FREAKY FINGERS

FREAKY FINGERS:
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Green food color
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Red gel icing
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon water


In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. In a separate small bowl beat egg with both extracts and food color until blended, add to butter mixture, along with 1 cup sugar. Beat until combined.

In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture in three batches, scraping down bowl between batches.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated. Use your hands to roll a log of dough approximately 1/2 inch by 3-4 inches in diameter. Shape each log into a finger, making the center of the log wider for the knuckle. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. If the dough begins to get sticky, return it to the fridge for a few minutes to stiffen up.

Use the blade of a butter knife to make knuckle marks on the fingers and then the broad side of the tip of the knife to make a slight flat imprint for a nail bed.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until fingers are slightly golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, mix together 1/4 cup powdered sugar and water in a small bowl until the consistency is similar to that of a paste.

On each cooled cookie finger, place a drop of red food color gel on the nail bed. Spread a dollop of sugar-water mixture over backside of an almond slice and place atop red gel dollop on nail bed, wide end of the almond slice at the base of the bed. The red gel will ooze out of the sides of the almond. Fill in any cracks in the dough with red food color gel to resemble blood. Let dry uncovered for about 30 minutes.

Makes approximately 24-30 fingers.

A Beautiful Ham-Aspargus Quiche AND Edible Fake Vomit Cookies - Really?

Before we get into the Halloween Ghoulish Gourmet stuff, I'm going to share a wonderful quiche recipe with you. The Dijon mustard really compliments the smoked ham in this recipe - and the tanginess of the Jarlsberg partners perfectly with the creaminess of the gouda making this easy quiche extra elegant.

HAM-ASPARAGUS OMELET
3 eggs, plus one yolk
1 ½ cups fat free half-n-half
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash or two (or three, or four) of Tabasco sauce
1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed – Set aside 8 asparagus, cut remaining into 1 inch diagonal bits
1 cup smoked ham, diced
1 shallot bulb, minced finely
3/4 cup Jarlsberg cheese, grated
3/4 cup Gouda cheese, grated
1 premade pie crust dough

Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Prepare piecrust and place into pie dish – crimp edges, refrigerate until ready to fill.

In medium bowl, whisk eggs, half-n-half, flour, Dijon, salt and Tabasco until blended thoroughly. Set aside.

Toss both cheeses together to mix thoroughly. Set aside.

In separate small bowl mix diced ham, cut asparagus, minced shallot. Spread mixture over bottom of pie crust. Sprinkle two-thirds of the cheese evenly over meat mixture. Place the 8 whole asparagus stems in a wheel design over the top of the cheese and sprinkle with remainder of the cheese. Carefully pour egg mixture over all. Place in oven and bake for 35 – 45 minutes, until center of quiche is firm. Cool slightly to set prior to serving.

Helpful Hint:  I usually check my pies/quiches approximately 20 minutes into the baking time as the crust is usually nicely browned by then. At this point I place a pie crust protector over the crust to keep it from over browning. If you do not own a pie crust protector, simply cover pie crust edges with foil strips and return to oven until dish is finished cooking.

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF! 

EDIBLE FAKE VOMIT, REALLY?

This recipe is sooooo flexible. I encourage you to play with your food! Mix it up - make it fun!

I am giving you my "basic" vomit recipe but I cannot stress how flexible this recipe really is. Today when I made this batch, I only had 1 cup of coconut on hand - so instead, I added 1 cup puffed rice cereal and 1 cup of slightly crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal to make up for the missing 2 cups of coconut needed.

The result was similar yet totally different, if that makes sense. I must say I prefer them cereal free - with coconut only they tend to spread out better, more like a vomit splat than this more formed version. Still, the overall effect still works and they taste great!


Here is my original basic recipe:

EDIBLE FAKE VOMIT
1, 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2, 5 oz. bags sweetened, shaved coconut
1 cup sweetened, flake coconut
1 cup colored mini marshmallows
1/2 cup butterscotch chips (or peanut butter chips)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon brandy extract
2 drops Neon purple food coloring
1 drop Neon blue food coloring
2 drops Neon pink food coloring

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, use a rubber spatula to mix together sweetened condensed milk, extracts, and food coloring. You want to keep tweaking the color until you get a good pinkish hue. Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

Drop by heaping tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet. Don’t worry about dropping into neat mounds – you want a ‘random splatter’ look about them. Bake for 13-15 minutes (watch carefully – marshmallows can burn quickly). Remove and transfer onto wire racks to cool. The texture is meant to be chewy. These cookies will harden as they cool.

