Carnival!

Last summer, we did a mini carnival/state fair for the kids/cousins/grandkids on my side of the family. We had corn dogs for dinner, tortilla chips with nacho sauce and jalapenos, cupcakes, chocolate covered rice crispies treats on a stick, kettle corn, funnel cakes, cotton candy (my Mom has a cotton candy maker, and we bought some watermelon flavored cotton candy sugar at Zurchers), churro chex mix, etc. Nope. No one can accuse us of going over the top...right?

None of that really requires a recipe...except for the kettle corn and the funnel cakes (I will need to get that recipe from my sister, who is the one who made those...they were so good!). This stuff is so delicious! Plus, if you add food dye, you can make it any color you darn well please (red and green for Christmas, pastels for Easter, pink, red, and purple for Valentine's, green for St. Patrick's Day...go crazy).

I have a Whirley Pop popcorn maker. See here. They are $20. They come with a fun recipe booklet (where I found the recipe for kettle corn). Or, it is just a nice way to pop your own popcorn. It takes 3 minutes or less.

If you don't have a Whirley Pop popcorn maker, you can make it in a pan on your stove top. I have never done it, myself. However, on Allrecipes.com, the recipe (which is very similar...almost identical) has 4 1/2 stars and over 900 reviews. So, I think it is a good bet. I will share both versions for you.

Kettle Korn (Whirly Pop)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup popping corn
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup popping oil (I only use about 1/8 cup vegetable oil...I just fill my 1/4 cup measure half-way)

Directions:

Preheat electric stove (just above medium setting). For gas stoves, set low, never higher. Preheating is unnecessary. Pour all ingredients into popper. Stir constantly until kernels have finished popping. Quickly empty kettle corn onto cookie sheet. While the corn cools, take popper immediately to sink, run hot water into it with liquid detergent. Close lids on suds and let it soak for easy cleanup. When kettle corn is cool, break into pieces with a wooden spoon. Pick out any upopped kernels. Makes approximately 4 quarts of kettle corn.

To add color: Add a few drops of food coloring on the unmelted sugar when ingredients are put in popper. Don't squirt in one spot; it will lump. Dot small amounts around in 6 or 8 places. Store finished kettle corn in an airtight canister or jar.

To add flavor: Choose from coconut, rum, vanilla, almond, or other flavorings. Try 1/2 teaspoon in the first batch, and increase with each batch to suit your taste.

Source: This came from my Whirley Pop recipe booklet.

Notes: I use less oil than the recipe calls for because seriously, that much just isn't needed. It just makes your hands messier when you are eating it! Even with the Whirley Pop, the hot oil splatters (even through the lid of my popcorn maker). I always stir it while I am wearing oven mitts and an apron...and I stand as far back as I can!

Kettle Corn (using a regular pot)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels

Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, stir in sugar and popcorn. Cover, and shake the pot constantly (over the heat) to keep the sugar from burning. Once the popping has slowed to once ever 2 to 3 seconds, remove the pot from the heat and continue to shake for a few minutes until the popping has stopped. Pour into a large bowl, and allow to cool, stirring occasionally to break up large clumps.

Source: Allrecipes.com submitted by Sue202.

Notes: As mentioned above, the oil gets really hot and splatters. Wear oven mitts and an apron, and do not forget to cover the pot while you shake it as the popcorn is popping!

 

Above: Here is a picture of the mini funnel cakes topped with some powdered sugar that my sister made. Holy cow, they were good. I need to get that recipe from her!

 

Above: Don't forget to add some caramel sauce, jam, or pie filling to your funnel cakes!

 

Above: We got these containers for our carnival food from Zurchers.

  

Above: Yum!

 

Above: Rice crispy treats dipped in melted chocolate, and then sprinkles, and put on a stick.

  

Above: Churro Chex mix. Recipe found here.

 

Above: Cotton candy made with our cotton candy machine. We got watermelon flavored cotton candy sugar from Zurchers.

 

Above: I would just suggest making these in advance, because otherwise, you will spend the whole time making cotton candy to keep up with the kids' demand!

 

Above: We made some confetti/sprinkle cupcakes. We just used a boxed mix, and a canned frosting (that came with sprinkles).

 

Above: We got the cupcake liners and balloon picks from Zurchers.

It's All in the Color

 

Since I had a new baby at the end of August, my holiday treat making has decreased this season. However, I had to do something fun for my boys. So, we had a movie night and watched a Halloween movie and ate their favorite kettle corn, dyed black and orange. I love this kettle corn recipe. It is so quick and easy. My boys ask me to make it for them all the time. It is fun to mix up the colors to go along with different holidays. A purple and green mix also would have been fun for Halloween, but my boys thought the black and orange combination was really fun.

Kettle Korn (Whirly Pop)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup popping corn
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup popping oil (I only use about 1/8 cup vegetable oil...I just fill my 1/4 cup measure half-way)

Directions:

Preheat electric stove (just above medium setting). For gas stoves, set low, never higher. Preheating is unnecessary. Pour all ingredients into popper. Stir constantly until kernels have finished popping. Quickly empty kettle corn onto cookie sheet. While the corn cools, take popper immediately to sink, run hot water into it with liquid detergent. Close lids on suds and let it soak for easy cleanup. When kettle corn is cool, break into pieces with a wooden spoon. Pick out any upopped kernels. Makes approximately 4 quarts of kettle corn.

