Sesame Street: Batty Bat

silly symphony - the skeleton dance 1929 disney short

my misadvantures in Halloween crafting

Hello lovely readers! I have had the most ridiculous sad luck for this year's Halloween projects. You know how you feel as if you have oodles of time so you put aside the not-so-important projects for "later" but then suddenly you have NO time and so you rush about glueing here and painting there and hope, hope, hoping for good light so you can take a picture? Yup, in a pumkinshell that is my recent experience this month. Not to mention the projects that DID get started early simply wouldn't behave. Ooof!

 

 It all started with the yarn wreath I really wanted to make and spookify. I couldn't get the yarn to toughen up. I used glue, I used mod-podge, I added more glue and more mod-podge but nothing. Next, came my two jobs and more hours, which is a GOOD thing but left barely a smidge of time for crafting. In between we had to wait for an oven and my allergies attacked and sucked up all my energy (cue violin music).

So, even though, I did manage to glue a little here and paint a little there, all I was able to post was a cookie recipe which is super tasty, I promise! So, here's to next year where you get to see the finished projects that involved pom-poms and cupcake liners. Until then, I put together a Pinterest board full of previous Halloween projects. Have fun and Happy Halloween!

halloween fun: chocolate covered candy corn cookies

 I adore candy corn. Seriously adore it. I adore it so much I made up my own cookie recipe that quite perfectly carries the buttery sweetness of this holiday treat. I'm sure many folk out there have baked up candy corn cookies. I'm not saying mine are better or anything, but I encourage you to try 'em. Your kiddos can join in the fun by helping you measure, mix the dough and shape the cookies themselves.

The first thing you will need to do is to grab some chocolate chips and melt them down either in the microwave or a double broiler. Once you have a gooey mness o' melted chocolate, toss in a cup of candy corn and stir to coat. Once coated, spread out in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper and pop it into the freezer. While your chocolate covered candy corn chills, you can get your kiddos' hands washed and mix up the dough.

Ingredients 

*1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened to almost melted) 

*1 cup white sugar 

*1 5.1 or 5.2 oz box of vanilla pudding mix

*1 tsp vanilla 

*2 eggs

*1 tsp baking soda 

*2 T corn starch 

*2 cups of flour 

*pinch of salt 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Combine the pudding mix and sugar and add your super soft, almost melted butter and mix with an electric mixer until pale.

2. Add your eggs and vanilla and mix a bit more. Remove mixer and grab a wooden spoon.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to your sugar/egg mixture and mix with the wooden spoon until combine.

4. Safely away from the wee fingers of your kiddos, chop up the chocolate covered candy corn and mix in about 2/3 into the cookie dough.

5. Roll a blob of dough into a ball about the size of a large marble and pop a bit of candy corn magic on top, sprinkle with a wee bit of sugar and press down flat with the bottom of a dry measure cup or small drinking glass.

6. Place on cookie sheet about 1 1/2" apart and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cookies will puff up and then flatten out once cool.

 You can skip the coating in chocolate part but then your candy corn will melt and ooze out of the dough proper. The chocolate keeps it tucked inside and adds a bit of kick. when I first made these I had wanted to use brown sugar but was out of it so I made do and we all think this recipe turned out just dandy. Enjoy!