Fruit Salad

1 cantaloupe
1 honey dew
1 watermelon
1 bag green seedless grapes
1 bag red seedless grapes
1 pineapple

Pick grapes off the stems and place in a strainer, wash throughly then set aside. Cut up the 3 melons into small chunks (I like to use a melon ball scooper). Cut up pineapple into chunks. Mix together!

Wicked Cupcakes

   

    1 1/2 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate, chopped
    1/4 cups prune juice
    3/4 cup all-purpose flour
    3/4 cup sugar
    1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    1/4 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 teaspoon baking powder
    1/4 teaspoons salt
    1 large egg
    1 large egg yolk
    1/3 cup buttermilk
    1/4 cup vegetable oil
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:

    1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
    1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
    4-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
    4 cups confectioners' sugar
    2 tablespoons milk
    1 drop food coloring (green), optional
    Chocolate wafer cookies
    Licorice strips
    Toasted coconut
    Small candies
    Special equipment: 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups with paper liners

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 300 degrees F. Set liners in muffin cups.

Put the chocolate and prune juice in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in the microwave on low power, stirring occasionally, until completely melted.

Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg and yolk with an electric hand mixer at high speed until slightly thick and lemon colored, about 3 minutes. Slowly add buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until thoroughly combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Divide the batter among muffin tins, filling them 1/2 of the way. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean and the tops spring back when pressed gently, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the tin on a rack for 10 minutes then remove from the tin and cool completely.

For the frosting: Beat the butter, peanut butter, and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and milk mixing until the frosting is smooth. Add food coloring as desired. Refrigerate the frosting until firm.

To decorate the cakes: For the witches hat, score a circle in the middle of a cupcake. Cut a deep cone-like shape with a knife held at an angle. Rotate the cupcake to complete the circle and remove the center. Repeat with all the cupcakes. Generously scoop or pipe enough frosting into the center of each cupcake to fill the hole and to come over the cake to make a face. Top with a chocolate wafer cookie. Put a dot of frosting in the middle of the wafer cookie and invert the cone shaped piece of cake on top to make a witches hat. Use skinny licorice, toasted coconut or cereal flakes for hair and candies for eyes and/or nose. Refrigerate for up to 30 minutes before serving.

Jello Shots

Cut an Orange (or lemon or lime) in HALF and gut it. Mix the jello shot (1 cup hot water, box jello, 1 cup various liquors), stir till dissolved, then add the jello mix to the half shell and place in the fridge for 3 hours or more. Once solid, slice and serve!

Pilgrim Hats

24 chocolate-striped shortbread cookies
12-ounce package of chocolate chips
24 marshmallows
tube of yellow decorators' frosting

Set the chocolate-striped cookies stripes down on a wax-paper-covered tray, spacing them well apart.
Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or double boiler.
One at a time, stick a wooden toothpick into a marshmallow, dip the marshmallow into the melted chocolate, and center it atop a cookie
Using a second toothpick to lightly hold down the marshmallow, carefully pull out the first toothpick.
Chill the hats until the chocolate sets, then pipe a yellow decorators' frosting buckle on the front of each hat.

4th Of July Strawberries

Strawberries
1 bag of white chocolate chips
blue sugar sprinkles

Wash and dry strawberries. Melt chocolate in microwave until smooth, stirring occasionally (it should take about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes). In a separate bowl, pour sprinkles. Dip strawberries into white chocolate until about 2/3 of strawberry is covered, then dip into blue sprinkles on the bottom third. Place on wax paper until hard!

Enjoy!!

Carrot in Dirt Treat

1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
yellow and red food coloring
1 package of Oreo cookies
toothpicks
green ribbon
small plastic cups

1. Dump out your cookie dough into a bowl.
2. Slowly knead in a few drops of food coloring at a time until you reach a rich, orange color.
3. Roll about a teaspoon of dough between your palms to get this skinny cone shape.
4. Take a knife and lightly touch it to each carrot 4-5 times to make some little lines. Nothing too deep.
5. Bake them at 350 for 7-8 minutes. Don't let them brown on the edges!
6. Place oreos in a bag and smash!
7. Once you've ground them into coarse crumbs, put a spoonful into each cup (about 1/3 full).
8. Once your carrots come out of the oven and cool down, you can tie a bow or knot of ribbon around the end of a toothpick and CAREFULLY stab that into the top of each cookie.
9. Place your carrot cookie in the cup of dirt and spoon a little more crumbs on each side until it stands up on its own

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk

In October I will be participating in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk to help raise money for those who are battling blood cancers. I PLEAD for your help by asking you to make a small donation.
Only 39 new cancer drugs have been approved by the FDA in the past 10 years. Of those, 19 were for blood cancers. LLS funded all 19 in some way.
http://pages.lightthenight.org/noh/Clevelnd12/ForDad