Baker's Dozen: A Batch of Halloween Links!

Happy Halloween!

A cultural history of candy. (Smithsonian Magazine)

What does Mellowcreme pumpkin think of Candy Corn? Find out here. (CakeSpy)

A brief history of candy corn. (CakeSpy)

The history of the jack o' lantern. (History.com)

Meringue skulls! (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

America is addicted to PSL. Hilarious audio file! (Bob & Tom)

Pairing wine with Halloween candy. (Neatorama)

Happy Challah-ween! A Jewish tradition meets Halloween candy. (Tablet Magazine)

Fun infographic of pumpkin facts. (Sparefoot blog)

Cute pug Halloween costumes. You're welcome. (BuzzFeed)

Use up your leftover halloween candy like this. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

Pan de Muerto is a classic day after Halloween treat, for Day of the Dead. Why not try Frida Kahlo's recipe? (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

What's the best Halloween candy? (ET Online)

What kind of Halloween candy do you give out and what does it say about you? (Post Grad Problems)

Book of the week: Sweet Treats for the Holidays: Edible Creations for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and More. I will be talking a lot more about this adorable book, but for right now: BUY IT.

Trick or Sweet: 33 Amazing Halloween Recipes

Halloween is all about sweets, right? And costumes, I guess. But I am most concerned about the sweets.

Here is a collection of 33 (cos that's how old I am this year) Halloween recipes that are bound to make it a year of trick or SWEET for sure!

1. Mega fun-size candy bar.

What happens when you melt together a bunch of fun-size candy bars to make a mega mass of chocolatey goodness? Find out here. (CakeSpy)

2. Candy corn pecan pie.

What could make pecan pie even sweeter? How 'bout a nice serving of candy corn? (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

3. Frankenstein monkey bread.

Monkey bread gets Halloween-ified with this spooky treatment. (Pillsbury)

4. Candy corn cookie cake.

It looks like a pie, but this spy knows the truth: it's a cookie coated with candy corn! (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)

5. Candy corn cookies.

This clever adaptation of Kaleidoscope cookies is sweet and cute. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

6. Homemade mellowcreme pumpkins.

Because the homemade version blows store-bought out of the water! (CakeSpy for Craftsy)

7. Candy corn boston cream pie. 

Even fancy desserts like to play dress-up on Halloween. (CakeSpy)

8. Cake baked in a pumpkin.

Are you still eating cakes baked in pans? Not this month, sucker! Make yours in a pumpkin for Halloween. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

9. Microwaved halloween candy.

How do different treats fare when put in the microwave at high power? (CakeSpy)

10. Glow in the dark buttercream.

Illuminate your treats--um, literally. (CakeSpy for Craftsy)

11. Pumpkin bread.

Plain and simple. In case you like more wholesome treats, no tricks. (CakeSpy)

12. Homemade candy corn.

An awesome DIY version of everyone's favorite Halloween tricolor triangles! (Shauna Sever via CakeSpy!)

13. Creamy Candy Bar Sauce.

It's just such a good idea. (the Kitchn)

14. Candy corn Nanimo bars.

Nanaimo bars like to get dressed up for Halloween, too! (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

15. Zombie graveyard cake.

Make a ghoulish cake for people, not zombies! No brains included in the ingredients. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

16. Deep fried halloween candy. 

Take Halloween candy...and deep-fry it. Like, whoa. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

17. Homemade halloween oreos.

They have orange filling = instant Halloween! (Smells Like Home)

18. Scaredy-cat brownies.

Oreos become cute cats on this adorable brownie presentation. (Martha Stewart)

19. Candy corn and spider web cake pops.

She's the queen of cute cake pops, and these ones are a good example of just why she's considered royalty. (Bakerella)

20. Creamed candy corn.

Yes, I went there. You'll like it more than you think you will, I promise. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

21. Candy corn milk.

If creamed candy corn is too thick, perhaps you will like the easy drinking quality of candy corn infused milk.(CakeSpy)

22. Candy corn cupcakes.

These are just adorable: tricolor delights of cake! (Chocolate Moosey)

23. Glittery pumpkin cupcakes.

Add a little glitz and plenty adorableness to a Halloween party with these dazzling cupcakes. (Real Simple)

