Archive for September, 2008

I had a regular test kitchen going this weekend. As you can imagine, some ideas fail and others come out great. This is one I really enjoyed.

Ingredients:

• Pretzels, small sticks (Tip: Look at your local brands, you want the thinnest pretzel stick you can find so that the chocolate holds it together easily)
• Melting chocolate (I used Wilton’s candy mold chocolate; it melts easily with no clumps)
• Decorating sugars
• Junior Mints

Tools:

• Wax paper
• Resealable bag

Steps:

• Arrange your pretzels (line up and cut with a serrated knife if you want small webs) on wax paper so that you form a small circle with one end
• Place 4-5 chocolate blocks in a resealable bag. Heat it in the microwave for no more than 15 seconds at a time, massaging between, until you have a smooth chocolate to work with
• Snip the corner, no more than a 1/8 inch, of your bag and pipe the chocolate over your pretzels in a web like fashion. End with a chocolate dollop in the center to help hold the small circle together
• Embellish with sprinkles immediately, but wait until the web has cooled for at least 15 minutes before applying your Junior Mint spider (I used the confetti sprinkle for eyes)

Tip: Store your webs in an air tight container if you’re not serving them immediately, otherwise your pretzels will get stale.

And the best part is I can make these dairy and egg free for my youngest son by simply using dairy free chocolate to make the webs and spider. Chocolate sprinkles can be used to give the spider’s body some character and the sprinkle confetti can still be used for the eyes (sprinkles are available with our spooked pumpkin décor). Check out a few more pictures.

One of my favorite fall treats is the caramel apple. I used to buy the sheets of caramel from the grocery store… okay, I still do sometimes, but mostly I melt down my own so that I can decorate the apples with chocolate, nuts and even crushed candy bars. These are dipped in caramel and then rolled in Butterfinger candy bars and finally topped off with drizzled chocolate. As many treats as I make, I can’t eat them all, so I often package them up and give them away. These are best in clear cello bags with a nice ribbon.

I almost forgot to share with you how to make these great t-shirt favors. They’re actually a lot easier than they look. Here’s what you need:

• T-shirt
• Halloween fabric (mine had a skull motif)
• Thread or heat and bond (I used thread, but heat and bond is much easier)

Using this template, cut out your skull outline and either hand stitch it onto your t-shirt with thread or you can apply heat and bond and just iron on your shape. Either way, the kids come out with a really cool favor that will cost you less than $5 to make.