Free Halloween Printables

Hello, Friends!  I wanted to take the time to make new cupcake wrappers this year, but I haven't had time, so I am reposting these from last year.  Just right click on them to print.  I tested this and it worked on my computer.

Witch hat toppers!  Just add a toothpick and stick into your cupcake icing.

Cute cupcake toppers... same thing.  Add a toothpick and stick.  These are larger than this when printed out.

If you would like to see my cookies from last year, pop over to this page to see them all plus get some tips on where to find the decorations for cookie baking.

and if you need a cute party appetizer for that great Halloween bash you or a friend is having, check out these mini-cheeseball appetizers.



I hope you have a spooky Halloween!

Fall Birthday Celebration: Squid Ink Pasta with Mussels, Dark Chocolate Cake and Cheezy Pizza Bread

Don't you just love Fall? Nothing makes me want to cook more than that change of seasons!   All of those pumpkin recipes!  I have already made a pumpkin roll, pumpkin spiced lattes and an apple pie, apple sauce and apple crisp.  Love it! 

One of the other things that comes with fall is our whole family's birthdays.  We go from September through December... one per month.  I had a gamer birthday party for my oldest 11-year-old son as seen here.

Today is my husband's birthday, so I am making a cheezy pizza bread and some great squid ink bow tie pasta with mussels... his favorite. 

For the pizza, I do nothing terribly fancy.  Make a pizza dough using the THIS recipe, spread the dough on a greased pan, and then top it with olive oil, chopped garlic, 5 different cheeses of your choice and then sprinkle with paprika and white pepper.  Delicious!

The special dinner of mussels and squid ink pasta is a great birthday dinner for my husband.  He loves mussels and it is fairly simple to make. 

Aren't these cute?  How could I resist a striped pasta???

So, I cooked the pasta according to the package directions. 

Add some chopped garlic to 1 cup of canned, chopped tomatoes and 1 cup of chicken broth and 1/2 cup of white wine {or just 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth if you have no wine}.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add the mussels and cover to steam them until they open.  If any of them fail to open, throw the unopened ones out. 

Top pasta with the mussels and the sauce and sprinkle with cilantro or parsley.  Dig in!

The other thing I made is my husband's favorite cake, Hershey Dark Chocolate Cake.  YUM! The recipe is on the back of the cocoa box but instead of using the boiling water, I used freshly brewed espresso.

Seriously, this is the best chocolate cake ever.  You really only need a small piece.  It is really rich.  My little one was home from school today until his antibiotics kick in.  He was feeling so much better that he wanted to help decorate the cake, so he picked his dad's favorite candy and told me how to put them on the cake.  {I wouldn't let him touch it.... germy little thing!}  Then he picked the candles from my candle stash {blush... yes, I have one}.  This is what he came up with. 

Happy birthday, Sweetie!

Enjoy what is left of Autumn!  I know I will!

Boy Party Ideas - For the Gamer Kids

Boy party ideas are getting harder and harder to come by.  My son is getting older and the boy themes are really too immature for him and his friends, so this year I created a BOY themed party.  Okay, so it wasn't a theme at all.  It was just a party in which I used all kinds of BOY favorites. 

My son wanted a 3DS for his birthday, so I made him 3D 3DS cookies.  As you can see, they are 3D!  They were by no means perfect, but the boys loved them and the disco dust on the screen added a bit of pop to these gamer cookies.  If you would like recipes for the sugar cookies or for the icing, check out this post!  For other cookie decorating ideas, look here.  If you don't feel like making cookies, I realized after they were made that I had cut them about the same size as a graham cracker, so you could actually use two graham crackers for this cookie project! 

I also made some monster pops out of marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and decorated with candy and marshmallows. Boys like monsters, right?  Even 11 year old boys. I found a ring of floral form at the dollar store and wrapped it in crepe paper so I could display the pops.

Next were the Ninjabread Men.  I love these cookie cutters and so do my boys.  I have mentioned before that my boys love ninjas.  They have to be included!

Another gamer favorite it Pokemon and so I made some Pokeball cookies to go in the treat bags.  Simple and fun!  I used red chocolate for the red part and white icing for the white.  They really did turn out well and have two different flavors, so they are a bit like a black-and-white cookie.  I also found these cute little test tubes filled with flavored sugar.  I'm sure the moms appreciated me.  Can you say hyper?!?  I did have each child put pizza toppings on his own grilled pizza and they ate lunch first.  I promise!

I also filled apothocary jars with my son's favorite candies just for some fun color on the "candy bar"...

I asked my son what kind of cake he wanted and he said he wanted "my" chocolate cake with chocolate icing and if I could add some raspberry to that, it would be great, so I made a white chocolate, raspberry ganache for the filling.  Fudgy cake and icing with raspberries.  He loved it.  For the recipe, look on the back of the Hershey Cocoa box!  A great recipe I have been making for years and years.  For the icing on this cake, I used the Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Cocoa. 

You don't need to print it out, but here is the recipe.  It has been on the box forever and for good reason!

http://www.hersheys.com/pure-recipes/184/HERSHEY'S

and here is the delicious icing also from the Hershey's site...

"ESPECIALLY DARK" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter, Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

For the ganache, I used a recipe I found on http://www.cakecentral.com/ and modified it because I had already gotten some frozen raspberries in sugar liquid.

White Chocolate Strawberry ganache

Ingredients

• 1 12 oz. package white chocolate chips
• 6 oz. heavy whipping cream, scalded
• 1 Tbs. of softened butter
• 2 oz. crushed, frozen rasperries in sugar liquid, thawed

Instructions

1. Pour white chips into medium-sized bowl and microwave for 1-3 minutes.  Check after each minute as each microwave varies. 

2.  Heat 8 oz. of heavy whipping cream to a simmer.

3.  Pour cream over melted chips.

4.  Add raspberries.  Stir until creamy.

5.  Place bowl into refrigerator until cooled and thickened (can be placed in freezer if you are in a hurry.)

6. Whip with mixer until thick and fluffy enough to spread between cake layers if necessary…..

You will love this cake if you haven't made it before.  It is a classic!