Makes approximately 1 ½ to 2 dozen depending on size of splats.

Fun Additions:
Chop up a few candy corns using a ridged blade to resemble half eaten bites. Add these to the cookies immediately after you remove them from the oven, but before they cool and set up.

* Take it to the Extreme and serve with shots of "Pepto Bismol" (Bailey's Irish Cream with Neon Pink food coloring added).

BLACK WIDOW SPIDER BITES or TURDS AND POO - Your Choice!

This is a great Halloween Party recipe. You can either make the black widow spider version seen picured here - hint; the eggplant abdomen holds quite a bit of dip so be sure to make extra legs to go around.


Or you can made "DRIED TURDS with GOOEY POO DIP" - Same recipe/instructions, omit eggplant, add sprinkle of garlic and rosemary, or basil and sundried tomato to the bread strips prior to the 'painting' step. Fun option - add a few corn kernels for texture.  Form smaller twists, being as anotomically correct as you can stomach. Bake as instructed. Serve on platter with a 'pile' of poo dip in the middle. Hilariously delicious!

Be sure to add labels to your Gross-Gourmet dishes for maximum effect!

BLACK WIDOW SPIDER BITES

1, medium eggplant
1, 16 ounce can refried black beans
1, 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
8 ounces prepared hummus, roasted red pepper flavored
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 red pepper, divided
1/4 cup dry onion soup mix
Lemon juice
green olive with pimento stuffing
1, 13 ounce tube refrigerated Pillsbury Pizza dough
1 cup, parmesan cheese, grated
Black food color (or combine red & blue food coloring to get near black)

When you purchase your eggplant, try to find one that will sit nice and flat on a serving platter, and also resembles the abdomen of a spider in shape. For this dish I use the egg plant solely as a vessel to serve the dip in. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise. Run a paring knife around the edge of each half, approximately 1/4 inch from the skin, to carve out the flesh. You want to leave at least 1/4 inch thickness so that the shell will be firm enough to use as a bowl.

Cut an X between fresh-cut edges and scoop out each quarter section until each half resembles a bowl. Discard eggplant flesh. Rub lemon juice over the cut edges to prevent browning and place into re-sealable baggie in refrigerator until ready to use.

Meanwhile, set aside 1/3 can of the drained, rinsed black beans and put the remaining 2/3 can into a medium bowl, mix with refried beans, hummus, garlic, cumin, onion soup mix, and red pepper, and mash with potato masher. Stir in equal amounts of red and blue food colors until you get a dark black-ish hue. Gently stir in 1/3 can whole black beans. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight to let flavors meld together.

Put grated parmesan cheese in re-sealable baggie and add 4 to 6 drops each of red and blue food coloring. Let the air out of the bag and seal. Smoosh the cheese and food coloring around inside the baggie until thoroughly mixed and color is even. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 425-degrees F. Spray a large cookie sheet with non-stick spray.

In a very small glass bowl (plastic as it may stain) combine approximately 1 tablespoon each of red and blue food colors. Open tube of pizza dough and roll out to an approximate 16” X 8” rectangle. Using a pizza slicer, cut into fourths, lengthwise so that you have 4, 16” X 2” rectangles. Then cut each of those rectangles in half so that you end up with 8, 8” X 2” strips. Using a pastry brush, paint top side of each strip of dough with “black” food color. Carefully lift strips, one at a time, flip over and fold in half lengthwise so that the black is on the outside and the uncolored dough is on the inside. Pour grated and colored parmesan into a flat bottom bowl. Take each 8” X 1” piece of dough, one at a time, and place into grated cheese. Sprinkle cheese on top of dough as well, and press all sides so that cheese adheres. Now gently, grab each end of the cheese covered dough strip, letting the center rest in the cheese bowl so that you don’t over stretch it - twist. If there are portions of “uncolored” dough showing, don’t worry – this is not supposed to be pretty. Place twisted, coated strips on prepared baking sheet and continue process until all 8 strips are done. Once they are all on the baking sheet, shape each into a spider legs – 4 bending to the right and 4 bending to the left. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes. Remove and let cool.