To add color: Add a few drops of food coloring on the unmelted sugar when ingredients are put in popper. Don't squirt in one spot; it will lump. Dot small amounts around in 6 or 8 places. Store finished kettle corn in an airtight canister or jar.

To add flavor: Choose from coconut, rum, vanilla, almond, or other flavorings. Try 1/2 teaspoon in the first batch, and increase with each batch to suit your taste.


Source: This came from my Whirley Pop recipe booklet.

Notes: I use less oil than the recipe calls for because seriously, that much just isn't needed. It just makes your hands messier when you are eating it! Even with the Whirley Pop, the hot oil splatters (even through the lid of my popcorn maker). I always stir it while I am wearing oven mitts and an apron...and I stand as far back as I can!

 

Above: Originally posted here. Doesn't the color make such a difference? So fun to mix it up!

Halloween Treats, Part 2

The parade of Halloween Pinterest ideas continues! These are the last of the Halloween treats I made this year.

 

 

Above: These mummy juice boxes were a little sparse on their wrappings. I had two rolls of white duct tape and I could only find one--the one that was almost out of tape. I used a glue gun and glued googly eyes on the juice box and wrapped it in strips of white duct tape. The verdict: I wish I had more tape to fully cover the juice boxes. The kids loved these. They thought they were so fun.

 

Above: Cheese and pretzel witch's brooms. I cut cheese sticks into thirds and then cut the bottoms to look like broom bristles. Then I stuck a pretzel in the top carefully (to avoid splitting the cheese, which was really easy to split). The verdict: this was one of my boys' favorite Halloween snacks, and one of the easiest to make. However, another night, I just cut cubes of cheese and gave them a pile of pretzel sticks and they stabbed the cheese with the pretzels themselves and ate it that way just as happily.

 

 

Above: Hot Dog Mummies. I cut the hot dogs so it looked like they had arms and legs and then I wrapped them in strips of refrigerated crescent roll dough. I baked them according to the package directions for the dough until they were nicely browned. Then I gave them little dots of mustard for the eyes. The verdict: I have made these before without cutting the hot dogs to give them arms and legs. Honestly, it is much faster and easier to do it that way and they still look just as cute. Of course, my boys just unwrapped the crescent strips, ate the hot dogs, and discarded the crescent rolls.

 

Above: Halloween Sharpie magic!

 

Above: Fruit cup Jack-o'-Lanterns. These can be made with mandarin oranges, mangoes, or peaches. These were cute and easy. The verdict: of course, my kids refused to eat them, so I ate them!

 

Above: Easy cheese ball Jack-o-Lanterns. Plastic bags decorated with a black Sharpie and filled with cheese puff balls. The verdict: my kids actually ate these. Wow! Ha ha!

 

Above: Popcorn ghosts. Kettle corn popcorn (just popped from a store bought package) mixed with mini marshmallows. The verdict: one of my boys ate only the popcorn and the other picked out only the marshmallows.

 

Above: Ghosts in the Graveyard Cake. I made this for a neighbor when I took dinner in to her and her family. I used Peeps ghosts, candy pumpkins, Milano cookies decorated with black gel frosting, a yellow cake mix, and a can of store bought chocolate frosting. Easy peasy.

 

 

 

Above: Those ghost Peeps sure are cute.

 

Above: English muffin mummy pizzas. I used canned pizza sauce spread on split English muffins and I sprinkled a little shredded mozzarella cheese on top. I then used strips of string cheese to create bandage strips on the mummies and finally topped them off with two olive eyes. I lightly broiled them in the oven until the cheese was melted. When my oldest boy was really little, I made these for him and for the longest time, he would call sliced olives "mummy eyes." He would ask me for months after that if he could have some mummy eyes to eat.

  

 

Above: Octopus mini pot pies. By the way, I realize that this octopus pot pie has only 7 legs. One of my boys pulled off the eighth leg and ate it before I got a good picture. I also made a mini Jack-o'-Lantern pot pie, but all of my pictures of that one turned out blurry. It was a cute one though!

 

Above: Here's my full-size mummy pot pie. I used this recipe for the filling and used strips of puff pastry for the topping...oh, and of course, two olive eyes. I baked it until the strips of puff pastry were nicely browned (which took longer than I expected). This turned out delicious. My kids, of course, wouldn't eat it.

 

   

Above: Spider cheese and crackers. Ritz crackers, Easy Cheese (sprayable cheese), and sliced olives cut and placed on the cheese to look like spiders. The verdict: my boys did not eat these either. Ha ha!

 

  

Final verdict: Well, I learned that my oldest son is creeped out by food that looks spooky. He wouldn't even eat some gummy eyeballs that I had bought. My younger son loved helping me make these. Ultimately, my boys just wanted snacks when they got home from school and they didn't really care much what those snacks looked like as long as it sounded good to them and filled their hungry stomachs quickly. So, while all of these Halloween treats were adorable, it wasn't really worth the time for me to make them..for me, at least. Maybe they would feel differently about snacks like this next year. Maybe if I had girls instead of boys, they would have loved them. Who knows? Kids are unpredictable that way. Oh well. I had fun making them and I thought they were cute! I probably won't go to the time and expense to make all of these (or so many of them) next year...unless my kids actually ask me if I can do it for them.