Halloween Trick-or-Sweet

I threw a small Halloween food party this past weekend with my roommate. We had green tea cupcakes, pumpkin butter shortbread, cheesecake brownies, caramel apples, and lychee (pictures below).

My mom was awesome and knitted me the sweater from Coraline (the movie) using the pattern from the official website. Then I sewed on the stars and made a dragonfly barrette to complete the outfit. Then on Wednesday we carved pumpkins, and I made the cat from the movie to go along with my outfit:

Here's what I made for the party.

Frankenstein Green Tea Cupcakes

with chocolate buttercream hair and white chocolate chip eyes

Cheesecake Brownies

Red Wine Caramel Apples

Pumpkin Butter Shortbread Sandwiches

Lychee and Blueberry/Raspberry Eyeballs

Sorry for the poor photo quality; I was in a rush.

Valentine's day sweets

Even though Valentine's day is supposed to be a day for lovers, I like to indulge in the cheesiness and spread the cheer around. So this year I had a party and made a LOT of sweets. Here's what I made:

Chocolate Haupia (coconut pudding) Mini Pies

Strawberry Shortcakes

Shortbread Hearts

Oatmeal Lace Cookies with Chocolate

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Vanilla Cupcakes with Guava Buttercream Frosting

Recipes to follow in subsequent entries. If you're dying for a particular one right now, let me know; I'll be happy to post it.

It's almost Halloween...

Well, three weeks from it, anyways. My roommates and I made witch hat cookies yesterday, but when we piled them up on the plate it ended up looking more like Chocolate Island from Super Mario World. So if you're wondering what that little green thing is- it's a Dino-Rhino.
Anyhow, recipe as follows, and a song from Patrick Wolf called Ghost Song to accompany the witch hats.

Witch Hat Cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup packed granulated sugar
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 bag Hershey's Kisses

- Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower middle positions, and preheat the oven to 350*. Grease two baking sheets.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy, then add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat the peanut butter in until it's fully incorporated, then beat in eggs in one at a time, and finally add the vanilla extract.
- Spoon small balls of the dough, about 1 inch in diameter, onto the baking sheets, then bake for 10 to 12 minutes, switching the pan positions halfway through.
- Once out of the oven, let cookies cool for 1 or 2 minutes, then stick an unwrapped Kiss in the middle of each cookie.