24. Candy corn tuxedo cake.

I don't know if I can express how worthy this is of clicking over to see. It's truly stunning. --> (Sprinkle Bakes)

25. Pumpkin Pie Milkshake.

I say it's appropriate through all of the pumpkin holidays: Halloween thru Thanksgiving. (CakeSpy) 

26. Crescent witch hats.

These crescent witch hats are not only cute, but they're easy. Really! (Pillsbury for CakeSpy)

27. Ghost cupcakes.

These are ghoulish, but the taste is all sweet thanks to an enrobing of white chocolate! (CakeSpy)

28. Brownie spider web cake.

Yummy, easy, cute, Halloween-y, and brownies are included. What more do you need? (Heather's French Press)

29. Peanut butter haystacks.

It's the eyes that make them look like little monsters. Delicious little monsters, that is. (The Girl Who Ate Everything)

30. Candy corn upside down cake.

Like pineapple upside-down cake, but replace "pineapple" with "candy corn". Yes indeed. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

31. Halloween fudge.

It's not only super-sweet, but also highly adorable. (Crazy For Crust)

30. Halloween jell-o Jigglers.

These are amazingly easy to make, and they will make everyone happy when you serve them. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

31. Candy corn popcorn balls.

Like popcorn balls, but with the added Halloween joy of candy corn. Hooray! (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

32. Bell pepper jack o'lanterns.

This savory treat is allowed because they LOOK so sweet (figuratively, of course). Promise me you'll check 'em out. (itsyummi.com)

33. Leftover halloween candy pie. 

It's awful and awesome all at once. Just like a horror movie. Gulp. (CakeSpy for Serious Eats)

Cute Fall Recipe: Crescent Witch Hats

Photo: PillsburyCrescent rolls? Great, most times of the year. But around Halloween, something more festive is in order! My favorite pick is these cute "Crescent Witch Hats" recipe which Pillsbury was kind enough to let me share here.

Not only are these incredibly easy to make but they pack an adorable punch. See for yourself:

Crescent Witch Hats

Ingredients

• 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 teaspoons powdered sugar or unsweetened baking cocoa

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Separate dough into 8 triangles.
2. Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of chocolate chips on wide end of crescent triangle, and roll over once to form brim of hat.
3. Form the rest of the crescent triangle into hat shape. Repeat for remaining crescent triangles. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Using fine mesh strainer, sprinkle crescent hats with powdered sugar or cocoa; serve warm.

Ghost Cutout Cookies: Doctored Cookie Mix

Photo: PillsburyI was super psyched when Pillsbury sent me their latest batch of Halloween-themed crafts, because while I'm sure it wasn't their primary goal, they actually ended up answering a question I've had for a long time:

Can you doctor refrigerated sugar cookie dough to make cutout cookies?

I've long wished it was so, because it would be so easy to test out decorating ideas if you could whip up a quick batch of cookies from a tube. But typically, the ones you buy spread too much to hold their shape.

In this clever recipe, the sugar cookie dough is fortified with additional flour to help them hold their shape, which then makes them the perfect canvas for decorating--around this time of year, these ghost designs are an awfully clever and cute use!

Here's the recipe.

Ghost Cutout Cookies

Courtesy Pillsbury

Ingredients

• 1 roll Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 container (1 lb) vanilla creamy ready-to-spread frosting
• Black decorating icing, as desired

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, break up cookie dough; thoroughly work in flour. Work with half of dough at a time, refrigerating remaining dough until needed.
2. On work surface sprinkled with flour, roll dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut with floured 2 1/2- to 3-inch ghost-shaped cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough.
3. Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set and edges just begin to brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in small microwavable bowl, microwave frosting uncovered on High 10 to 15 seconds or until easier to smooth onto cookie.
4. Frost and decorate cookies with black icing as desired, using photo as a guide.

Candy is Dandy: Candy Corn Milk Recipe

Some days, you're all "Oh, I love eating organic and stuff. Let's go to Whole Foods and get our gluten-free on!"

But other days, you're like "eff everything and everyone. All I feel like doing is mainlining some candy corn."

Okay, so maybe that exact thing has never happened to you. But it has happened to me. And there is no quicker or more enjoyable way to mainline that candy corn sugary goodness straight to your system than via candy corn milk. So in case you ever have felt this way, or ever do in the future, here's an extremely useful recipe for Candy Corn Milk to keep at the ready.

