Thursday, October 11, 2012

Halloween recipes for a party




Rum Punchkin:
Makes 2 quarts
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup cranberry juice
1 cup orange juice
1 cup strong tea
1 fifth rum
12 whole cloves
1 pumpkin, hollowed out for serving
Mix all ingredients together. Serve the punch in the pumpkin with ice


Stroganoff Sausage Dip:
1 lb. hot bulk pork sausage
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 lb. mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
Large corn chips
In a large skillet, cook the sausage, crumbling with a fork until well browned. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add onion and mushrooms to fat in skillet and cook rapidly so mushrooms do not give off liquid. Stir often, until onion is golden. Drain fat and return sausage to skillet.
In a small bowl, gradually whisk flour into sour cream. Add milk, Worcestershire, soy sauce and paprika. Whisk to blend well. Add this to meat mixture in skillet. Cook over moderate heat until thickened. Serve immediately with large corn chips.


Tangy Shrimp Spread:
7 ounces salad shrimp, cooked, cleaned, and mashed
1/2 small onion, minced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 (8 oz) pack cream cheese
Blend all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Let stand at room temperature before serving with crackers.
Ginger Chicken Rumaki:
12 ounces boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
12 slices bacon
1 (8 oz) can whole water chestnuts, cut in half
Cut the chicken into 24 bite-size pieces. Combine the marmalade, soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a bowl and mix well. Add the chicken and stir to coat well. Marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, drain. Broil the bacon for 1 to 2 minutes or until partially cooked but not crisp: drain and cut into halves crosswise. Wrap 1 piece of bacon around each chicken piece and a water chestnut half; secure with wooden toothpicks. Broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat source for 3 to 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Veggie Bars:
2 packs (rolls) crescent rolls (refrigerated as in Pillsbury)
2 packs 8 oz cream cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 pack Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Mix
Chopped veggies
Cover baking pan with dough. Use a size to make them fit and push together the seams. If they don’t fit perfectly it’s ok. Bake according to directions on package. Let cool. Combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise and ranch mix. Spread it on the crust. Top with finely chopped veggies such as broccoli, red pepper, green onions, grated carrots, mushrooms, olives, and cauliflower. The more colorful veggies you choose the better this will look. These can be refrigerated then cut into squares to serve.


Cajun Artichoke Balls:
1 6-ounce jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and finely chopped (reserve marinade)
1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, packed in water, drained and finely chopped
2 eggs
1 tablespoon garlic juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 -1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
1 1/2 cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
3 oz grated Parmesan cheese (Can used canned) Yuck!
In a large bowl, beat eggs with reserved marinade and blend with garlic juice, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, and Tabasco. Add artichokes and breadcrumbs. Form little balls and roll each ball in grated cheese. Refrigerate. Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake in a 300 degree preheated oven 7 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately. Can be refrigerated for up to one week.

Spider Cake Recipe


INGREDIENTS

MARBLE CAKE:
  • 2 1/4 (7 1/8 ounces) cups sifted cake flour - sift it into the measuring cup
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 6 tablespoons milk
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
NUTELLA AND CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAMS:
  • 1 cup egg whites (about 8 large egg whites)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 pounds unsalted butter, softened
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup nutella
  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
CHOCOLATE GANACHE FOR SPIDER BODY AND WEB:
  • 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
  • 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
CHOCOLATE SPIDER LEGS:
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
    am together the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix after each, until well combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla.
    Add the dry mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk. Split the batter in half and sift the cocoa powder over one half. Stir gently to combine.
    Place some of the white batter in the bottoms of the two 8-inch cake pans. Add the chocolate batter in blobs. Very carefully stir the white batter into the chocolate, to achieve a marble pattern. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Once baked cool on a rack.
    While the cake is cooling, prepare the buttercream:
    In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the egg whites and sugar. It will be very thick and grainy. Put the bowl over a double boiler and stir it with a rubber spatula until the sugar is completely melted. Brush the sides down with the spatula to make sure all the sugar is melted.
    Feel the egg mixture between your fingers to check for graininess. Once it is completely smooth, put the bowl on the mixer and beat with the whip attachment on medium high speed. Whip until it is light, fluffy, glossy and the bowl feels just about room temperature. If the egg whites are not cooled off sufficiently it will melt the butter when you add it.
    Once the egg whites are whipped and cooled, add the butter, 2 tablespoons at a time on medium speed. WARNING: After you have added about half of the butter, it may look curdled and runny, this is normal and you should continue adding the rest of the butter.
    Once you have finished adding the butter and it has mixed on medium speed for about a minute the buttercream will be creamy and glossy looking again. Add the salt, and vanilla. Divide the buttercream in two bowls, 1/3 in one bowl and 2/3 in the other. Add the nutella to the bowl with 2/3 of the buttercream. Add the cooled, melted chocolate to the other.
    Unmold the cooled cakes and cut each later in half. Spread about 3/4 cup of the chocolate buttercream on the first layer. Repeat with the next two layers of cake and buttercream. Top with the final layer of cake.

    Top the cake with 1 cup of the nutella buttercream. Spread it smooth with a metal spatula. Put more nutella buttercream on the sides of the cake, using enough to cover all the crumbs. Once the whole cake is covered, smooth the icing with the spatula, until it is nice and flat.

    To make the ganache spider web:
    In a double boiler melt the chocolate and the butter together, gently whisking until smooth.
    Use a parchment bag to pipe a thin spiral around the cake. Use a toothpick or skewer to draw lines from the center of the spiral out to the edge to create the web. Use the chocolate ganache to draw a line down the side of the cake and pipe a smaller spiders body there. Repeat with as many spiders as you like.
    Cover the rest of the chocolate ganache and allow it to cool to room temperature. Once the chocolate ganache is set up - this may take an hour or two - place it in a pastry bag fit with a round tip. Pipe a large ball of the ganache to create the spider's body.
    Chocolate spider legs:
    Fill another paper pastry bag about 1/3 full with the melted chocolate and pipe out the chocolate in the shape of the number 7 onto a silpat, waxpaper or parchment paper. Make sure you do a size that will fit the size of the spider body you intend to have. Pipe several extra in case you have breakage. Place the sheet into the freezer to set the chocolate.
    Remove the spider legs from the freezer and using a small spatula, lift up the legs and place them on the spider, 4 on each side. Work quickly so the chocolate doesn't warm up too much. You may have to return the legs to the freezer if you are doing several spiders.