Easy No Fuss Halloween Cupcakes-GF/CF

Peeps make the perfect Halloween cupcake toppers. A generous amount of frosting will keep your peeps standing upright. I made these for the first time last year with the ghosts after seeing some adorable ghost cupcakes made out of marshmallows covered in frosting. I even posted about them on my personal blog. Then I got a brilliant idea to just use peeps. No muss no fuss and they were thoroughly enjoyed.

When you pull the pumpkin peeps apart there is always a sticky edge. You can take care of this by pressing the exposed marshmallow in orange colored sugar crystals. You don’t have to do anything with the ghost peeps since they aren’t connected in the same way.

When I bought my peeps today I noticed that they also had “black” cats as well. If you have a few dozen cupcakes to make up for a Halloween party why not just top them with peeps and fun sprinkles? Even if you don’t have a party to make them for your children will no doubt love them as a special treat. They will enjoy helping you frost the cupcakes and decorating them with peeps and sprinkles.

Happy Halloween

Katrina

Technorati Tags: Halloween,cupcakes,Peeps,decoration

Easy Chocolate Halloween Lollypops

I can’t take credit for coming up with this idea. Other than I decided to do bats and cats because they are usually black and I am using Gluten and dairy free dark chocolate they are the brain child of my Mother-in-law.

Either one of these products are a good choice. I have used them both and like them equally. If you are looking for Mini Chocolate chips use Enjoy life’s. Tropical Source’s chips are regular sized.

My crafty sister-in-law Rebecca posted about this on our craft blog. I am simply sharing my take on her project which she got from Mom making them many years ago. You can go HERE to see her post and the tutorial and for a ghost template. Mostly I am just sharing with my friends and family what Hobbs and I did together today. Calvin stopped by to supervise and give suggestions. ;)

Hobbs helped me make the bats. I outlined the shapes from templates I printed out and added chocolate to the centers. Hobbs used the lollypop sticks to spread the chocolate around. I brought out some candy shapes and Calvin said that I should put a bone in the cat’s mouth. I decided to place it like it is a bow with a skull below like a name tag. I didn’t have just round shapes so I used skulls for the bat’s eyes. Instead they look more like big ol’ teeth or something. ;) Ah well they taste just as good. The candies actually have a citrus/fruity taste to them so they go really nicely with the flavor of the chocolate.

What I like about them is that unlike candy molds that make really thick chocolate lollypops these don’t use all that much chocolate for each one. Just enough to satisfy a chocolate craving. Also you can make a ton out of just one bag of chocolate. These can easily be adapted with other shapes for other Holidays as well. Just think Turkeys with Candy Corn tails (be sure to check the label Brocks is MFG on equipment that isn't dedicated), reindeer, hearts with conversation hearts in the middle, a pot of gold.... the list could go on and on. How great would these be with crushed up candy canes mixed in?

Thanks Rebecca for the great idea. The boys LOVED them!

Katrina

Technorati Tags: chocolate,gluten free,dairy free,soy free,nut free,lollypops,suckers,Halloween,kids crafts,allergy friendly

Trick-or-Treating, Food Allergies and Autism

First of all I want you to know that there is no wrong answer as to whether or not your child with food allergies or Autism should or should not trick-or-treat. I am simply sharing what we do. My hope is that this will help those that are new to the worlds of food allergies and autism.

We trick or treat. My boys LOVE Halloween and everything that goes with it. Neither one can have any dairy. My Autistic son can’t have any gluten either.

Regarding food allergies: Because I don’t want my children to be with out great memories of the holidays, we trick-or-treat. What I do is I make sure that I have a stash of candy my boys can have. I usually let them have a piece or two before trick-or-treating and take at least one piece with me. This way they will be less tempted to eat any of the candy they get before we get home. In general we don’t worry about what is being given out. We go just for the fun and experience of trick-or-treating. When we get home, I take their bags before they even have a chance to look in them. At this point they usually want to eat some candy so we give them candy that we have stashed for them. I sort through their bags and remove the candy that they can’t have. Usually I end up removing about 90% of my son’s candy. Never fear my stash contains all of his favorites. I generally pick a few of the “bad” candies for myself and send the rest to work with my husband the next day.

