Creepy Critters Cheesecake

Creepy Critter Cheesecake
CRUST
1-1/2 cups chocolate wafer, crushed
4 Tbsp. sugar
5 Tbsp. butter, melted
FILLING
2 packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 cup sour cream
Yellow food coloring
RATS
8 large strawberries, stems removed
sliced almonds
1 container (7 oz.) dipping chocolate
1/2 cup black sanding sugar, or crushed chocolate wafers
Candy for eyes
Slivered almonds
Black licorice laces
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Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. (I used a 9-inch spring form pan.) In medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs, sugar and melted butter; stir well. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom and sides of prepared pan. Bake 7-10 minutes, or until fragrant and lightly toasted. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.

In another medium bowl with mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and making sure to scrape sides of the bowl. Add orange zest and sour cream; beat until just blended.

Add 4 drops yellow food coloring and stir well to blend. Remove 1/2 cup cheesecake batter and place into small bowl. Add 5 drops of yellow food coloring to the 1/2 cup batter and stir well. Spoon into zip-top bag.

Pour light yellow batter onto baked crust and smooth top. Snip very small corner from bag with darker yellow batter. Pipe random spots of batter on top of the tart in a variety of sizes to make the "cheese holes". Bake 30-35 minutes, or until lightly puffed and center is just set. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate cheese cake at least 2 hours before serving.

Meanwhile, line baking sheet with wax paper. Trim small piece from 1 side of each strawberry so they can rest horizontally on wax paper. Insert 2 sliced almonds (about 1 inch from pointed end of strawberry and about 1 inch apart) to make rat ears.

Follow heating directions for dipping chocolate. Insert fork into large end of strawberry. Holding strawberry on fork over container of dipping chocolate, spoon chocolate over  strawberry to coat. Allow excess chocolate to drip off, tapping fork lightly. Sprinkle with black sugar or cookie crumbs and transfer strawberry to prepared baking sheet. Add candies for the eyes, slivered almonds for the teeth, and brown candies for the nose. Refrigerate rats until ready to serves.

To serves, with toothpick, make hole in backside of strawberry and insert 1 end of 4-inch piece of black licorice for the tail. Place rats on top of and around cheesecake and serve.

*The recipe called for chocolate covered sunflower seeds. I couldn't find any, so I used red hots instead, but any candy that can look like an eye should be fine.

Monster Mash Bites

I wasn't going to include these in my Halloween dinner because they didn't look Halloweeny enough, but the recipe looked so good, I decided to do them anyways. They were DELISH!

Monster Mash Bites
4 cups instant mashed potatoes, cooled
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
4 Tbsp. chopped chives
3-6 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumpled
6 eggs
1-3/4 cups plain bread crumbs
Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
2 tsp. dry ranch dressing mix
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In large bowl, mix mashed potatoes, cheese, 2 Tbsp. chives, bacon and 1 of the eggs until blended. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls.

In shallow bowl, place bread crumbs. In another bowl, beat remaining 5 eggs. Coat potato balls with bread crumbs, then dip into eggs and coat again with bread crumbs.

In deep fryer, heat 2 inches oil to 375°. Fry potato balls, in batches, in hot oil 1 minutes to 1-1/2 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

In small bowl, mix sour cream, 2 Tbsp. chives and the dressing mix. Serve warm potato bites with sauce.

Cheesy Crescent Ghosts

Cheesy Crescent Ghosts
1 can Pillsbury refrigerate crescent dinner rolls
1 cup shredded mozzarella or Colby-Montery Jack cheese.
Assorted sliced lives, as desired
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Heat oven to 375°. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with cooking parchment paper.

Unroll dough on cutting board; separate into 8 triangles. From center of longest side to opposite point, cut each triangle in half, making 16 triangles. Shape each to look like ghost shape and place on cookie sheet.

Bake about 7 minutes or until slightly puffed and just beginning to brown. Sprinkle each ghost with cheese; add olives for mouth and eyes. Bake 2-3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Meatloaf Mummies and Rats

This can be done with any meatloaf recipe; I used the one I blogged HERE. The sauce is optional for the mummies, but really good on the rats. I had some extra, so I served it on the side, but ketchup would be fine too.

Meatloaf Mummies
Additional ingredients needed:
1 can Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations refrigerated seamless dough sheet
Mustard
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Heat oven to 350°. Spray pan with cookie spray. After mixing all ingredients for the meatloaf, shape meat mixture into 4 (6x2-inch) loaves. Taper ends of loaves to look like mummy shapes. Place in pan. Bake 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove dough from can; unroll on work surface or cutting board. Cut into 4 rectangles. With knife or kitchen scissors, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 7 strips. Alternately cross 7 strips over each meat loaf to look like "bandages", stretching dough to completely cover meat loaf and tucking ends under loaf. About 1/2 inch from one end, separate "bandage strips" on top to let meat loaf show through for "face." Bake 17-20 minutes longer or until golden brown and meat thermometer inserted in center of loaf reads 160°. Add dots of mustard on each mummy face for eyes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Meatloaf Rats
Additional Ingredients:
Slice green olives
Sliced black olives
Shoestring potatoes
Sliced almonds
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Heat oven to 350°. After mixing ingredients for meat loaf, using portions about 4 inches in size, shape into oval loaves. Pinch one end of each oval to a point for face. Place in ungreased pan. Gently pour sauce over loaves.

