Mexican Pumpkin Pie Hot Chocolate

I have dreams of one day living in Mexico....I think it's one of the most beautiful places in all the world. I am fascinated by it's food, interested in learning about the culture, I absolutely love the Spanish language and I adore todos los colores brillantes  (all the bright colors) that are splashed everywhere!

I picture myself waking up one crisp fall mañana ( morning) the warm yellow sun shining in my window, grabbing the coziest sweater in my closet and walking to the local mercado (market). 

Entranced by all that it has to offer I walk vendedora a vendedora passing  la tortillería  it's table stacked high with fresh tortillas ready to be stuffed and filled with delicious meats and spicy peppers.  El Hombre with la fruta fresca (fresh fruit) and las verduras maduras ( ripe vegetables) mangoes, guyabas, chayote and noplaes all sharing the same space. Finally at the end of the aisle I see  una anciana (an old woman) with wispy gray hair slowly stirring a great big caldron of something.

I'm not really sure what it is...but the sweet smell in the air is drawing me near.  As I approach la senora she outstretches her hands and offers me a warm mug which looks to be filled to the brim with "melted chocolate" As I look at her questiongly "Champurrado" she says..she gestures at me to take a sip and when I do this warm hot drink fills my mouth and makes me smile and reminds me yet again all the reasons why I love this beautiful country!

So until my bags are officially packed and my United States passport is left behind...I will have to bring un poquito ( a little bit) of my Mexican dreams to where and I am now....so I present to you my
" Mexican Pumpkin Pie Hot Chocolate"....i'ts not quite my sweet ancianas Champurrado but it is a little piece of Mexican heaven right here in my cup until I get to officially call Mexico my home....Salud!

Ingredients

1. A tablet of Mexican Chocolate like Abuelita  or Ibarra

2. 4 cups of water (use milk if you prefer a thicker hot chocolate)

3.1/2 tsp of Mexican Vanilla

4. 1/2 can. pure canned pumkin (like Libby's)

5. 1/2 tsp. pumkin pie spice

6. 3/4 tsp. cinnamon

7. dash of salt

8. 2 tbsp. of packed brown sugar

Directions

1. In saucepan heat the 4 cups of water or milk the chocolate tablet, Mexican vanilla, pumkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar over medium high heat stirring constantly until well combined. (you can use a wire wisk, wooden spoon or this is the perfect time to use your Molinillo if you have one!) 

2. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Swirl with whip cream and sprinkle on a pinch of cinnamon.  Serve immediately.

Knuckle Sandwich S'mores

It's amazing how a bag of simple red chocolates and a harmless bag of gummy fingers and feet can transform a warm and fuzzy campfire staple into

a gory, grisly, blood soaked mess. 

Perfect for a holiday where

the more revolting things are the better,

 although these s'mores are unconventional and a little disturbing...

Sinking your teeth into fingers and toes have never tasted so good!

Ingredients

graham crackers
marshmallows
1 package of chocolate bars
1 bag of red chocolate melts
1 bag of gummy body parts


Directions


 
As I've said before,I'm not a fan of using fire to warm and melt my S'mores. I just take a cookie sheet and do the following:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Split graham crackers into 2 halves, take your chocolate bars and break them into graham cracker size pieces. Place the marshmallow on top of the chocolate bar  and place them  onto a baking sheet.

3. Pour your red chocolate melts into a microwave safe bowl and place in the microwave and melt at 30 sec intervals until chocolate is completely melted and set aside.

4. Place your S'mores into the oven for around 1 minute or 2 until toasty.

5. Once chocolate and marshmallow are melted use a spoon and drop and drizzle on your melted red chocolate trying to replicate the ooze and splatter of blood.

6. Next, place on 2 or 3 gummy fingers or toes along the sides of the graham cracker so they will hang along the ends once you place on your top cracker.

7. Now place other 1/2 of graham cracker on top of all your goodness. Press lightly to flatten marshmallows. Now it's time to enjoy a terribly gruesome treat!

Gross & Sweet Halloween Treat Tray

I've never been to sure how to feel about Halloween?.....I mean it does seem a little sketchy to me.....

it's a day that starts of with ghouls and gobblins running through the streets,

masks from last summers slasher movies are manufactured by the truck full for sweet faced little girls and boys! 

The sounds of witch cackles y una mezcla ( a little mix) of blood curdling screams stream through the ...

and it wouldn't be realistic to think that you could walk past five houses without encountering a blood stained face or a murderous axe dripping with guts of the unknown.....