Regarding Autism and the Holidays: Permit me to give a little bit of background. My oldest son is Autistic and has been on a gluten and dairy free diet since he was 3. He is now 7 1/2. He didn’t always get Halloween and he didn’t always like everything that went along with it. Any holiday or family gatherings back then were hard on him and us. However, we like doing things for the holidays with family. We enjoy decorating the house and all the trimmings that go along with holidays and family. Luckily both sides of our family are very supportive. Over the years I have watched my son grow from a boy that hated large gatherings to a boy who now chooses to participate most of the time. Little by little he has overcome some of his issues and sensitivities and come to seek and look forward to holidays and large gatherings.

I do as much as I can to prepare my son for what to expect for certain events. Halloween for example, I would check out Halloween stories starting some time in September and read them to my boys. I choose all kinds of Halloween books from silly stories to some that are more factual. Books that talk about pumpkins and picking pumpkins were always in the mix. By reading him stories about parties and pumpkin picking and trick-or-treating I was preparing him for what to expect. It wasn’t long before he got excited about going trick-or-treating. I used those books like social stories for my son. I did the same thing with other holidays. I still do but now it is mostly out of habit.

My advice is to not give up. Introduce your child to events a little at a time. Full immersion all at once isn’t going to go well. While starting out, forgo holiday parties….for now. There is a lot of excitement that leads up to any holiday and that alone can be overwhelming. Instead focus on smaller events like pumpkin picking. Have your own little holiday party with only your own family or 1 your very best friends. Keep it small and keep it simple. Party games and crafts are usually too much for my son to participate in so I let him know that he can join if he wants to. I also let him know that he can go find a quiet place if he needs it. My son has always been able to seek out a room or go out into the backyard during parties. It is very helpful and has allowed him to choose how much he wants to participate. Over the years he has chosen to spend more time at the actual party and less time off on his own. I believe that exposure is key. Allow your child to experience things and understand that if things get to be too much, even when they have a quiet place, you may have to leave. It is ok. There have been many times when we didn’t have the option of leaving a holiday gathering. Generally we offer something to redirect his focus. Something he loved enough that he could focus through his inner turmoil and redirect his attention. Another thing we have done is go for a walk to allow him to relax.

Katrina

Technorati Tags: food allergies,trick-or-treating,Halloween,Holiday

Marshmallows!

I made these as part of my Valentine's Day gifts to my husband and two boys along with the peanut butter cups. They love marshmallows. My sister-in-laws have a crafty blog with the recipe http://www.rootsandwingsco.blogspot.com/ in the 14 day's of Valentine's posts. Check it out to see what they did.

To make it easy here is the recipe:

Marshmallows Recipe

3 envelopes of Knox gelatin (oops I used 4 and they came out great, not sure how this would change the outcome, mine were very creamy)

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cups corn syrup

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar for dredging* see what I used below

In the bowl of an electric mixer (preferably a stand mixer), sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for 10 minutes. Combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute. Pour boiling syrup into gelatin and mix at high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, line a sheet pan with foil and brush with oil or non-stick spray. Also brush your spatula with oil.

Add vanilla and incorporate into mixture.

Scrape the marshmallow mixture into the lined sheet pan and spread evenly. Cover with another piece of foil brushed with oil. Let mixture sit for a few hours. Remove from pan, dredge the marshmallow slab with confectioners’ sugar and cut into equal pieces with a chef’s knife. Be sure to coat your knife between each cut with confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar) to make it easier to cut. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in powdered sugar or dip in chocolate.

