October Bakin' Friends and Happy Halloween!

I was really happy when this month's Bakin' Friends ingredient was revealed to be candy corn! I love that sweet sugary stuff!  I mailed out these homemade Butterfinger and received these delicious sugar cookies from reader Aisha.  I had no idea, but Aisha is expecting a brand new baby in January!!  I loved these sugar cookies!  Each one was garnished with a piece of candy corn!  She used raw turbinado sugar which I think really added that something extra to these cookies.  I have never used it before, but I'm looking forward to trying it!  I wish I had more of these cookies now, but they didn't last long around here!  If you would love to bake and receive some tasty goodies each month head on over to Steph's blog to sign up...it is so easy and worth it!

Are you all dressing up for Halloween?  We always have fun with it at our house. At our old house we never had trick or treaters!  I'm hoping that we'll have lots in our new house..otherwise I'll have a lot of little candy bars to eat!   For the past few years we've been having some of my childhood friends over for a Halloween dinner. We all dress up and stuff ourselves with delicious food.  To honor my love of sweets I decided we should dress up as donuts!  Pretty easy to do with an inner tube and some spray paint...and a husband who is a pro at spray painting.  I made P's costume with a floral wreath and some foam.  She HATED it!  Would not put it on!  We'll see if she'll wear it tonight!  We have a block party with our neighbors and then we'll be celebrating with our family tradition of a jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphy's!  Candy for dessert of course!   Whatever you do, I hope it's fun!

Halloween 2012: Baby Flashdance!

Halloween 2013: Irritated with her mommy!

Peanut butter filled brownies

My friend Becky recently posted a recipe very similar to this on my Facebook page.  She said this recipe made her think of me.  I realized this means one of two things: Becky thinks I am as awesome as peanut butter and chocolate, or as a fellow mother of a toddler, this was Becky's cry for help....she needed chocolate and peanut butter in her life immediately.   I was meeting up with her for our monthly mom's night out, so I hopped in the kitchen.  

With Halloween coming up, I decided to add some fall/Halloween color.  I had some Reese's mini pieces in the cupboard and they were the perfect addition to these brownies.  You can easily sub peanut butter and chocolate baking chips for the Reese's.  These brownies bake up in a muffin tin and you get the perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate in each bite. The peanut butter is just spooned in when the brownies are still a little warm, couldn't be any easier. I had a few extra for Darling Husband to try, he's not the biggest peanut butter fan (say what?), and he loved them!  That's a success in my book!

Peanut butter filled brownies

from Bake or Break

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 Tablespoon water

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 ten ounce bag Reese's mini pieces

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350.  Generously spray muffin tin with cooking spray

In a large microwaveable bowl combine sugar, butter, and water. Microwave for 1 minute or until butter is melted. Stir in 3/4 cup semi sweet chips until melted.  Stir in egg and vanilla. Fold in flour and baking soda, stirring until blended.  Add 1 cup Reese's mini pieces.  Spoon batter by heaping tablespoon into prepared muffin tin.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set, don't bake any longer than 15 minutes.  Place pan on rack to cool.  Centers of brownies should fall upon cooling, but if not, use the back of a spoon to tap the centers. 

Place peanut butter in a small microwave safe bowl.  MIcrowave for 45 seconds.  Spoon peanut butter into the center of each brownie, just enough to fill each to the top.  Sprinkle with more Reese's mini pieces.  Allow to completely cool in pan before removing.

 

I really liked these brownies.  Super easy and tasty. They are perfectly portable, so great to make for people who post a recipe on your Facebook

Homemade Butterfinger

Only three ingredients separate you from homemade Butterfinger.  Honestly, it is so easy. Chocolate.  Peanut Butter.  Candy Corn. (Candy Corn crazy this week) It almost seems too good to be true!  You can trust me. I did it myself and it works!  Melted candy corn mixed with peanut butter and then dipped in chocolate.  Simple and good.

This is not one of those recipes where someone tells you to mix broccoli and whole wheat and quinoa and chocolate and it tastes just like a brownie.  I hate that stuff by the way.  I'm all for eating healthy, but when I want a brownie, I want a brownie, not something that people would like you to believe is a brownie!  These Homemade Butterfingers though?  Not healthy, but pretty believable as a Butterfinger.  Darling Husband was completely skeptical.  I forced him to try it (who has to be convinced to try homemade candy anyway?) and he liked it! I told him the texture was different, slightly different taste..he said "no, tastes just like a Butterfinger."   Ha! Success!!

While this is super easy, here are a few tips:

Have your peanut butter measured and ready to go, makes it easier to stir it in while the candy corn is still warm.  

Use a pizza cutter for cutting.  The mixture is quite thick and I found a pizza cutter worked best.  

Prepare when you have time to dedicate to minding your microwave and melting.  If you have a maniac toddler, this would best be done at nap time...just a suggestion.

Store in the fridge and sneak chilled bites. I bet it would be even better in the freezer.

Homemade Butterfinger

adapted from Siriously Delicious

3 cups candy corn

1 and 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

milk chocolate chips or candy melts for dipping

Prepare an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.

Melt candy corn in large bowl.  Microwave for one minute, stir and continue to melt in 30 second intervals until completely smooth.  Immediately add peanut butter and stir until incorporated.  Pour into prepared pan and smooth with a spatula.  Keep in fridge for about an hour until mixture has hardened.  Remove from pan and cut into squares or bars or whatever shape you like.

Melt chocolate in microwave at 30 second intervals until completely smooth.  Dip Butterfinger pieces in until completely coated. Place pieces on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and drool until chocolate has hardened.

The texture isn't exactly like the real deal, it's slightly softer.  The flavor is right on though.  Now when you see all those bags of candy corn marked down on November 1st you'll have a reason to snatch them up.  You can thank me later.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Candy corn is one of those things.  I really only eat it once a year.  Thing is...I eat enough for the whole year.  I just love it!  I like it eat it in sections, white first, then orange, then yellow.  Oh, and you've mixed it with peanuts right?  Instant PayDay candy bar.  Try it now.

This is a super easy cupcake you can make for your upcoming Halloween party.  Don't worry they don't taste like candy corn....that may be a bit much.  You use a box cake mix and just add food coloring. I used my favorite buttercream, but you can definitely use store bought frosting.  Throw a few candy corn on top and you are set! I was bummed that mine didn't look exactly like candy corn. All of the cupcakes I saw on the Interwebs were perfect!   So here's a less than perfect version to make us all feel better.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

one standard vanilla cake mix

food coloring for yellow and orange (I used Wilton food gel)

vanilla frosting

candy corn for garnish

Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare muffin tin with paper liners, white works best.  Follow instructions for preparing your cupcakes as listed on the box. Divide batter equally among two bowls. Add yellow food coloring to one bowl and orange to the other.  Using a large spoon divide yellow batter evenly among muffin cups.  Tap pan on countertop a few times to even out the batter.  Repeat with orange batter.  Bake according to cake mix instructions. Once cool, frost as desired and garnish with a candy corn.

I was hoping for more definition in my layers, but they sort of blended.  Still a fun look and I think people still get the idea.  I'm willing to keep trying till I get it just right.  This is the perfect treat to whip up last minute.  Honestly took no time to prepare and they look so festive!  Who knew one little candy could make me so happy?