Okay so here comes the bizarre part...

after fighting through a sea of gorey monsters and aquamarine -tailed sirenas (mermaids)you happily skip home memories of the killing field all washed away with trick or treat bags filled with chocolate bars, licorice sticks and bubble gum!....

and yes as a little chica and honorary "scaredy cat" the promise of a sugar coma by the nights end gave me ensentive to conquer my fears!

And although trick or treating is an experience like no other...that "fearless" cough, cough,

little chica would have happily traded that evening of adventure for a more tamed event
that had trays and trays filled with these curiosly odd and bizarre but deceivingly delicioso treats!

Treat Tray Supplies
q-tips
1 bag of mini marshmallows
1 bag of red chocolate melts
1 bag of peanut butter chocolate melts
1 bag of Charms Blowpops
1 bag of Cotton Candy
1 single pack of Oreos
1 bag of pink Laffy Taffy, pink Starbursts or any other pink chewy candy
1 box of Green Fruit Rollups ( I purchased mine from a local candy store)
1 pack of Graham Crackers
1 bag of Tootsie Rolls
1 bag of gummy teeth (also purchased at a local candy store)
12 pack of mini waters
2 bottles of any green swamp water resembling juice ex Mountain Dew (or as close as you can get!)
1 pack of piping bags or ziplock bags

optional
1 roll of twine
1 pack of circle labels
1 treat tray bag
1 pack of Halloween caution tape
Directions

Okay so it may seem like you have a lot of ingredients and will take forever....but it really is super easy and painless to put all these things together....I promise! You can also chop the list in half and work on it over a period of 2 or more days.

1. Snotty Tissues- cut 6 or 7 pieces of waxed or parchment paper into small squares...I would say about 4x4 inches each and set aside; Next you will need to pour your white chocolate melts into a medium bowl and heat them in the microwave for 20 second intervals stirring them in between until they are completely melted. Pour the melted white chocolate into your piping bag or ziplock then outline your wax squares and filling in the middles completely with the white chocolate.  Allow your chocolate to set for a minutes (until they are starting to harden but still wet). Once semi-set drop a few gummy boogers in to resemble a dirty tissue. Crumple the tissues a little to make them look used and more realistic.  Put them aside until they harden completely. Once they harden peel off the wax paper and place in the garbage can.

2. Already Been Chewed Gum- Unwrap Laffy Taffy or Starburts, place them on a microwave safe plate for approx 10-15 sec intervals until candy is pliable. ( be careful not to heat for too long as candy will melt quickly) Once candy is bendable form into a shape similar to chewed bubble gum. You can use a straw to make tooth-mark like indentations by pushing it into the sides of the candy to resemble teeth marks.

3. Dirty Lollipops- Open all your lollipops, the bag of cotton candy and package of Oreos. Crush your Oreos in a plastic bag and  pull your cotton candy into smaller pieces and set aside. Fill a cup halfway with water than lightly dip the lollipops into the bag of crushed Oreos and stick on a piece of cotton candy.

4. Dirty Q-tips -take your cocktail straws and place mini marshmallows on each end and set aside. Place peanut butter chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30 sec intervals mixing each time until completely melted. Dip each mini-marshmallow into the melted peanut butter melts coating just enough to cover the tips of the marshmallow. Place candy coated Q-tips on a piece of wax or parchment paper until peanut butter melts set.

5. Used Band Aids- break 6-8 graham crackers in halves (or however many you need) along the baked in lines. Lining them on a baking sheet. Place 6-8 mini-marshmallows in the microwave for no more than 5-6 secs, just enough to soften them a little. Take a softened mini-marshmallows and stretch them a little and place in the middle of your graham cracker. In a small ramekin or bowl heat up a few of your red candy melts and spoon or splatter a little of the melted candy on the mini-marshmallow to resemble blood. Set aside and allow candy melts to harden.

6. Cat Poop- Take a handful of Tootsie Rolls unwrap them and place on a microwave safe plate. Heat for approx. 10 secs. until the Tootsie Rolls are pliable. Once again be careful not to overheat as the candy can melt very quickly into a liquid mess. Take the Tootsie Rolls out the microwave, one at a time twist them around until they resemble the shape of Cat Poop. Place them on a baking tray to re-harden.

