Halloween Party

One of my best friends hosted her 2nd annual Halloween party this year. Even though I hate scary movies - I LOVE Halloween! So of course I wanted to help with food (the dessert portion of course). On the menu were: whoopie pies, peanut butter and chocolate rice crispy treats and toasted coconut rice crispy treats, and cupcakes. I also put together some decor since I did win some Halloween printables from Love the Day. Here is the result.... Warning: scary picture of me at the end!

Mwahahaha... I was a zombie baker! I'm cooking up some brains in that pic (aka: cauliflower with fake blood from the party store). I hope I did not scare you too much! I did win scariest costume at the party though. Thank you Allie for letting us have the party at your house again this year and thank you Love the Day for my awesome Halloween banner and water bottle labels! Now that it's November, time to get ready for the holidays!

The "new" cupcake?

Yesterday I decided to buy myself a new cookbook. I usually scour the internet for recipes to try, but I figured I would like to add a new book to my very limited collection. I get overwhelmed at the book store - SO many cookbooks I would love to have. I ended up with Making Whoopies: THe Official Whoopie Pie Book. I have been wanting to make these for awhile. Word on the street is that the whoopie pie is the new cupcake? Who knows! But they are fun and really easy to make. My first encounter with a whoopie pie was in elementary school. I was a Brownie girl scout and every week someone brought a snack. This one girl would always bring these whoopie pies. I think that may have been the last time I really had a whoopie pie actually. Fast forward to today, there are all kinds of whoopie pie concoctions - red velvet, pumpkin, to jalepeño corn bread. I decided my first ones should be the traditional whoopie. There is a great debate as to whether the filling should be made with vegetable shortening or marshmallow fluff. I try to use as little shortening as possible when I cook anything and I prefer the marshmallow myself - just seems more "natural" ;-) Oh and I also swapped the vegetable oil with canola for the cake part as well. Hey, every little bit counts right? They came out perfect! I made mini pies (I love mini anything - mini eclairs, mini 8oz. coca cola in the can, mini cupcakes... I think you got the idea!). Just use a cookie scoop to drop the dough evenly on the cookie sheet. After they cool and you put them together, you can make them a little more funky with sprinkles or dip them in chocolate ganache. And now that it is October, I think they would be a fun treat for any Halloween party.

Whatcha think? Fun huh?