Pumpkin Carving

 

I decided against baking for my company's Halloween Bake-Off today, and decided to carve pumpkins instead! I don't particularly enjoy being judged on my baking abilities, so I'd prefer to bake on my own time and bring in treats when I feel like it! The mummies and the ghosts I made over the past two weeks turned out pretty well, but wouldn't win the competition, so I'd rather save my time to get other things done, like running on this beautiful (?) October day. The streets are pretty wet/slushy after last night's snow storm, but I can't run after work any more as the sun is setting around 5 45, and getting earlier every day. Dave semi-helped with the carving...he was mostly there for moral support. I don't think I've carved a pumpkin since before high school, so I'm glad I finally got this done this year!

Ghost Meringues

Second attempt at a recipe for the Halloween Bake Off. These guys were (again) quite tedious to make, but so adorable!! I may make some of these again next weekend if I have the time. They taste just like regular, vanilla meringues. Only problem is that it's VERY hard to fill a pastry bag with meringue dough. It doesn't fall down into the bag with gravity like regular dough. Needless to say, I made a huge mess in my kitchen last night. Oh well.

These took about an hour and a half to dry out - I then left them in the oven overnight (with the oven off) as suggested in the recipe. They are now a little bit sticky, so I wouldn't suggest doing this. But, I would suggest making these for Halloween, if you have the time to deal with a pastry bag and lots of mini chocolate chips!


Original recipe here

Mummies!

In honor of my company's annual Halloween baking competition, I started practicing some halloween-y recipes. This is to make up for last year, where the "halloween-y-ness" of my creation was missed (it was a "surprise" in the middle of the cookie). I received full points for taste, but zero points for halloween-y-ness.

So, this was my first attempt at a new recipe for this year. These little guys are a bit tedious to make, and it's hard to make a perfect mummy. I may try this again next weekend for the competition, unless I find something else better. I used the dough that comes in a tube for Pillsbury Crescent rolls, which may not have been the best option. It's a little hard to roll out and shape, since it is supposed to be rolled out into a triangle. Also, I'm not convinced that I'll get top points for taste - these are certainly good (anything with Nutella in it is great in my book), but I wasn't blown away with the flavors. Anyway, this was a first try...I also made ghost meringues, which will be posted next!


See here for mummy-making instructions