The idea formed in this way. At Momofuku, they've built a brand around what to many of us is a byproduct (albeit a delicious one): cereal milk. So I found myself thinking, when faced with half a bag of candy corn left over after I made a spectacular pie which will be featured soon on Serious Eats...

CakeSpy to self: "Why don't I make this into Candy Corn Milk?"

Self back to CakeSpy: "Fantastic idea! Let's do it!"

I treated the official Cereal Milk (tm) recipe as my North Star when creating this recipe. I didn't toast the candy corn (don't be stupid! It would melt!) but I did the steeping and straining as specified in the recipe. Then, I transferred the mixture to jars, so I could readily reach for candy corn milk any time I was feeling low. This stuff has enough sugar to give you pep even on the most Monday of Mondays, or any otherwise somewhat low energy or gloomy day. So it's a perfect fall food! 

If you're feeling naughty and know something about cocktails, I suppose it might make a nice addition to a Halloween drink. But I don't know so much, so I guess I will just drink it straight. If you were so inclined, I believe this recipe could rock your sugary world if you used it as your milk to put on cereal, or served it alongside a bowl of creamed candy corn.

Why don't you join me?

Candy Corn Milk - adapted from Momofuku's Cereal Milk (tm)

• 1 cup candy corn
• 2 cups cold milk
• 1/8 tsp salt

Bowls, and a fine mesh seive or strainer, and jars or a jug to store the finished milk

Note: As with cereal milk (tm), taste your candy corn milk after you make it. if you want it a little sweeter, add some brown sugar. if you want it more mellow, add a splash of fresh milk and a pinch of salt.  

Place the candy corn in a bowl. Pour the milk right on top.

Let steep for 20 minutes at room temperature. The milk will start to change color.

Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, collecting the milk in a medium bowl. the milk will drain off quickly at first, then become thicker toward the end of the straining process.

Use the back of a spoon or spatula to get all the tasty thick gooey milk out. Don't be too forceful, because you don't want to jam the melty candy corn bits into your strainer (big pain to clean out).

Give it a whisk, adding the salt at this point. Store in a pitcher or in mason jars (that's what I did), refrigerated, for up to a week.

Note: this recipe also works with mellowcreme pumpkins. 

Candy Corn Muffins Recipe

I find corn muffins to be an exceedingly lovable food, especially when they contain fat kernels of corn. But since October is prime time for candy, I wondered—what might happen if I swapped real corn for candy corn?

Well, since I have now done it, I can tell you that depending on how you want to look at it, the result is either awful or awesome. Points for awful: the candy corn melts and forms a sticky, sugary well at the bottom of the muffin cup, making it sort of the muffin equivalent of a mullet: business on the top, party on the bottom. Points for awesome: well, actually, now that I think of it, pretty much the same. The candy corn definitely brings these muffins into dessert or sweet snack territory. So for those moments when the slightly gritty texture and light sweetness of a corn muffin strike you as entirely too healthy and simply won't satisfy your sweet tooth, go for the candy gold with these muffins.

Candy Corn Muffins

Makes 12

• 1 cup (about 4 1/4 ounces) flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup (about 10 ounces) milk
• 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) butter, melted
• 1 cup candy corn

Procedure

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat the oven to 400°F. Either line a muffin tin with paper liners, or generously grease each cup.  
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.  
3. In another large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, and butter. Stir well.  
4. Using a wooden spoon, stir the wet mixture into the dry, taking care to only mix until the entire mixture is incorporated. Overmixing leads to leaden, hockey puck-like muffins.  
5. Gently fold in the candy corn, making sure it is evenly distributed. 6 Fill each of the cups about 3/4 of the way full. You should be able to fill 12 cups.  
6. Place the filled muffin tin on top of a cookie sheet (the candy corn may bubble and drip over the sides; this will keep your oven clean). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden on top. Take care when removing the muffins, as the candy corn may have bubbled over and this sweet mixture is quite hot.  
7. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.

13 Ways to Mess with Candy Cor

Creamed Candy Corn!First things first. Last week I offered to give away a copy of my masterpiece entitled CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life. To enter to win, I asked people which they preferred: Candy corn or Mellowcreme Pumpkins.