*Instead of just plain powdered sugar I used Vanilla Frosting mix by Cherrybrook Kitchen and it is all natural, Gluten and Dairy free. http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/. It is basically powdered sugar, vanilla and sea salt. If you have powdered vanilla you could make your own. The nice thing is that it added a bit more vanilla flavor, which added a nice touch. My sister-in-laws said that theirs came out a bit more bland than they would have liked. I found mine to be quite tasty and not bland at all. I also used my home-made vanilla for this. My sister-in-law also used her home-made vanilla but mine has a touch of dark rum in it which adds a bit of sweetness to it.

You could coat them with crushed candy canes or any other favorite crushable candies. Just put them in the blender or food processer and make them into a powder. These are quite sticky and need to be coated with something so they are easier to handle and don't stick together.

Happy Valentines Day Peanut Butter Cups

I opened one up just for you! MMMMMMmmmmmm......... I like them! They are a little different than traditional Reeses Peanut Butter cups in that they are essentially dark chocolate. I didnt' bother trying to sweeten up the chocolate chips. I only made 12 and the peanut butter filling could easily have made many more. Since I only have 12 heart cups I decided to stop there for now. Just happens that I didn't melt the whole bag of chocolate and had just enough for these. Since I like to consume anything chocolate I feel this is plenty for our little family.

I bought some silicone baking cups in the shape of hearts. You can find them in both the regular muffin size and the mini muffin size. Especially during February. Wait just a little longer and they will be on sale. I wanted to make something special for my guys. My husband and both of my children are unable to have dairy. My oldest son is unable to tolerate gluten of any kind. So buying chocolates off the shelf is out.

There are so many wonderful foods out there that he can't have and I don't want him to miss out. So I hunt up recipes and if I can't find exactly what I am looking for I will modify what I do find. In this case I only have to get the right kind of chocolate chips. This recipe called for milk chocolate but since "milk" is out of the question we will settle for dark chocolate peanut butter cups. My son has been on a gluten and dairy free diet most of his life and thankfully does not really remember a time when he ate what ever he wanted. He learned at an early age that some foods are out because we explained that it would hurt is tummy. That is how we explained it to our then 3 year old. He is now 7 and it does not so much cramp him up like it use to but he knows he can't have it anyway. These days he does not feel the cramping in his stomach that makes him cry and scream all night (what use to happen if he ate even a little bit of gluten or dairy). Now it just manifests itself as cranky, angry, uncooperative, hyper sensitive, and really makes his Autism more evident. People don't normally understand what I mean by this until they witness it for themselves. Any amount of dairy means 3 bad days. Any amount of gluten means up to a week or more of bad behaviors. You could say it makes life hard on him and us. Anyway, back to the recipe I promised you.

You will need:
Chocolate 1 bag of gluten dairy free chips (scroll down and see some I have found)
1 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

I need to note that I got this off of foodnetwork.com

There are many recipes out there but I found this to be the simplest and most straight forward. Some of the others had ingredients that needed to be substituted.

To temper the chocolate:place in a bowl over barely simmering water to melt. Bring the chocolate up to 113 degrees F. Turn off the heat, removed the bowl from the simmering water and let cool. Stirring until it reaches 82 to 86 degrees f. It will begin to set a little around the edges at this point. Return the bowl to the hot )now turned off) water for a few seconds at a time. Until it reaches 88 to 91 degrees F. Do not let it go over 91 degrees or it will go out of temper.

Pour melted chocolate in a candy mold with individual fluted cups to coat the insides. Pour the excess chocolate back into the bowl and let set or chill to set.

Meanwhile, mix the peanut butter and confectioner's sugar. Using a small spoon or pastry bag with a large plain tip fill each chocolate cup with the peanut butter filling leaving room for a chocolate seal and chill slightly.

Using a paper cone or pastry bag filled with melted chocolate, fill in the surface of the cups to enclose the filling with chocolate. Let set, then turn out of the mold.

I wanted to get this recipe up. I will post pictures since I plan to make some today.


Here are some choices I have found for chocolate chips that are gluten and dairy free. If you have trouble finding them at a store near you, then you can find them at http://www.glutenfreegrocer.com/.

