Dracula's Dentures

It's October, my most favorite month of the year! I love it not just because it's such a welcome respite from a scorching summer, not just because it is one of the most beautiful, colorful months of the year, and not because it's my birthday month, though each of these do stand alone as excellent reasons. No, I love it because of the delightfully fun Halloween treats waiting to be baked.  Turning the colors and harvest of fall into delicious baked goods is such a comforting way to greet the season.  It’s also great fun to whip up something scary.

I will be the first to admit that I’m all thumbs when it comes to the tediously artistic task of decorating cookies, but when my son found these clever cookies on the web I knew that even I could do them.  Here, it is more about assemblage than decorating. The award-winning creation of Lori Fillmore, who took one of the top prizes in the Toll House Spooktacular Baking Activity Contest, these are both easy and fun to put together.  You can find the official recipe on the Nestle website here but I've reproduced it below for the sake of convenience.

 Dracula's Dentures

Ingredients:
1 package (18.25 ounces) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1/2 cup prepared vanilla frosting, tinted red
1 3/4 cups miniature marshmallows
48 slivered almonds

Instructions:
Prepare cookies as directed on package or according to your favorite recipe. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire rack to cool completely. Cut each cookie in half for a total of 48 halves.

Frost the bottoms of all cookie halves with frosting. Place 6 marshmallow teeth around curved perimeter of 24 halves. For additional support, an additional marshmallow can be placed behind the teeth. Top with remaining 24 halves.  Insert two almond slivers in between teeth for fangs. If fangs do not adhere, dip tips into frosting.

This post is linked to:

Seasonal Sunday

On the Menu Monday

Foodie Friday

Sweets for a Saturday

Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

It's cookie baking time, and, as I do every year, have started my holiday baking.  How long this burst of seasonal energy will last is anybody's guess, but I've been hard at it, preparing various holiday tidbits and packaging them for the freezer.  The hope of course is that, come late December, I'll be able to kick back and relax smugly knowing I have a freezer full of soups, casseroles, appetizers and desserts so I'll not have to cook a thing, and am well prepared for anything.  That's the hope, not the reality, but I digress.

Here is my first cookie of the season, an easy recipe of my own creation born of my love for the combination of chocolate and raspberry.

Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 12 oz. package Nestles milk chocolate morsels, divided

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

1 12 oz. jar seedless raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan.

Beat butter in a large mixing bowl until creamy.  Add flour, sugar, and salt, and continue beating until combined (the mixture should be crumbly).  Measure out 2 cups of the mixture and press onto the bottom of the baking pan, covering completely (It helps to flour your hands).  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  Remove from oven and carefully spread half of the jar of raspberry preserves on top, spreading to cover.

Combine 1 cup of the milk chocolate morsels with the can of sweetened condensed milk in a small, heavy-duty saucepan.  Melt over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and pour over the raspberry layer, carefully spreading to cover.

Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the chocolate layer.  Drop remaining raspberry jam by teaspoonfuls over crumb mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining morsels.  Put pan back into the oven and continue baking for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set.  Cool completely on wire rack.  When cool, use a sharp knife around the edge to loosen, and then cut into squares.

Makes 2-3 dozen bars depending upon the size cut.



Hot from the oven.



This post is linked to 12 Weeks of Cookies.