Thanksgiving Treats

Hi --

I was planning on doing a blog post on Monday, but I have been way busy and got a little behind.  I had a million ideas for this blog post, but I will keep most of them secret for now.  Since it is so close to Thanksgiving, I decided maybe some treat ideas would be pretty good.  And also, this is the perfect blog post for me to announce the winners for our latest contest!

First, I will share a few treats with you.  (I found them on the internet -- baking may not have my best interest.  Seriously, all I can make is mac and cheese and cookies and cakes -- nothing else.)

What you'll need

• Cookies (ours were about 2 1/2 inches in diameter)
• White frosting
• Assorted sugar wafers (ours were about 2 1/2 inches long)
• Candy corn
• Mini chocolate chips
• Bran cereal (we used Kellogg's All-Bran Extra Fiber)
• Chocolate sprinkles

How to make it

1. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Frost the top of each cookie.
2. 
   Cut a sugar wafer in half. Add a dollop of frosting to the top edge of the cookie and stick a wafer half to it for a hat top, as shown.  Place a whole sugar wafer just below the hat top for a brim. Use a little more frosting to decorate it with slices of candy corn or mini chocolate chips.  Press pieces of bran cereal hair into the frosting around the hat.

What you'll need

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• A pinch of ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup light cream
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup solidly packed pumpkin mash or canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup

How to make it

Heat the oven to 300º F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sugar, yolks, vanilla extract, spices, and salt. Set the mixture aside.

In a medium-size saucepan, whisk together the light and heavy creams, pumpkin, and maple syrup, then bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Do not let the mixture boil.

Remove the pan from the heat once the pumpkin mixture is hot, about 5 minutes. Add it by the ladleful to the yolk mixture, stirring continuously. Don't pour it all in at once or it will cook the yolks too quickly.

Once the mixtures are blended, divide the custard evenly among 6 standard custard cups. Pour 3/4 inch of hot water into a large, shallow casserole dish, then arrange the cups, evenly spaced, in the dish. Bake the custards, uncovered, on the center oven rack until their centers are jiggly but no longer soupy, about 45 to 50 minutes. Carefully transfer the cups to a wire rack to cool.

When the custards reach room temperature, cover the dishes individually with plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 6 hours. Makes 6 servings.

(also, all recipes and pictures posted today belong to spoonful.com.  All recipes and photos are property of spoonful.com, thanks and enjoy. :D)

CONTEST WINNER

Congrats to Ava P. who won the "Falling for Fall" giveaway!  Ava won an Indian necklace.  

I really hope you enjoy the sweet treats and tell me what you think of them.  

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Maddie

P.S.  I am going to have a super-fun contest next month before Christmas!  (hint:  anyone love nail polish?)