Crazy Halloween Spiders

My kids are off on Fall break, so we decided it would be fun to make some Halloween treats.  These were a top pick, and they were super easy to put together – the most time-consuming part was waiting for them to dry.

With that said, please read the post completely before embarking on this adventure, as I found that using pretzel sticks for the legs is easier if you have to transport these guys anywhere (such as a school party or your dining room table).

These would also be really fun to make at a Halloween party - they’re completely edible so it’s (potentially) one less thing to carry home!

Crazy Halloween Spiders Adapted from Gooseberry Patch Halloween

1 box of chocolate covered marshmallow cookies

Black licorice (I’ll buy the chocolate or red licorice next time, since my kids aren’t big fans of the black licorice)

Royal icing eyes (I found some at my local Walmart in the cake decorating section)

Royal icing or cookie decorating icing

Cut each licorice stick into 4 pieces for the legs.

Turn the cookie upside down (gently, so it doesn’t get smooshed) and place a thick dollop of icing in the middle of the cookie.  Then carefully push the licorice legs into the icing.  Let sit overnight, if possible, or until dry.

Then, gently turn the spider over (right-side up) and place a dot of icing on the back of each eye and place them on the cookie.   Let the spiders dry overnight, or until set.  Enjoy!

*Even after an overnight drying – the legs were still quite fragile.  Translation: The legs are too heavy, and it’s hard for the icing to do the work of denture adhesive.

I made the spider below. . .with pretzel sticks gouged into the sides.  It worked pretty well, actually.  My kids say it’s much cuter (“and more delicious”) than the one above, and it’s infinitely less frustrating and tempermental!

Linking to I Heart Nap Time, Crazy for Crust, Lady Behind The Curtain, Tidy Mom, Itsy Bitsy Paper

Shrunken Apple Head

My daughter needed to make a “creature” out of an apple for a school assignment.  So we all tossed around ideas at the table, until I jumped up and announced that we were making something that had a shrunken head (because I’d always wanted to try it, but just couldn’t bring myself to waste a perfectly good apple).

Shrunken Apple Head  from Marthastewart.com

1 cup of lemon juice (I used the bottle kind)

1 Tablespoon of salt

Combine in a small (deep) bowl and set aside – I used a small plastic container.

Peel the apple and then have your husband cut deep facial features with a paring knife (so they’ll sink when the apple shrivels up).

Then put the apple into the solution to “cure” for 30 seconds – rolling it around.  Pat dry with a paper towel and set on a paper plate (out of the way) to dry for 8 days.

Then you can simply put a bamboo skewer through it and litter your yard (or someone else’s) with shrunken heads, or make an old witch (like we did).

This apple head is mounted on a bamboo skewer with yarn “hair” glued to the top of the skewer.  The top of the hat was made with construction paper in the shape of a cone and a circle with a hole cut out for the brim.  The dress was another construction paper cone taped.

Where in Walmart is it?

I live in a fairly small “city,” and we have a Walmart, not a fancy grocery store.  So I do pretty much all my shopping there.

Generally speaking, I think I’m pretty good at guessing where items are going to be located – although I usually have to employ my mad detective skills to do this.  And that’s usually asking too much at 8:30 in the morning with kids shouting “can I have this,” and me responding with my “put it on your Christmas list!”  That’s been my go-to phrase for years, by the way.

I digress.  So, I was planning on buying whole cinnamon stick yesterday at my local Walmart, and I figured it was a no-brainer – of course, it’s going to be in the seasoning section (which in my Walmart is also the baking aisle).   I found candied ginger and whole vanilla bean, but alas no whole cinnamon stick.

Bummer.  So I started to think, if I were a man sitting behind a desk where would I hide the cinnamon stick so no one could possibly buy it, hence making room for another product?

This spurred me in the direction of the candles – I was thinking potpourri and cinnamon sticks.  Suddenly, the “Mexican Foods” sign caught my attention and I changed course, and sure enough – there was my cinnamon stick (whole) hanging right next to the corn husks.

