Construction Paper Mummies Halloween Craft

Posted in activities for kids, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Another project we had some fun with around Halloween was making some Construction Paper Mummies.

These were great for letting the girls get creative with patterns.

While they were in school I cut out some basic body shapes out of black paper and some strips of white paper that were only about as wide as the body.

You could also let your kids do this part, if you prefer.

Then I just handed over some glue and some googly eyes and let them go to town.

We did it on an opened Whole Foods bag, to keep the extra glue off the floor. And they used their scissors to trim down some of the white strips too.

My girls also decided they’d like to color the mummies, so we pulled out some colored pencils.

Ignore the golf ball, tho. I don’t know how that ended up there. :)

Happy Crafting!

14Oct2015

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pumpkins: Version 2015

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

I really love these little guys. There just isn’t much of a better bite-size snack around Halloween than these tiny Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pumpkins.

I’ve made these many times, and this year my girls helped out. My 5yo made quite a few completely on her own.

It’s a great way to get your kids in the kitchen – the main challenge being getting them not to eat all the marshmallows!

It takes a little bit of time to get all of those tiny marshmallows covered, but it is SO worth it! Biting into the smooth vanilla-flavored chocolate that surrounds the pillow-like center with that one tiny crunch of the sprinkle “stem” is just utter delight!

Be sure to make a bunch – they’re great to share but will go fast!

You’re going to need some mini marshmallows, some orange candy melts, and some flower green flower shaped sprinkles, kinda like these or these. Or, if you can’t find flower shaped sprinkles, you could substitute with regular chocolate sprinkles.

Melt the candy melts according to the package directions, making sure the chocolate is smooth and drips from the fork somewhat easily, but that it’s not very hot.

Meanwhile, separate out the green sprinkles.

Throw a marshmallow in the bowl and use a fork or two to cover it with chocolate. Scoop it out with the fork and gently tap the fork on the edge of the bowl to get rid of the excess chocolate. Then use a second fork to scrape the marshmallow off of the first fork and onto some parchment or waxed paper, making sure the marshmallow is upright.

Do this for a few marshmallows, and then take a break to insert a green sprinkle in the top of each pumpkin before the chocolate starts to harden, and trace around it with a toothpick if there is a lot of excess chocolate. This will make it easier to break off any extra big chunks once it has dried.

Coat the marshmallows until you run out of chocolate. One bag of candy melts will use up about half a bag of mini marshmallows. Let the pumpkins sit until fully hardened, about an hour. Then remove them from the paper. Store covered… and enjoy!

Be sure to check out my other Halloween marshmallows, too:

Happy (Yummy) Halloween!

31Oct2014

Chocolate Almond Mummy Cookies

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Aren’t those just the sweetest looking mummy cookies you’ve ever seen??

I haven’t made these things in years and I was really craving them, but this year I changed things up a little.

All I did was add some almond extract into the batter and icing, but it really makes a difference. It adds so much dimension to the cookies. I feel like vanilla extract gets lost in chocolate cookies, but almond brings out both flavors.

And I like the royal icing as the mummy wrappings because it dries hard and shiny, although royal icing isn’t really known for it’s spectacular flavor… but a little almond is the perfect fix!

The cookie batter is based on the Hershey’s chocolate cutout cookies.

It’s an easy recipe, which is part of the reason I like. You mix the dry ingredients in one bowl, blend the wet in the other, then mix ’em all together.

Once you have your yummy chocolate almond cookie dough, cover it loosely with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for an hour.

Try to do this before you – ahem – “taste test” the entire batch.

Roll it out on a floured surface and use some gingerbread men cookie cutters to make the mummies.

My cutters were about 2.5 inches tall and I got 4 dozen cookies.

The icing can be whipped up quickly with a fork. I can’t be bothered dragging out the mixer all the time…

Anyway, if you don’t already have meringue powder, it’s worth picking some up. I swear this stuff lasts forever.