Bake about 40 minutes or until meat thermometer inserted in center of loaves reads 160°.

Garnish with green olives for eyes, black olive for nose, sliced almonds for teeth and shoestring potatoes for whiskers and tail.

Cream Cheese & Marshmallow Creme Fruit Dip

This is by far my all-time favorite fruit dip. I always have to double the recipe because I eat more dip then I do fruit.

Cream Cheese & Marshmallow Cream Fruit Dip
1 package cream cheese, softened
1 small container marshmallow creme
1 tsp. vanilla
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With a blender, mix cream cheese and marshmallow creme. Add in vanilla and mix well. Serve with any kind of fruit.

Cheesy Potato Soup

Cheesy Potato Soup

4 cups peeled and cubed potatoes

1 cup water

2 stalks of celery

4 carrots

1/2 onion, chopped

1 tsp. chicken bullion

1 tsp. parsley

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 Tbsp. flour

1-1/2 milk

8 oz. Velveeta Cheese

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In a small saucepan, combine first 9 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

 

In a small bowl, combine flour and milk until smooth. Stir into vegetable mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat to low; stir in cheese until melted.

 

Serve in bread bowls to make it even better.

 

Black & Whites from "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder"

When Randi choose our book for book club, she thought it would be fun if we each choose a recipe from the book and brought some cookies that night. I decided to make the Black & White recipes. I'm not sure how to site a source when stealing a recipe from a book, but the book is called "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder" by Joanne Fluke. My Kindle doesn't show page numbers, but it is about a 3rd into the book.

Black & Whites
2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1/2 - 1 cup confectioners' sugar
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No need to preheat the oven. The dough will need to chill first.

Melt chocolate chips with butter. (Microwave on high power for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth.) Mix in sugar and let cool. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla, baking powder and salt. Add flour and mix well.

Chill dough for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°.

Roll walnut-sized dough balls with your hands. Drop the balls into a bowl with the powdered sugar and roll them around until well coated. (Put dough back in fridge if its gets too soft.)

Place the balls on a greased cookie sheet. (They flatten as they bake.) Bake at 350° for 12-14 minutes.

Katie's Coconut Thumbring Cookies with Salted Caramels

Coconut Thumbprint Cookies with Salted Caramel

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Table salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 12 ounces sweetened flaked coconut
• 44 small soft caramel candies (12 ounces), such as Kraft
• 6 tablespoons heavy cream
• Large, flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
• ----------
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, gradually add flour and 1/2 teaspoon table salt, and beat to combine. Press dough together in plastic wrap, then roll into 1 1/4-inch balls. Dip each ball in beaten egg, and roll in coconut. Place balls on parchment-lined baking sheets, and press an indentation into each with your thumb. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove sheets from oven, and re-press indentations. Bake cookies until golden, 9 to 10 minutes more. Let cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Place caramels and heavy cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the caramels are melted and mixture is smooth, 4 to 6 minutes. Spoon into indentations in cookies, and sprinkle with sea salt. Rewarm caramel if it hardens before all cookies are filled.

Katie found this recipe in a Martha Stewart magazine, you can see the link HERE. 

Heather's Yogurt Dip

Heather swears by this recipe. So much so, that she actually follows the recipe, which is pretty rare for her to do. I can't wait to try it.

Heather's Yogurt Dip
4 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese
3/4 cup (6 oz.) vanilla yogurt
4-1/2 tsp. honey (or sugar)
1/2 tps. ground cinnamon
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Mix well and enjoy.

Meatloaf

 A few weeks ago, it was my turn to host book club. We had read my grandma Dianne Blaine Hardy's book, "For Cryin' Out Loud." To honor her, I asked for a few ideas for dinner.  One of them was meatloaf. During dinner, my mom mentioned that when she married my dad, his one rule was no meatloaf. She obliged him for a few years, until one night she was craving meatloaf. She put it on the table and told him it sounded good to her, so that is what they were having. He ended up loving it and she had to rush to the cupboard to remember what all she had put in it. I've tried a few recipes over the years, but this one has been my favorite. It also happens to be a family recipe. Jessica gave it to me and told me it was my aunt Calleen's (my dad's sister) recipe. I only made one slight change. Where I use vinegar, the recipe originally called for mustard. 

Meat Loaf
1 1/2 lb ground beef
3/4 c quick oats, uncooked
1/4 c chopped onion (or 1 T dry minced onion)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c milk
Sauce:
1/3 c ketchup
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vinegar
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Heat oven to 350°. Combine all meat loaf ingredients, mix thoroughly and pack firmly into loaf pan. Combine all sauce ingredients and spread over meat loaf. Bake about 1 hour. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.