Vanilla Rum Balls

        I have made these rum balls for Christmas the last 3 years, and I have to admit, they have quite the fan base going at my day job! My fellow employees can't wait to dive into the cookie platter I bring every year for Christmas Eve, and these are probably the first thing to disappear. I have made the smart move to double this recipe when I make them, so there's plenty for everyone.  What's good about these? Well, they are recommended to make 1 week in advance, so no last-minute preparations here. You like rum? Fantastic! You'll love 'em! Don't like rum? Well, you can substitute a liquor of your choice, no problem. There is also no baking required and these are even great to serve for New Years!  Enjoy!!!




3 cups vanilla wafers, grounded fine  ( I use 1/2 and 1/2 of the vanilla wafers pictured below, the ones with the cream filling help bind the ingredients together, and the round ones absorb the rum nicely)

1 cup powdered sugar

4 tablespoons of corn syrup (any color)

1/3-1/2 cup of rum ( I use a 1/2 cup), or another liquor of you choice

                   These are the type of vanilla wafers I used,  50/50.

1. Ground up your round vanilla wafers in a food processor, or crush them in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.

2. Do the same to you cream-filled wafers and add them in with the other crumbs.

           3. Sift in the powdered sugar into the cookie crumb mix.

                           4. Add the syrup, then the alcohol.

5. Now at this point, especially if you used the 1/2 cup of alcohol, you will need to chill this to form any balls at all with it.  Put it in your refrigerator for about an hour or two and check the consistency. It should look something like that pictured above.  When formed into balls, they should hold shape on their own, but will feel soft, and not very firm.

6. When the mix has reached the desired consistency, form into 1" balls and roll into powdered sugar.

                7. Store in an airtight container and enjoy eating them in 1 week. Enjoy! And Happy Holidays!!!

Recipe- Pumpkin Cupcakes w/ Cinnamon-Ginger Frosting

                In all honesty, I can safely say I never have to search for another pumpkin cupcake recipe ever again.  I found "the one". The frosting I just made up myself, a variation of buttercream frostings I've made in the past.  Enjoy, and have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

For cupcakes:

3/4 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon


For frosting:

8 tbs butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
7 cups powdered sugar
8-10 tbs milk (depends on how thick you want your frosting)

                 1. Preheat oven 350 degrees F and line 24 muffin tins.

 
               2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil, pumpkin, sugar and vanilla together.  Mix well.

3. Add in the baking soda and powder, cinnamon and flour. Thoroughly combine.

4. Fill each muffin tin about 3/4 full.  Bake 18-22 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting.

5. In a large bowl, beat softened butter until it's creamy- add vanilla and the spices.

6. Then add in the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, alternating with the cups of sugar until you reach a consistency you like.

7. Frost the cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Recipe- Pumpkin Brownies

These pumpkin "brownies" make a great snack to bring to work, or a great alternative to pie this holiday.  It's like eating squares of pumpkin cake,  really.  I could indeed frost this and call it a cake. But I didn't.  I cut them up and called them brownies.  They're high in vitamin A, very easy to make, and there's only 79 calories per bar.



1 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed firmly
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs




1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

2. Mix all ingredients together.

3. Spread into your pan and bake for 30 minutes.

4. Cut into squares and enjoy!!!!







Makes 24 bars
79 calories
2.8 grams fat
6.4 grams sugar

Review - The Little Rendezvous Meriden, CT

      Anybody from Meriden, CT will tell you this is hands-down, the best pizza you can find in the whole state!  I found that to be a bit exaggerated, considering Connecticut is home to a place called Wooster Street, New Haven.

Ah, what the hell, I thought to myself. Let me try this place. I'm sick of the mean waitresses and hour-long waits in New Haven, anyways... and The Little Rendezvous has a 124 year old brick oven!!

I think the first night I wanted to try it was a Tuesday. Closed Tuesdays. Strange day for a pizza place to be closed. Not off to a good start. So I waited until Friday came.  It was a 45 minute wait for a mozzarella pizza pick-up (did I mention they don't deliver?).  On the weekends you can wait even longer for pizza- I was lucky! The staff gets as big as three people, so it's hard for them to keep up with the weekend demand.  And you can certainly hear it in their voices when they're overworked and stressed, though they are typically friendly.  Once I called and got the "it'll be a 2 hour wait", said with a bit of an attitude. Seriously? It's like they didn't want me to order their pizza! Hire an extra person for the weekends, already! Needless to say, I wasn't going to wait 2 hours for a pizza when I live in a state filled with great pizza everywhere!  Among other things - it's cash only, located in the ghetto with on-street parking only, and they only sell whole pizzas, no slices, no calzones, no antipasto, just....entire pizza pies.

