Recipes as Promised

Here are the recipes that I promised from my Pumpkin Party post a couple of weeks ago! This week, I'm doing a couple of different blogs because I've been slack in the blogging department, but not in the life department! I have several things I'd like to share with you. So lets get to those recipes, shall we?

Caramel Cheesecake Fruit Dip

• Two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
• One 8-ounce tub of whipped topping
• One 16-ounce container of caramel dip

Beat cream cheese in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add whipped topping and caramel dip and beat until smooth. Chill until ready to use.

This can also be poured into a ready-made pie crust and served as a no-bake cheesecake. You can top it with chocolate sauce, nuts, toffee chips, whatever strikes your fancy!

Stuffed Jack-o-Lantern Peppers
This is a large recipe. Feel free to scale it down to fit your family!

• 18 bell peppers
• 1 large onion
• 1 Tbs. oil
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 3 cups white rice
• 6 cups water
• seasoning salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot, add rice, water, and bouillon cubes. Bring rice to a boil on high heat, stir, and cover. Turn heat to low and forget about it for 20 minutes. (I mean it! Don't you lift the lid or stir it at all!) Meanwhile, wash peppers and cut tops off. Clean out the seeds and pith, then carefully cut out a simple jack-o-lantern face. Chop up the usable part of the pepper tops. Finely chop the onion. Add the onion, pepper bits, and oil to a skillet and simmer on medium heat until tender. After the rice is finished cooking, add the peppers and onion, then season with seasoning salt to taste. Loosely pack the rice evenly into each pepper. Place the stuffed peppers on a greased baking sheet so that they lean on one another. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour.

Eggnog
This recipe comes from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. Keep in mind, this recipe uses raw eggs. Consume at your own risk.

• 12 eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups bourbon
• 1/2 cup brandy (for a non-alcoholic version, we omitted the booze and substituted 2 tsp. rum extract)
• 6 cups milk
• ground nutmeg
• 1 cup heavy or whipping cream

1. In large bowl with mixer at low speed, beat egg yolks with sugar. At high speed, beat until thick and lemon-colored, about 15 minutes, frequently scraping the bowl.
2. Carefully beat in bourbon and brandy (or rum extract), once Tbs. at a time to prevent curdling the mixture. Cover and chill.
3. About 20 minutes before serving: In chilled 5-6 qt. punch bowl, stir yolk mixture, milk, and 1 1/4 tsp. nutmeg.
4. In large bowl with mixer at high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
5. In small bowl, using same beaters, with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form.
6. With wire whisk, gently fold egg whites and cream into yolk mixture until just blended.
7. To serve, sprinkle some nutmeg over top of eggnog; ladle into 6-oz punch cups.

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping
This recipe came from the 12th edition Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. I actually found a link to the recipe on the BHG website here. The only difference is on the website, it calls for a premade pie crust bottom, whereas in the book, they tell you how to make a single pie crust. I will now give you the single pie crust recipe from the book, so you can choose whether you want to save some time or make a 100% from scratch dish.

Pastry for Single-Crust Pie

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 4 to 5 Tbs cold water

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size.
2. Sprinkle 1 Tbs of the water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat moistening flour mixture, using 1 Tbs of the water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened. Form dough into a ball.
3. On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.
4. To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it.
5. Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pastry. Crimp as desired. Do not prick pastry. Bake as directed in individual recipes.

Well that's that, folks! That's how we made all the yummy stuff we served at our Pumpkin Bash. Because I'm a little obsessed with Halloween, I've already started making plans for next year's get-together. Our theme is going to be Lousiana Voodoo House, and the food is going to be Cajun/Creole faire. Our dessert is going to be beignets, and I've got some cute plans for snacks such as frog leg cookies and voodoo-doll breadsticks. See you next time!