7. Swamp Water-Now this is where I leave it up to your discretion. There are many ways to make swamp water so I will give you some ideas and you can pick which one is right for you. First, I was unable to find empty bottles to purchase in my store, so I bought the  12 pack of little Poland Spring jr bottles of water and emptied them into a large pitcher for my family to drink later as not to waste their contents. The easiest way to make your Swamp Water is to purchase a package of Green colored Kool-Aid or powdered drink mix and prepare in a pitcher and pour into the mini bottles. Unfortunately I was unable to find green drink mix in my local grocery store so I had to improvise.  I waited until the day of my event and poured Mountain Dew into each bottle so that the fizz would remain (preparing days before will lead to flat soda). Once the sodas were bottled I took twine and placed little circle cards labeled "Swamp Water" I found at Michaels craft store and tied them around each individual bottle.

8. Lizards Skin- For this I just went to my local candy store and purchased a handful of green fruit-roll ups. I unwrapped the candy strips and just began to tear them apart jaggedly to make them appear as they had been ripped right off the lizards back...umm Eww! Simple!

9. Grandma's Teeth- This was the easiest one yet, I found a bag of gummy teeth in my Wal-Mart store opened and dropped them in the middle of the treat tray!  If you can't find these teeth you can obviously substitute for any that you can find or even those plastic Dracula teeth....kids always love those.

Once all the candy is set and prepared, place them onto your tray or dish preferably one that allows you to separate each candy. I placed a little name card in front of each treat with each gross little name.

Before delivering my tray I placed it in a plastic basket bag I found in my local Dollar Tree and covered it in caution type (this can be purchased at your local Dollar store or Wal-Mart).

ABRACADABRA!..That's It!....This really is a simple way to make a Gross & Sweet Halloween treat....No oven involved! 

Grilled Pineapple & Coco Cupcakes

El verano donde esta?!....Where has the summer gone?....

gone too soon, it happens to me every year I try to relish each day. 

Trying to juggle a healthy mix of chilling on the couch air conditioner breeze blowing through my hair

and running like a wild cavemen through the concrete jungle also known as the  amusement park.

Trying to escape the 105 degree summer sun while standing on line for the colossal jumbo vertical stand-up twister with the 300 ft drop.

Either way I tried it both ways and trying to focus on keeping summer from going away too soon helped me not to realize that summer was halfway over....

and now I can't help but pay attention because I'm receiving letters stuffed with homeroom numbers, binder and paper size requirements and kids requesting Converse sneakers with pictures of doughnuts printed on the sides.

Summer's over but I'm just not ready to let it go so I'm enjoying the sweeter side of summer with these

Grilled Pineapple Coco Cupcakes...

they give me the excuse to light up my grill  sit in the grass and soak up the leftover rays of the beautiful summer sun!

A La Cocina!

ingredients (yields approx. 12 cupcakes)
2 1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 c. milk (or 1/2 c. milk and 1/2 c. pineapple juice)
3 eggs, separated
2/3 c. grilled pineapple cut into chunks, drained
1 tsp. good quality vanilla extract
12 pineapple rings (approx. 2 cans keep in mind you'll need extra pineapples for the batter)

grilled pineapple directions
Grill pineapple wedges, a cut side down, on a lightly oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals until just charred, about 2 minutes on each cut side.

(If you don't feel like lighting up the grill you can also use your oven being careful to lay the pineapples over the oven rack so that they won't fall through the cracks)

cupcake directions

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.

 

2.In separate bowl cream together butter, sugar, vanilla and egg yolks until well blended.

 

3.Pour flour mixture and milk and pineapple juice into your butter mixture, alternating between the two. Add in your crushed pineapples then gently fold in your egg whites.

 

4. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until done. Cupcakes will be moist.

coconut buttercream

1 stick butter, softened
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons coconut milk

 

                                                   

buttercream directions

 

1.Beat butter with a mixer until smooth.

 

2.Slowly beat in powdered sugar and mix until crumbly.

 

3. Add in the  coconut extract and 3 tablespoons of coconut milk and mix until smooth. If needed, add another tablespoon of milk to reach desired consistency.

 

4. Once buttercream is done, you can either frost with spatula or place buttercream in a piping bag and swirl it on top of the cupcake.

 

5. Once cupcake is frosted and set, take your grilled pineapple rings and place them on top.

 

Now it's time to taste la vida dulce!

                         

                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

Dulce de Leche Chocolate Chip Brownies

Dulce de Leche!....

mmmm how many wonderful things can I say about it?!

 For me it's the king of dessert toppings it reigns supreme for my bocita (little mouth).