To easily fill a plastic bag with the icing, put the bag in a glass first and fold the edges over the rim. Scoop in the icing, and you have an instant decorating bag!

Don’t those look gorgeous??

Once the cookies are completely cooled – and once you’ve made sure to place some waxed or parchment paper under the cooling racks – then go ahead and “wrap” your mummies.

Snip a small hole in the corner of that decorating bag you’ve just filled and drizzle it back and forth over the cookies, allowing it to overlap now and then.

When the icing is hard, CAREFULLY remove the cookies from the racks. {A couple of my guys lost their heads this way because I got impatient.} Just use a spatula instead of yanking them off and you should be fine.

And while the icing is still wet, you COULD add some eyes, by way of mini chocolate chips or mini M&Ms or something along those lines, but I don’t find that necessary.

I like the look of them without any eyeballs. More elegant. If mummies can be such a thing…

Chocolate Almond Mummy Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 large egg
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups confectionary (powdered) sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 to 4 tablespoons water

Blend the butter, egg, sugar, and almond extract. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until fully incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C). On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about a 1/4 inch thick. Use a 2 to 3 inch cookie cutter in the shape of a gingerbread man for the mummies. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until you can lightly touch the cookie without leaving an indentation. Cool completely on wire racks.

For the icing, use a fork to blend the sugar, meringue powder, extract, and 3 tablespoons water. Continue to add about half a tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. You should be able to lift the fork out of the bowl and have the icing slowly drip off in a thick line.

Put the icing in a decorating bag or in a plastic baggie with the corner snipped off, and decorate the cookies by moving the icing back and forth over them. Be sure that you have something under the racks to catch the excess icing, such as waxed paper.

Once the icing has hardened, very carefully remove the cookies from the racks. Store covered.

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Here is the free printable PDF version of the recipe: Chocolate Almond Mummy Cookies

And a few things you may need:

Enjoy!

30Oct2014

Halloween Marshmallow Mummies

Posted in food & flavor & recipes, holidays by Rosemary Lynn

Halloween Marshmallow Mummies

These Mummy Marshmallows are soooooo cute!

But to be perfectly honest: they were a pain to make.

The good news? I know what I did wrong and can help you avoid my mistakes! :) If you don’t do what I did, then they’re super, super easy to make.

I picked this particular combination because I liked the concept of these as a somewhat “reversed” mummy. Usually the mummy wrappings are white and the background dark, but I switched it around by using white marshmallows and a dark colored “wrapping.”

I suppose you could get some chocolate marshmallows and drizzle white candy melts over them, too.

Just a thought.

Halloween Marshmallow Mummies

You can see that I decorated them on the floor. This was to make it easier for my 4yo could help {her little sister was napping}. More casual, I guess you could say.

Anyway, to get to the heart of the matter: I used melted chocolate chips for this.

I don’t know why.

I bake with chocolate chips all the time and seem to repetitively forget that they’re best for just that – baking. NOT decorating.

To solve this problem, just use candy melts instead. The regular chocolate chips get too hot, harden too fast, and don’t melt as evenly in the microwave.

I also stuck them in a little plastic baggie. To my credit, that’s all I had available. But the tiny sandwich bags tend to burst open when you have something in them that you’re trying to squeeze out of a snipped corner. Thus: the half-cleaned blob on my tray. So do yourself a favor and use either a heavier, freezer-weight baggie or a traditional cake decorating bag with a metal tip. It’ll save your sanity.

Halloween Marshmallow Mummies

So…

To make the Mummy Marshmallows:

1. Place marshmallows on their side on waxed or parchment paper.

2. Drizzle melted Dark Chocolate Candy Melts over the tops of the marshmallow, moving from side to side.

3. Place two mini M&Ms on top of the chocolate as eyes {preferably with the “m” facing down} and drizzle a little chocolate over the eyes to make them appear partially hidden.

4. Let the chocolate harden. Store covered.

Halloween Marshmallow Mummies