Halloween

So, it’s only two weeks, past Halloween, so just in time for me to post what I made for my Halloween party. Unfortunately I didn’t really get many pictures of what I made, so instead I’m just going to post links to what I made (it all came from other blogs), along with some brief reviews, although in truth it was all good.

Main: Chicken and Chorizo Sliders

These were great. The chorizo and jalapeno added some nice spice, and the chicken was tasty and moist. I cooked these up on my George Foreman, and I didn’t think they took a full 7 minutes a side. I also made the avocado mayo along side, which went nicely. My only problem was that I couldn’t find slider buns, so I had to use regular hamburger buns, with the result that these were a little bready. Of course, I made a double recipe of these, and by the end of the evening they were all eaten, so no one seemed to complain.

Dessert: Cinnabon Caramel Corn

This stuff was a little like popcorn crack. I made one batch with light brown sugar, and regular corn syrup, and another with dark brown sugar and dark corn syrup (this has much more to do with my having run out of the light stuff after the first batch, and not too much with creativity). The molasses flavor was very nice though, and complemented the other flavors nicely. My only other comment was that this took longer to bake than I was expecting, and letting it bake fully is important. The popcorn gets soggy from the addition of caramel, and the baking really is needed to dry it out. That said, this is super easy to make, and totally worth it.

Other Dessert: Chocolate cupcakes

For these I used one of my own recipes, so I’ve recopied it below. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what exactly was in the buttercreams, because I just threw it together. I made it with a pound of butter, probably about the same amount of powdered sugar, and some vanilla. I then divided it into thirds, left some as vanilla (which I added red food coloring to, so I could make brains), added melted chocolate and cocoa powder to another third (to make the monsters), and added orange extract and orange food coloring to the third, to make, well, orange ones. These were great cupcakes, and people really enjoyed the decorations.

makes about 60 mini cupcakes

1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
1/3 + 2 Tbs cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s special dark)
½ cup + 1 Tbs warm water
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
3/8 cup well shaken buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in cocoa powder until mixture is smooth. Add the water and mix until smooth.

2. Remove from heat. One at a time, mix in sugar, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Sift it over the liquids and mix to combine.

4. Use a tablespoon measure to fill the mini-muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

5. Make sure to find a way to keep separate the mint and orange cupcakes, so you don’t swap their frostings.

Best Popcorn Ever

I know that may seem like a boastful name for a blog posting, but this popcorn recipe has earned it. I began making it for my friends a few months ago, and it caught on fast. People liked it so much that I continued getting compliments on it the next day (who gets compliments for popcorn at all, not to mention the next day). The recipe uses some ingredients that might be hard to come by (I don’t know because I’ve never looked for them other than where I get them). The recipe relies on granulated roasted garlic and Vermont cheese powder. The two ingredients together really give this popcorn some zing. Truthfully, there is no particular recipe for this, you just add the spices until it tastes right. However, I’ve done my best to reproduce it below.

Garlic-Cheddar Popcorn

Canola Oil
2/3 Cup unpoped popcorn kernels
~7 Tbls Vermont Cheese Powder
~5 tbs Granulated Roasted Garlic (you can use garlic powder in its place, but the roasted is better)
~ 1 ½ tbs chili powder
4 Tbs melted butter (optional)

1. Pour enough canola oil into a large pot to coat the bottom. Place over medium high heat with 3-4 kernels in the pan. Heat, covered, until the kernels pop, then add the rest of the popcorn, and reduce the heat the medium. Make sure to recover, and wait for all of the kernels to pop, agitating the pan occasionally. Note, if you prefer air popped or microwave popped popcorn instead, do that.

2. Once all the kernels have popped, remove the pan from the heat. Add the butter at this point if you’re going to use it, it will help the spices stick to the popcorn. Add about half the cheese powder, granulated garlic, and chili powder, and mix the popcorn. Add the other half of the spices and mix again.

3. Pour into a bowl or serve right out of the pot, and enjoy.