It's like the "latin lover" of caramel... smooth, rich, creamy and when I eat it seems to talk to me......

saying all the right things en español  of course!.... like Ay que rico or yes I'm so delicoso!

 Kinda like dinero you can never have too much dulce de leche....por lo menos ( at least) in my opinion you can't!

So since my mouth was in a mood for a lot of lovin

I decided to give it what it wants....

chocolatey brownies christened with copious amounts of chocolate chips and slathered with sweet creamy latin love!

 A Cielo!  (To Heaven) you go!


A la cocina!


Ingredients

1 cup. all-purpose flour

1 3/4. cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/2. cups of sugar

1 1/3. cups (2 sticks + 6 tbsp) butter

4 eggs.

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2tsp. salt

1/2tsp. espresso powder

1 tsp.  good quality vanilla

1/2 cup. milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 jar of dulce de leche

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper set aside.

 

2. In a large double boiler, melt butter then add espresso powder, mixing to dissolve. Add sugar and cook until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool for 20 minutes. 

 

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cooled (it can be luke warm) butter mixture and vanilla. With mixing speed on low add one egg at a time, mixing just until incorporated. 

 

4. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixing speed on low, gradually add dry ingredients. Mix until batter is smooth and flour is well included. Remove bowl from stand and fold in your milk & semi-sweet chocolate chips (leaving a few chips for the top of your batter). 

 

5. Spread the brownie batter evenly into your baking pan. You may want to warm you dulce de leche un poquito (just a little) if it's a little stiff. With a spatula or spoon drop in 6-9 spoonfuls of dulce de leche (I like to make rows of 3) gently swirl the ducle de leche through the batter with a knife.  Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top of your brownie batter.

 

6.Place in oven and bake for 20- 25minutes or until the brownies are set. Remove from oven and let cool for about 35 minutes before cutting. Ahora...Enjoy!

Marshmallow Candy Monster Pops

I hate to admit it...but I was the girl who went to bed gripping a flashlight and waking up in cold sweat at 3'oclock in the morning.

 

Forcing my self to do a sweep of my bedroom:

Starting with a through sweep under and above my Strawberry Shortcake canopy bed past my desk covered with Lisa Frank stickers

a quick dash past my doll shelf stuffing my arms with as many Cabbage Patch Kids one may need to ward of evil after dark, up all night monsters!

If all this seems way over the top and a bunch of childhood dramatics one would have to understand that I grew up during the times when Chucky ruled your toy chest and Freddy Kreuger owned your dreams!

Uhh huh! Scary Right?!...Told You! I had to be an 80's baby?!.....the millennium brought so many more nightmare taming characters like Elmo who could ever be scared of that sweet little furry and funny rojo red monster!

And lets not forget Monsters Inc. what that movie did for making "monsters" not only likable....but lovable...

by the end of the movie you not only are fearless of monsters, but you are actually rooting for them! Wishing for nightfall and crossing your fingers with one turn of the knob they would pop out of the closet and right into Boo's bed!

So.......I've said all that to say, what I'm pushing on you today is not the blood curdling, sheets between your eyes shielding you from the sinister force inside television kind of monster!

But the adorable, soft, fluffy colorful and whimsical kind.....

the kind of monster that gives you sweet, beautiful dulce sueños!......only in candy form!

Vamos a la cocinca!

Ingredients
Jumbo Marshmallows ( these can be found at your local grocery, Target or Walmart)
1 package of Skittles ( I used the Darkside of the Moon Skittles)
1 package of Gummy Bears
1 package of chocolate melting wafers
1 bottle of sprinkles (you can use chocolate or rainbow)
1 pack of lollipop sticks or colorful straws

Directions

1. Insert lollipop sticks or straws about halfway into each jumbo marshmallow and place on a cookie sheet and set aside. Place the skittles, gummy bears and sprinkles in three separate dishes and set aside as well.

2.  You can either use a microwave or double-boiler to melt your chocolate, (I prefer to use the microwave because it's quicker and easier for me).Pour your chocolate wafers in a glass bowl or a mug reducing the power to 50% to help prevent the chocolate from melting too fast and burning. Set the microwave for 30 second intervals stirring each time until chocolate is completely melted.

3. Once chocolate is melted dip each marshmallow pop into the chocolate, coat marshmallow at least halfway and allow excess to drip off into your bowl or mug.

4.Next, dip each pop into each dish of candy ( I like to add the sprinkles at the end). Set each candy coated marshmallow back onto the cookie sheet and repeat with each marshmallow until you have candy coated monster joy!