To assemble spider, first prepare eggplant abdomen. Choose which side will be the top and which will be the bottom. Cut a small sliver from the bottom of the eggplant that will be sitting on the tray, if necessary, to stabilize. Cut an hourglass shape from the top piece to resemble that of a black widow spider marking. Using the same pastry brush, rinsed of course, paint red food color on the inside rim of the cut hour glass shape.

Place bottom of ‘abdomen’ on large tray. Fill with black bean dip. Place top with hour glass cut-out over dip and arrange ‘bread legs’ around the ‘abdomen’. Garnish with olive halves for eyes. Guests can break off bits of leg to use in dip. Creepy Good Stuff!

Easy-Elegant Butternut Squash Soup

A bit of a break from the grossities of Halloween and a retreat instead to the comforts of autumn food on a rainy day.

Easy-Elegant Butternut Squash Soup:

2, butternut squash - base area should be size of small soup bowl
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons shallot, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt (plus salt and pepper to taste)
1, 32 ounce container butternut squash soup
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup fat free half-and-half
3 ounces pancetta, baked to crisp *(See 9-14-09 post)
4 tablespoons pomegranate seeds *(See 9-21-09 post)
4 tablespoons sour cream (or creme fraiche)

Cut 'bowls' from wide end of the squash - approximately 4 inches deep. Scoop seeds from bowl area and discard. Cut remaining squash into quarters (flesh should be approximately 1/2 cup in size each quarter). Salt and pepper cut sides of squash. Place squash, cut side down, in microwave-safe baking dish with 1/2 inch water. (Do in two batches). Microwave per oven instructions - I use the "baked potato" setting and gauge quantity by amount of squash cooking per batch. Example: For two butternut squash bowls, I microwave as two baked potatoes, etc.

Set 'bowls' aside and peel extra squash pieces. In medium-large saucepan, saute 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon butter, 2 tablespoons shallot, garlic clove and pinch of salt until softened, approximately 5 minutes. Add 2 cups cooked butternut squash flesh and using emersable blender - mix until smooth. Stir in container of soup, sherry, pumpkin pie spice, cumin, chili powder and half-and-half. Continue stirring until heated thoroughly. Ladle soup into butternut soupbowls. Top each with a dollup of sour cream (or creme fraiche), a tablespoon of crispy pancetta and a tablespoon of pomegranate seeds.

This dish is so easy, yet so elegant. Always an impressive dish whether served as a starter course or as a main dish.

I am working on a recipe for "Black Widow's Abdomen"...I promise to share soon!

BLOOD SHOT DEVILED EYES

BLOOD SHOT DEVILED EYES
6, hard cooked eggs
6 drops green food color, *optional
 drop neon purple food color, *optional
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 to 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
4 dashes (or more to taste), hot pepper sauce
Sliced green olives for pupils
Red food color
Toothpicks

Cut hard cooked eggs in half lengthwise. Put yolks in a separate bowl and set aside. Rinse off egg whites, careful to keep intact. If you wish to color the egg whites; fill a large bowl with water to cover egg whites, approximately 3 ½ to 4 inches deep. Add green and purple food coloring. (Or whatever color you choose). Place rinsed egg whites in colored water and let sit until they reach the shade you desire – check every few minutes until ready then pat dry and set aside. If you wish to leave the eggs white; pat dry and set aside until needed.

Put egg yolks into a wire mesh sieve and push through with the backside of a spoon into a medium size bowl. This will remove any lumps from the yolk mixture. Add the next seven ingredients and stir until smooth. Place yolks in a pastry bag with a star tip and put in refrigerator until ready to use. (You can also omit the pastry bag and tip, and instead, spoon yolk mixture into egg halves).

