Happy Halloween!

Wishing you a safe and happy Halloween! 

Sallee Shares: Easy, Last Minute Halloween Treats

       

Wow! Halloween is tomorrow! You have lost track of time and do not have any treats ready for your children's Halloween parties at school. Here are three websites/blogs that have amazing, budget-friendly treats for you to make for your children.

• Smart School House       Quick and Easy Halloween Party Treats 
• Look Me Pretty                Easiest Halloween Treats
• Princess Pinky Girl          EASY Classroom Party Treats

Stars and Swirls Cupcakes

No, it isn't July in October. These cupcakes were made for an after school family night activity. The activity theme was the Statue of Liberty. I volunteered to bring patriotic, red, white, and blue cupcakes to accompany the Liberty Punch that was being served.

The Cupcakes
Ingredients

• 3 boxes of vanilla cake mix - yield 6 dozen cupcakes
• Red, blue, and yellow Wilton cupcake liners
• Canola oil
• Eggs
• Water

Directions

• Substitute unsweetened applesauce for half of the oil.
• Follow box directions to bake the cupcakes.
• Cool the cupcakes completely

Stars

• Use the recipe below and make rolled butter cream fondant. 
• Using gel food coloring, tint half of the fondant blue and the other half red.
• Roll out the fondant and cut out stars.

rolled butter cream fondant

Silky Smooth Ivory Butter Cream Frosting
Yield: frosting to decorate 5 dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients
2 sticks of salted butter
1/2 cup of vegetable shortening
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1-2 tsp. lemon juice, bottled
1/4 to 1/2 cup of water
2 lb. bag of confectioners sugar

Directions

• Place butter and vegetable shortening into a mixing bowl.
• Using an electric mixer on low speed, cream the butter and vegetable shortening together for 2-3 minutes until light colored and creamy.
• Add about 1/4 of the confectioners sugar.
• Beat with the mixer on low speed until well blended.
• Add another 1/3 of the remaining confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Continue to mix at low speed until the frosting is well blended. 
• Add 1/4 cup water and half of the remaining confectioners sugar.
• Beat until well blended.
• Add remaining confectioners sugar. 
• Continue to mix with the electric mixer on low speed. Add remaining water 1 Tbsp at a time until the frosting is the desired consistency for decorating. 
• If coloring the frosting, add food coloring now.
• Blend food coloring into the frosting until the desired color is achieved.
• Icing may be thinned slightly, but this is decorating icing and it should pipe easily from the bag and hold its shape well.
• Put a 1M tip into a pastry bag, fill with frosting, and pipe onto cupcakes. Begin on the outside edge of the cupcake and circle inward. End with the pastry bag perpendicular to the center of the cupcake and end with a star.

This is my favorite butter cream frosting to use for piping through a bag.

Small Batch Variation

 Ingredients
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup of vegetable shortening
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup of water
1 lb. of confectioners sugar

Follow the same directions as the large batch recipe. 

Busy Night Yogurt Flatbread

Hectic days and busy evenings have me searching for quick and simple recipes. 

Yogurt flatbread is made with five basics from my pantry.

1. AP flour (all purpose)

2. baking soda

3. salt

4. plain yogurt

5. canola oil 

This recipe is an official, pantry style recipe that makes eight rounds of flatbread. The flatbread rounds are then divided into thirds. Three times eight is.... twenty-four! That's right, twenty-four pieces of golden brown, crisp edged, homemade happiness on a plate!

Serve with hummus dip, marinara sauce, butter, jam, or use a whole round for pizza!

Better yet, in my opinion, is brushing the dough with melted garlic butter, sprinkle with mozzarella,or provel cheese, and bake until the cheese is bubbly.

Okay, I have to stop writing now because I am about to have a cheesy bread craving.

Ingredients

• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt Use a dry measuring cup
• warm water
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place 1/3 cup of plain yogurt into a one cup liquid measuring cup. 
• Add warm water to measure 3/4 of a cup. 
• Stir until well blended.
• Pour vegetable oil on top of the yogurt water until the cup level is at 1 cup. Set aside.
• Place all of the dry ingredients into a one quart bowl.
• Add the yogurt water and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients.
• Stir with large spoon until the ingredients begin to form a ball a dough.
• Knead the dough for about 30 to 60 seconds. 

• The dough should feel slightly elastic and smooth.
• Divide dough into eight equal balls and place back into bowl. 
• Cover the bowl with a towel.

• Place a ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface.
• Flatten by hand into a round or oval shape.
• Roll with a roller to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. 
• Place the round on an ungreased baking sheet.

Rolled flatbread ready to have lines traced into each round, dividing them into thirds

• 
  Continue this procedure with each ball of dough.
• Lightly mark each flatbread into thirds with a knife. Do not cut through the dough, just trace light lines so the bread can be easily divided after baking. 

Baked flatbread showing the lightly marked dividing lines.

• 
  Place baking sheet(s) into the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the flatbreads are golden brown. See picture. 

Yield: 8 flatbread rounds or 24 pieces of flatbread

SalleeShares: Hectic Week

My week has been hectic and filled with job activities, family activities, and a trip to the doctor. Yes, I have been on medicine for a week. Still not recovered, but hopeful that will be soon.

I will be posting next week. Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Hope all of you are healthy and feeling well. May God bless you and yours.

SalleeB