Hm.  I sort of understand why it was there, but I wonder why it didn’t qualify as a seasoning.  In this case, perhaps it would’ve made sense to put it in both locations.

Is it just me?  Are you having trouble finding things at your local Walmart?  I need to know!  Post me a comment and tell me where they’re hiding stuff at your local Walmart.

And look for my next post on “Where in Walmart is it?”  My husband is somewhere cringing right now.

Update: As of October 15th, 2011 my Walmart is now carrying cinnamon sticks in the spice aisle!  Hooray!

If you liked this post (or if you’re looking for some of the hardest items to find in Walmart), check out Where In Walmart Is It – Part 2

Ice Cream Orange Pumpkin

The hardest part about this project, was getting the picture taken before the ice cream started to melt!  They’re really quite simple, and the kids love them.

Chocolate Ice Cream “Pumpkin” Adapted from The Children’s Party Handbook

6 navel oranges

3 pints of chocolate ice cream

2 Creme-filled Pirouette Cookies (I used Chocolate Hazelnut)

Cut the top off of the orange, then cut a small circle out of the center, and place about 1-inch (length) of a pirouette cookie in the top for the stem.  Set aside.

Using a paring knife, cut the inside out of the orange.  I did this by cutting between the fruit and the pith, and then scooping out the orange segments with a grapefruit spoon (the serrated sides really helped).

Then I scraped out the orange until most of the juice was gone, and then cut out the face with the paring knife.

Scoop ice cream into the orange “pumpkin” and place the top on and serve!

Linking to Tidy Mom, I Heart Nap Time

S’more Ghost Marshmallows

Now that Halloween is right around the corner, these guys are the perfect treat to make with your kids and send to their school parties.  They’re completely edible, so you won’t have to pick up skewers (or worry about the kids poking each other with them!).

All you need are some edible markers – they’re sold everywhere these days.  I’ve even seen them at Walmart in the cake decorating aisle.

I used the bold Wilton markers for this project (in black).  I have a set of the Americolor markers that I generally save for my “fancier” projects (since they’re not sold in my local store, and I have to purchase them online).

To get the recipe for the marshmallows click here.

This would also be a fun party activity (if you have a chocolate warmer or a microwave nearby).  You could set up a marshmallow bar, complete with toppings to dip them in and edible markers to make individual faces.  Messy, but fun!

Linking to I Heart Nap Time, One Artsy Mama, Tidy Mom, Crazy for Crust, Design Dazzle

Inspired by Yum! Magazine for kids

Gluten Free Chocolate Speckled Cake

I have always loved to bake – fresh bread is the best!  But about 10 years ago I found out that I was allergic to gluten.  For awhile I stopped baking completely since I couldn’t enjoy  any of the things that I loved to make.  But after being left out of so many celebrations, since I couldn’t eat the usual treats, I decided it was time to do some recipe searching.

For any of you out there that have friends, or relatives, that are on restricted diets because of food allergies – you know how difficult it is to find recipes that taste good!  Plus, a lot of gluten free recipes tend to have different flour combinations, which can be expensive and time-consuming to mix.   Luckily, I found Glutenfreeda and all of their recipes use the same gluten free mix that you can buy, and they taste great. . .woohoo!

Chocolate Speckled Cake Adapted from Glutenfreeda.com

8 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups gluten free flour (Gluten Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Mix)

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

½ cup sour cream

½ cup canola oil

2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl for 1-2 minutes – until almost completely melted.  Continue stirring until completely melted.  Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.  Set aside.

In a large (4-cup liquid measuring cup), measure the milk and oil.  Add in the ½ cup sour cream, and then beat in the 2 large eggs. Stir in the chocolate.  Add some of the chocolate while it’s still quite warm (whisk quickly!)– the chocolate will harden into shards – thus the speckled part of the cake.

Slowly add more melted chocolate to the batter and whisk quickly until combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined well.