So let me tell you about this pizza. Now, since my first time eating this, I have eaten quite a few of Rendezvous pizzas. They're not always consistent, but the pizza goes down nicely. The toppings are delicious- they typically are the same, I find- not too overdone, the cheese is lightly sprinkled on, seasonings aren't overbearing, they are just right. But the crust.... many times I have eaten pizza from here, the crust has been tough and way too chewy, to the point where it is hard to cut with a dinner knife. They tell you on their website that their pizza is crispy and "singed on the edges", which sounds to me like you could break it with your bare hands like bark from a tree, no?

This particular pizza that I recently ate ( as pictured) was nicely crisp, one of their best pizzas I've had in a while. As I said, they're inconsistent, as most pizza places are. But are they just as good as all those famous New Haven pizza restaurants? Yeah, I'd say so. Just make sure you can drive and get the pizza yourself. And have cash. And it's not Monday or Tuesday.

PROS :

-Pizza from a very old brick oven!!! Yum!!
-They offer wheat crust as well as gluten-free crust 
-They sell beer
-You don't have to deal with the New Haven pizza nonsense!
-They have seating if you'd like to eat it there.


CONS :

-Cash only (not good for a credit lover such as myself)
-Located in a bad neighborhood
-Funky hours
-Long waits on the weekends
-Pizza crust can be tough/chewy at times
-The only food they sell here is whole pizzas!


Due to a decent amount of "cons", despite it being a tasty pizza I have to give them:


3 out of 5 stars

Count Chocula Peanut Bars

Another recipe brought to you, made with Count Chocula!!!   Have a Happy Halloween!!!!!


5 cups Count Chocula cereal
1 - 1 1/2 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup mini semi-sweet morsels
1 bag marshmallows (mini or large)
4 tbs butter
4 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter ( I used the chunky kind, but creamy will also do)


 1. Grease a 9x9 or an 8x8 pan with butter or cooking spray.

2.  Thoroughly combine the Count Chocula cereal, mini morsels, and peanuts in a large bowl. You really want to make sure this is all mixed well, because once the marshmallow sauce is heated you have to move quickly.

3. In another large microwave-safe bowl, add in the entire bag of marshmallows, butter and peanut butter. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Take out, stir, and put back in for another 45 seconds on high or until everything has melted into liquid form. (Now, while you're waiting for this to heat up, if you choose to mix everything together with your hands, I would suggest rubbing a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil on your palms so the ingredients don't stick to you as easily.)

4. Once the marshmallow mix is melted, quickly pour evenly over the Count Chocula mix. The marshmallow will get stringy and harder to work with, so the faster the better.

5. Press mix into your greased pan until it is even and flat.  Let it cool completely.

6. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boo Berry Cupcakes

I didn't want to leave Boo Berry out! So here's a cupcake recipe with the blue guy :)



1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup half & half cream ( milk or cream may also be substituted)
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups Boo Berry cereal, crushed  (sift out the marshmallows and put them aside to decorate later)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, oil, sugar, cream, and vanilla all together until well blended.

         

                                              
                          Then add in the baking powder and flour.

                                                  
                             Mix in the crushed Boo Berry cereal.

                         Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Batter will be a strange zombie color :P

Bake for 20-22 minutes, until the cupcakes feel slightly firm to the touch.  They should look like this.
Let them cool completely, then frost.



                        Boo Berry Frosting

6 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature
10-12 tbs milk or cream
1 tsp vanilla
blue food coloring (optional)


   Beat butter well until smooth. Add vanilla, then sugar, alternating with the milk until it's the desired consistency. Beat high for 2 minutes.

 Then, if desired, add a few drops of blue food coloring. I frosted half of my cupcakes when the frosting was still white, then I frosted the other half blue.

  Decorate as you wish, I used the marshmallows that came with the cereal to decorate, as well as some Halloween sprinkles that I had.

                                                      Enjoy!!!!!

Halloween Party Mix !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I told you I'd bring you recipes made from monster cereals! Here's another!! This is great to have for your annual Halloween bash, or just to snack on after work or school.  I left the measuring for you guys to do, given you may need a lot for a party, or just a little for a snack. I just used 1 cup measurements when I made it, which gave me about 8 servings. You can sub chocolate morsels for the peanut butter ones, and leave out the peanuts and Reeses Pieces for those who may have nut allergies. In which case, add extra M&M's and even chocolate Chex mix if you think it needs beefing up :)  Enjoy!!



2 parts Count Chocula cereal
1 part salted shelled peanuts
1 part M&M's or Reeses Pieces  ( I used a mix of both)
1 part peanut butter morsels



Mix in bowl. Eat!!

Even kids enjoy it!