Happy Halloween! (A little late)

Witch Hat Cookies (Oreos and Hershey's Kisses)

Pumpkin Cakes (Whoopie Pie recipe)

Mummy Wrapped Hotdogs

Cheese Wreath

It was my turn to host Game Night with my group of "bookish" library friends, and All Hallow's Eve was approaching fast. Why not make it a Halloween party? Snacks would need to be provided regardless, and I'm not ashamed to say I loved the idea of becoming a hostess in a princess gown. Everything on the menu had to be seasonal, of course. Which meant primarily "fall," "pumpkin" and just a little "creepy cute." With Fright Bites Halloween tortilla chips, Witch Hat Cookies (made just by "pasting" a Hershey's Kiss to the bottom half of an Oreo cookie with a dab of orange frosting) and Mummy Hotdogs (wrap turkey or beef hotdogs with strips of cut Pillsbury Crescent roll dough and bake about 12 minutes at 375 degrees) my "creepy cute" theme was complete. I displayed a wreath of cheese slices cut with leaf-shaped cookie cutters for the "fall" part of the theme as well. And as for pumpkin (my favorite, favorite, favorite), check out the recipes below:

Pumpkin Cakes (I found the recipe for this one on the back of a Whoopie Pie pan given to me for my birthday by one of my awesome coworkers--the perfect gift!  I adjusted the recipe just slightly because I didn't end up making the filling)

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
4 Tablespoons softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup buttermilk

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray your pan with nonstick cooking spray. Then in a bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cloves.

2.) In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it's fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

3.) Fill the pan about 1/2 full, spreading the batter so it fills each cavity. Bake about 7-9 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool in the pan about five minutes before removing.


Pumpkin Dip (a new recipe compared to the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip of last year. I found this one on the Taste of Home website, but adapted it and used store-bought Stacy's Pita Chips: Simple Gingerbread instead of their "black cat dippers." Incidentally, gingerbread pita chips are AWESOME).

Ingredients:

16 ounces cream cheese (I used two 8 ounce packages of a reduced fat cream cheese)
1 can pumpkin (15 ounces)
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

1.) In a bowl, beat the cream cheese until it's fluffy. Then add in the pumpkin, sugar, spice, and maple syrup.

2). Continue to beat until the mixture is smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For this dip I ended up doubling the amount of cream cheese and replacing the original Taste of Home recipe's honey with maple syrup to keep in the flavors of fall. I think it worked quite nicely whether you dipped pita chips, apple slices, or simply ate it with a spoon. Which I wouldn't dare do...while anyone was looking....

All in all, I'd have to say Halloween was a success! Though I didn't have time to make my favorite Caramel Apples for the party, I was able to make them the actual night before Halloween for some of my coworkers--thus even those not at Game Night (my parents only allow so many people over to our house at a time) could share in the deliciousness of October treats.

And with October over at last, it was time to start thinking about the hostess duties that come with entertaining for my family at Thanksgiving....