Gluten, Soy and Dairy free Chocolate Chips

Enjoy life makes gluten,soy and dairy free Chocolate chips on a dedicated line. www.enjoylifefoods.com

Chocolate chips

Since I just got through telling you how we made truffles, I thought I would add the chocolate chips we use. For the truffles, I couldn't find this chocolate so we used another type that came in a bar. Sorry I can't remember the brand on that one. Though I have to say I am loyal to any company that goes to the trouble of stating their items are gluten and dairy free. It is reassuring and I am grateful to see those four little words. I often worry about ingredients that could come from a gluten or dairy source. Even though the law is now that they have to state in plain words if it comes from Dairy or Wheat.

Holiday Chocolate Truffles

One year while visiting my parents for Christmas we decided to make chocolate truffles. My brother had found a recipe and wanted to try them out. Since my son LOVES chocolate I decided to make some gluten and dairy free. The trick was to find chocolate that is dairy free. Generally you have to go to a health food store to find chocolate chips or bars that are 100% dairy free, not manufactured on equipment that processes dairy or wheat for that matter. They were very yummy and there wasn't much difference between the dairy free ones and the ones made with cream. The chocolate with the hint of orange and the Grand Marnier is the over riding flavor. I like truffles with the smooth, creamy texture of the ganache in the middle. My brother gave some away to friends. Which was a good thing because we had tons. A week at my parents and I am sure to gain at least 5 pounds so 3 dozen truffles is not something I need hanging around waiting for me to work my way through.

Here is what I came up with. You can prepare them two ways. Read though instructions to decided which way you want to make them. I like the first chocolate mold method personally. Make some of both.

For Ganache
8 ounces Dark Semisweet Chocolate (for the ganache)
1/3 cup Tofutti Better than cream cheese
1/3 cup Vanilla Soy Milk
1 orange peel, zested
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier

8 to 12 ounces Dark Semisweet Chocolate (the amount you will need depends on the size of your molds and how thickly you line them with the chocolate.)

Chop 8 ounces of the dark chocolate and place in a heat-resistant bowl and set aside.

Blend cream cheese and soy milk till smooth. Add orange peel and bring to a boil in a small sauce pan. Pour cream cheese, soy milk and orange mixture over chocolate and let it sit for a couple of minutes until the chocolate is soft. Gently whisk together, do not beat it. Start in the center and work out until smooth. Add Grand Marnier and stir to blend. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until chocolate ganache is thick enough to hold its shape. This will take about 2 hours.

I bought some holiday chocolate molds. So that my truffles looked like little packages. Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Use a new clean paintbrush to brush the inside of the chocolate molds with chocolate. You want to create a shell. Make sure to try to get an even layer. Use the brush to make sure to get the chocolate into all the details of the mold so you don't end up with air bubbles. If you have more than one set of molds this will go faster. Let the chocolate harden.

Place ganache in a pastry bag with a 3/8" tip or a zip lock bag with one corner cut off to make a 3/8" opening. Pipe ganache into the chocolate molds you coated with chocolate. Fill the molds most of the way. You will need to leave room to cover with chocolate.

Cover ganache with chocolate and let cool. Once they have cooled and hardened pop out of molds. Enjoy, if you have some left, store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Another method for chocolate truffles is: (I think this is best made with a friend. One to coat the ganache in chocolate and one to coat with cocoa powder. My brother and I had fun making these together.)

You will need:
3 ounces Dark Semisweet Chocolate
2/3 cup Cocoa Powder (if you plan to not use molds)gloves and parchment or waxed paper

Instead of filling chocolate shells with the ganache you can pipe the ganache into mounds about 3/4" high and 3/4" wide on parchment paper (or wax paper) lined baking sheets. Refrigerate sheets until ganache is firm, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 3 more ounces of chocolate and put cocoa powder in another small bowl. Put on surgical gloves and spoon melted chocolate into palm of one hand, then carefully place each truffle in your palm and rotate to coat. Place chocolate-coated truffles in bowl of cocoa powder and gently toss with a fork to lightly coat. Place truffles in an airtight container and store at room temperature.

This yields about 3 dozen truffles.