or chantilly
Directions:
- Pour coffee, milk, condensed milk and vanilla in a blender.
- Add ice (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups) to fill blender halfway
- Blend til smooth.
- Add syrup and chocolate chips and blend ´til mixed.
- Serve immediately in tall glasses with a dollop of whipped cream on top and drizzle a little extra chocolate syrup on top.
From all of us
Here´s wishing you and yours
A Happy & Safe Halloween!
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Image
Featured image by Donnie Nunley via Flickr, CC BY 2.0
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