Well, the winner, Becky S. from Plainfield, IL chose candy corn, and says that crazy as it sounds she eats each piece color by color.

Congratulations Becky!

And this got me thinking how over the years I have messed with candy corn in quite a few ways. Here's a roundup to give you some ideas for how to get downright mischievous with maize--of the sugary sort. Enjoy!

Candy Corn Nanaimo Bars.

Put it all in a pie crust with other Halloween candy and make Leftover Halloween Candy Pie.

Enjoy candy corn in the morning with Candy Corn Muffins.

Make popcorn balls.

Deep-fry it.

Make some tricked-out Krispie Treats!

Celebrate it by making Candy Corn shaped cookies!

Creamed Candy Corn (pictured top)

Make tricolor cookies.

Candy Corn Upside-Down Cake.

Make this delicious Candy Corn Boston Cream Pie recipe.

Of course, you could always also make your OWN candy corn! The recipe is in my book.

Trick or Sweet: Candy Corn Upside Down Cake

Recently, I asked my favorite Pineapple Upside-Down Cake recipe a serious question: "What would you like to be for Halloween this year?".

After considering various options, such as Doughnut Upside-Down Cake, Tarte Tatin, and various other options for the inverted dessert, we decided to go with something festive: Candy Corn Upside-Down Cake.

It was simple enough to do: just substitute candy corn for the pineapple requested in the original recipe. But what happened when I baked it up was a surprise: the brown sugar and butter topping fused with the melted candy corn to form some sort of unholy, monstrous Halloween caramel-sugar topping, which dripped back into the cake when inverted. The result? The entire buttery cake tasted like it had been basted in candy corn. And if you're a candy corn lover, that might just be a beautiful thing.

Even Unicorn agrees!

Candy Corn Upside Down Cake

9 servings

• 1/3 cup (about 5 tablespoons) butter, plus 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened and divided
• 2/3 cup (about 6 ounces) packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups candy corn
• 1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (about 7 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk (whole or 2 percent)

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the butter in a 9-inch square baking pan, and set it in the oven until melted (it is fine to do this as the oven preheats). Remove the pan from the oven and gently tilt so that the butter coats the entire bottom of the pan. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the butter. Sprinkle candy corn evenly on top.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, mixing until incorporated. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk, in 2 to 3 additions, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl with each addition. Beat on low speed until fully incorporated. Pour the batter into the pan, taking care not to dislodge the carefully planted candy corn.  
4. Set a cookie tray under the cake in the oven, in case the candy bubbles or drips. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, 45 to 50 minutes.  
5. Immediately place a heatproof serving plate upside down over the pan; in one swift, sure motion, flip the plate and pan over so that the cake is now on the plate. Leave the pan in place for several minutes so the gooey mixture can drip down over the cake. After the dripping is done, lift off the pan. Serve still slightly warm. Store, loosely covered, at room temperature.

Sweet Leftovers: 10 Things to do With Leftover Halloween Candy

It's the most wonderful time of the year: that magical day after Halloween where all of the candy is available for dramatically reduced prices, and it's still fairly plentiful in your Halloween bag--that is to say, it's even possible that you've got a surplus. So with that sweet excess in mind, here are some suggestions for what to do with your leftover Halloween candy:

Eat it (duh).

Deep-fry it.

Make candy corn into creamed candy corn.

Make popcorn balls.

Bake it into a cheesecake!

Put it in a blender with a scoop of ice cream and half a cup of cream: Halloween Leftover Milkshake!

Use it to stuff cupcakes.

Make Nanaimo Bars!

Melt it into hot chocolate.

Put it all in a pie crust and make Leftover Halloween Candy Pie.

 ...or, you could just forget it all and make some Pan de Muerto.

Creepy Cute: Zombie Graveyard Cake Recipe for Serious Eats

Zombies don't eat cake—they eat people's brains. But this Halloween, here's a way to turn the tables: Zombie Graveyard Cake.

This is just about the tastiest graveyard you'll ever come across. Starting with a generous amount of grass green-tinted frosting, the cake is then lined with cookie crumbles to resemble the residual grave-escape dirt, dotted with cookie "graves", and decorated with zombie cutout cake picks (printable illustrations to cut out can be found here) to form a delightful dessert that is creepy and cute all at once.

For the full entry, visit Serious Eats!