Set egg whites (colored or plain) onto serving platter, cut side up. Pour small amount of red food color onto plate. Dip the end of a toothpick into the food color and paint blood vessels onto cut side of egg whites. Remove pastry bag from fridge and fill each egg white cavity with yolk mixture (or use spoon to fill). Add olive pupils.

*Here is a picture omitting the step of pre-coloring the egg whites.

OOZING MUMMY HEAD CHEESE

Oozing Mummy Cheese Head
1, 8 ounce wheel of Brie Cheese
1 jar red hot pepper jelly
1 tube refrigerator crescent rolls
1 egg white
1 Tablespoon of water
1 pimento stuffed green olive

Unwrap brie wheel. Cut rind off of top portion of cheese only – leave remaining rind intact. With cut side on top, spread layer of red pepper jelly over brie. Spray baking dish of choice with nonstick cooking spray (can also double as serving dish).

Pop open tube of crescent rolls and on wax paper, also sprayed lightly with cooking spray, lay out refrigerated crescent rolls, keeping seams intact. Press seams together to form one large sheet. Cut into one inch wide strips for bandages. Wrap around entire brie wheel (including bottom side) to resemble mummy. Cut two slices from green olive for eyes and place with strips slightly overlapping tops and bottoms of ‘eyes’.

Stir egg white and water together, brush over top and sides of mummy head. Bake at 350-degrees F. for approximately 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and cheese has melted slightly. (Overcooking will cause pastry to burst and cheese to ooze out).

Serve with or without crackers – the outer pastry layer actually lets this dish stand alone and the gooey, oozing, reddish center is the perfect texture for mummy insides!

Next Post – Devil Egg Eyes!

Severed Finger Food

Severed Finger Food

1 package cocktail wieners
Ketchup
6, large flour tortillas
Round toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Cut a fingernail shape from the tip of each cocktail wiener. Discard cut out tips or reserve for another use.

Cut the tortillas into strips about 4 inches long and 3/4 inch wide.  I use a pizza cutter to get a nice straight line. To make the strips pliable, place them between two damp paper towels and microwave for approximately 10 to 30 seconds.

Roll each "finger" wiener in a tortilla strip and secure with a toothpick. Place on baking sheet and fill each nail with ketchup. This is easier to do if you use a condiment bottle with a squirt tip. Bake for approximately 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove the toothpicks before serving.

These are wonderfully creepy but also good eats - Another Halloween must have! Stay tuned for Mummy Head Cheese!

GLOWING TOXIC WASTE PUNCH

This punch is great for both children and adult parties! The eerie bluish-green glow that emits from this punch will have everyone wondering what's really in this beverage! 

GLOWING TOXIC WASTE PUNCH

You will need:
A glass punch bowl
1 package of 6, yellow or green glow sticks
Spring form cake pan
2 cans, frozen margarita mix, thawed
3 cups Sprite or Squirt soda, chilled
4 cups blue Gatorade, chilled

(*For adult parties offer choices of vodka, rum, tequila or gin, and use punch as the mixer).


Make a base for your glass punch bowl using the rim of a spring form pan. Just prior to preparing the punch, activate two glow sticks and place inside spring form pan, placing punch bowl securely on top. I placed a couple globs of sticky tack in place to keep punch bowl from sliding around on base. Cover base with dried leaves or spider webbing or a black netting.

Stir in punch ingredients – turn out the lights and watch it glow!

In this photo I had dressed up one of my yard decor scarecrows in this skeleton costume and put a name tag on him that said, "Bartender - May I lend you a hand?"  Then I placed a severed hand by the punchbowl for laughs.

Speaking of 'severed' - tomorrow we'll do Severed Finger Hors D'Oeuvres!

Let the Halloween Recipes Begin!

Halloween is just around the corner and although I don’t care for candy, I LOVE Halloween. I have a blast coming up with fun recipes and party ideas. Between now and Halloween I will share many of my past successes with you and maybe some new ones!