Pour into two 9-inch cake pans lined with parchment, and coated with nonstick spray.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Frost the cake with your choice of frosting, or sweetened whip cream and chocolate ganache (like the picture).

Linking to I Heart Nap Time

Ladybug Cupcakes

These are the Ladybug cupcakes my daughter wanted for her birthday.  We found them while flipping through Martha Stewart’s Cupcake cookbook, and they are super cute.  But I wanted to make them extra special.

So I filled the middle with cream!  You can do this with any cupcake, by using a bismarck tip to inject the filling, or an apple corer (to remove the middle).  Either way, kids (and kids at heart) love the cream center.

Then I covered the top with ganache (to seal in the cream) and let it set in the refrigerator before decorating the top with buttercream icing.

Then, to top it off, I added dried royal icing ladybugs.  I waited to the last minute to add these, because they start soften after being in the buttercream (and the refrigerator) for a day or two.

Linking to I Heart Nap Time

Edible Candy Necklace

This edible necklace is my take on the candy necklaces that we all enjoyed in the 70s, 80s, and 90s – are they still around???

Anyway, I never did like the candies that were on them and there are so many options (cereal, candies, cookies, etc) available nowadays - so there’s no excuse not to string your own (or have your kids do it)!

In fact, stringing these necklaces is a great activity to do at a party, or if you’re homeschooling you could use this to practice patterns and counting.

Plus it’s edible, so that alone makes it a winner in my book!  You can even customize these to make them appropriate for even your youngest party guests.

To make these you need. . .

Twine

Pretzels

Chocolate-covered pretzels (white & dark)

Gummy circles

Cookies (any with holes in the center)

Cereal (again, with holes in the center)

Set of yarn darners (I found some at Walmart for under $2 for a set of 7) – they’re essentially a large-eyed needle – don’t skip buying these it’ll make threading so much easier!!!

Cut the twine to the desired length, and start threading, then tie it off when you’re done!

I packaged these in individual cellophane bags with a twist tie on top.

Linking to I Heart Nap Time, Tidy Mom, Inside BruCrew Life

Update March 6, 2012: My kids and I had fun making these on a playdate we hosted at our house.  I opted to use regular fudge cookies (since the hole in the center is large and easier to string – without needles) and I’m happy to say that all the kids (ages 4 and up) were able to do these without assistance.  Success!

Party Favor Bags

Here is a party favor that I came up with for my daughter’s birthday party.  Inside the brown bag is a candy bar and a “snack” necklace.  Then I punched a whole in the corner and tied on a crocheted flower pin (that the girls can attach to their backpacks or sweaters) and a thank you note.

I’ve always liked the concept behind the candy necklace, but I was never really thrilled about the candy that was on them.

So the kids and I made our own – we spent at least an hour counting and threading snacks, so anyone out there needing a fun project involving patterns or counting, this is one you’ve got to try!

Stay tuned!  The next post will be all about the “snack” necklace!

Linking to I Heart Nap Time

Spongebob & Patrick Cookies

As I mentioned in an earlier post – it’s been crazy with birthdays over here!  In addition to the pool cake, my sweet little boy also wanted cookies.  But not just any cookies (of course) - Spongebob & Patrick cookies.  Instead of serving them with the cake, they served as party favors – thus the cellophane baggies.

Have I ever mentioned I’m a perfectionist?  Well, I am – it’s a major (time-consuming) flaw.  I made notes for myself for the next time I make these – like making the blue part of the eye bigger!  But in truth, I suppose we all tend to be our worst critics – noticing every little imperfection.

Moving on!  Since these cookies were decorated in royal icing, here are a couple of my favorite tips for decorating with it:

1. Use a fan to dry the frosting for a nice gloss - Sweet Sugarbelle

2. Mist the icing to achieve the perfect consistency – One Tough Cookie

3. And remember, we all have different handwriting so your frosting “writing” is going to be individual just like you!

Linking to I Heart Nap Time