I will start with one of my most requested recipes:

BAT WINGS

Halloween Bat Wings
2 lbs. chicken wings, tips intact

Marinade:
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T. ginger, minced
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 to 4 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce (you pick heat level)
1 teaspoon black food coloring*

Rinse wings and pat dry. Open wings up and press flat to resemble bat wings. Put all marinade ingredients into a heavy duty re-sealable baggie and squish to mix thoroughly. Add the wings, keeping them opened flat as much as possible, and marinate wings for at least 12 hours, turning occasionally to ensure each wing blackens thoroughly. The food color will turn the wings a greenish color, then a purplish color before they turn black.

Remove wings from marinade. Discard marinade. Lay out wings flat on the grill and cook over medium grill for approximately 20-25 minutes.
Once you get past the creepy appearance, the taste is wonderful!

*Black food color can be found in specialty stores such as cake decorating and candy stores - also carried at times in craft stores and your local grocery store.

Tomorrow I'll show you how to make a glowing, Toxic Waste Punch!

Teriyaki Chicken Turned Asian Fusion Pizza

Teriyaki Chicken

4 cups Yoshida Teriyaki Marinade
6 pieces raw chicken, bone-in, skin on (I used breasts and thighs)

Place chicken and marinade in re-sealable bag and refrigerate overnight and all day the next day.

1 1/2 to 2 hours prior to dinner remove chicken from the fridge and bring to room temp (approximately 30 minutes).

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Drain marinade off chicken and place meat in roasting pan that has been coated with non-stick cooking spray. Bake chicken for 30 minutes.

Remove chicken from the oven and place on medium-high grill. Bake 5 minutes or until meat has seared and releases easily from the grill. Turn chicken over and bake another 5 minutes. Remove from grill and cover with foil until ready to serve.

I served the chicken with steamed broccoli and made a "faux Asian noodle" side dish using a spaghetti squash, grated carrots, chopped spring onion and a dressing of soy, sherry, sesame oil, and hot chili oil (served warm).

Re-inventing leftovers, I came up with this incredible blend for a pizza. Enjoy!
(We sure did!)

Asian-Infused Pizza
1 batch pizza dough
2 cups leftover Teriyaki chicken shredded
1/4 cup bottled Hoisin sauce
1/3 cup shredded carrot
1/3 cup julienned red onion
1/3 cup julienned green pepper (capsicum)
1 roasted pineapple (instructions below)
1/2 cup cashews, shelled and roughly chopped
2 cups Gouda cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Lightly oil baking sheet or pizza pan. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tablespoons corn meal over oil. Shape pizza dough onto pan and lightly coat with oil. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and put toppings on in the following order:  Hoisin sauce, shredded Teriyaki chicken, shredded carrots, julienned red onion, julienned green pepper and top with 1/4 inch thick slices of pineapple, chopped cashews and lastly the Gouda cheese. Return to oven and bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes until dough is cooked through and cheese is slightly golden. Serves 4 (Unless one of the four is my husband - he practically ate the whole pizza himself!)

Instructions for Roasting a Pineapple: Slice both top and bottom off of pineapple. Remove skin by standing the pineapple up on the counter and running your chef's knife down the sides of the fruit. Then cut the pineapple in quarters, lengthwise and remove the center core from each piece. Toss fruit in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Bake in oiled roasting dish at 350-degrees F. for 230 minutes.  Once fruit has cooled to room temp, slice as needed for whatever dish you are using it for...don't let it sit out too long - roasted pineapple has a tendency to disappear as quickly as candy when left out!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

This is such a great dip - easy and quick to make, always a big hit and essential during football season!

Spinach Artichoke Dip:  (Serves 4)
5 ounces of fresh spinach
1, 13.75 ounce can artichoke quarters, drained and chopped
1, 5 ounce can water chestnuts, chopped
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Parmesano Reggiano cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup gouda cheese, shredded
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
Dash or two (or three if you’re brave) Louisiana Hot Sauce

Preheat oven to 375-degrees F.
Mix all ingredients (setting aside 2 tablespoons of the Parmesano Reggiano) in medium bowl to blend. Spray a 4 cup baking dish/ramekin and fill with dip mixture.  Bake until cheese is melted and dip is heated through, approximately 20 minutes. Sprinkle remaining Parmesano Reggiano over the top of the dip and continue baking for another 5 to 10 minutes until dip is bubbling and toasty brown.

Serve with bread, cracker or chip of your choice.