Happy Hallow-Week! Bone Yard and Franken Family Oreos

Pic Monkey Fun! 

I don't think I will ever out grow Halloween much to Mr. Chocolate's chagrin. Even with Grad School Boy out of the house, and exactly 0 trick or treaters last year, I can't help myself! 

I'm also not sure when GSB will stop getting holiday care packages. I thought "oh once he's out of college" but Noooooo.  

I've done all kinds of dipped Oreos over the years and this year's no exception. This time...acid green candy melts and Frankestein themed sugar decorations.  I didn't take pictures of the process because you can find the how to's all over Pinterest but here are my goodies! 

For these I covered completely in acid green candy melts and then put a candy  Papa Frankenstein, Mama Frankenstein, Baby Frank and Franken Pooch on top! The package also came with Cats and Bats. I love these things because they are so detailed and so easy ( but you don't tell people that of course!)

The rest of the cookies are a boneyard theme , just 1/2  dipped in the candy melts and sprinkled with black sugar and white sugar bones. All products are Wilton. I got mine at Michaels and Target. 

I packaged them up in cello bags along  with some Dove eyeball candies, and the rest of the goodie box contains a scarf for the cold weather he will not be used to this winter, two pounds of coffee, and of course more candy as filler! 

For some extra fun I decorated the inner flaps of the box with some Halloween scrapbook paper.  I had to include a card....cut out the "BOO" bat with my Silhouette, glittered it and mounted as shown. 

 Your kids may grow up but you will always be a mom right? 

Elf Bite Cookies and Snowball Pretzel Rods

The coming year will be one of change for the Chocolate house. College Boy will be graduating which seems unreal. The past four years have flown by like that. It seems like just yesterday I sent off the first care package of treats to him, and hard to believe this was the last batch of college Christmas treats.

I saw a fun cookie idea on Pinterest that I decided to try. Mine don’t look nearly as spectacular as the originals but they turned out OK. You can see the inspiration for them along with the full recipe here: Salt Tree Family Food and Crafting Swirled Sugar Cookies. 

Make the dough, divide in half and color half with gel food coloring. Then layer the doughs, and roll together jelly roll style.

The original cookies used the dot sprinkles but I only had jimmies so improvise!

Basically, you roll your roll in the jimmies, then chill, slice and bake. I am calling mine elf bites!
I also made dipped pretzel rods which resulted in my asking “why haven’t I done this before?” These were super easy! I used a sparkly Wilton candy melt and added little sugar "snowballs".

Dip your pretzel rods in melted chocolate ( I got my pretzels at Safeway), let set, then dip in melted candy melts. Decorate as desired.

I included some candy canes and continued the elf theme by cutting some elf stockings using my Silhouette. Embellished with washi tape and pom poms.

To package everything, I used these candy cane bags I found at Michaels, along with some candy cane striped paper ribbon I had in my stash.

Halloween: Mummified and Mustached Monster Cookies...College Boy's Last (Undergrad) Halloween Goodie Box

I can’t believe this is the last year I’ll be sending off a Halloween Treat Box of goodies to College Boy. At least as an undergrad :) Just because your child goes to school out of state, doesn’t mean you don’t still celebrate fun holidays with them. OK I'll speak for myself lol.  I started this his freshman year and it’s just become tradition. 

This year I decided to try my hand at Mummy Cookies I’ve seen around the way.
You can find lots of tutorials on Pinterest .

These are SO easy. I used Nutter Butter cookies, white Wilton candy melts, and my new favoritest ( that’s a word!) thing ….candy eyes! Because who doesn’t need eyes made of sugar?!

I shmoosheared ( that’s another word….between smoosh and smear) the melted candy melt on the cookie using the back of a spoon just to give it a base coat. Knowing I was going to pipe more candy over the top, I  wasn’t exactly neat about it.  While still wet, attached the candy eyes. Using a disposable cake decorating bag with a round tip ( I wish I had a smaller tip but you make mummies with the tips you have) pipe more  melted candy coat stuff on the mummies. Just freehand back and forth.

College Boy loves all things mustached so when I saw candy mustaches next to the candy eyes ( cake decorating supplies Michaels, JoAnn’s, Target) I had to get those too. Behold Mustached Oreo Purple People Eaters. Originally I was going to do bats to go with the mummies but the power of the ‘stache won out.

Good thing too because the black candy melts I bought weren’t really black when melted, but rather dark purple. So I dipped the Oreos, applied the eyes and the mustaches and then covered with purple decorating sugar.

Since I had leftover everything, I decided to make this monster bark. Melted semi sweet chocolate, plopped broken Oreos and Nutter Butters, candy eyes and some sugar bones from last year randomly, let set, cut or break into pieces. Oh and more purple sugar because clearly this was not yet a nutritionist’s worse nightmare.

Did I mention I have to mail all of this stuff ( that no one told you you had to make for your son and his friends but lalalalala I can’t hear you and thank goodness for flat rate shipping)? Yay tissue paper bought after Christmas last year for $.25! Wrap and cushion all in one.

I spread the contents as shown on a layer of tissue then gathered up the edges to make  little bundles. Tied with ribbon and then “ let there be tags”. Because each bundle must have a tag. It's a rule or something.

I love making tags. It’s a great way to use up the scraps from other projects.

And voila! Monster Mummy Treat Bundles because this Mummy loves her College Boy.

Did You Know There Were Triple Double Oreos? Oh and Snowman Goodie Bags and Ornaments

By now my readers know that I love to send treats to College Boy whenever I get the chance. Those of you who’ve been here through "my" college journey have heard me say that college kids really do love being kids again especially during the stress of finals.

This year I went with a Snowman  / Winter theme and decided to go with dipped Oreos which are my go to treat. I actually screamed out loud in the grocery store when I saw these:

Triple Double Oreos! The regular filling and chocolate filling and three layers of the cookie all in one. Had to get!

And because clearly there wasn’t enough sugar involved as is, I dipped them in confetti candy melts and sprinkled them with sugar pearls and snowflakes ( All cookie decorating supplies: Wilton). The look like they’ve been dipped in snow .

I found some Lindt Truffles at the store that matched the color scheme of the bags I had as well as the confetti candy melt:

White chocolate and dark chocolate and the blue and black wrapping was perfect.

The dipped cookies and truffles went in cello snowman bags and then I picked up individual hot chocolate packages to go with each goodie bag. I finished everything off with a snowman ornament for each of the recipients.

The ornaments were super super easy!

Supplies:

• Clear Glass Ornaments ( I used the flat round ones you can find these at any craft store)
• Mod Podge
• Glitter
• Self Adhesive Rhinestones
• Glitter Glue ( I used ZAZZ Copper )

I swizzled the ornaments with a little alcohol and water to clean them and once dry poured in some Mod Podge:

Swirl your MP around inside the ornament until fully coated, pour in glitter, shake to coat. Turn your ornaments upside down in a cup to drain and dry.

I used self adhesive rhinestones for the eyes and mouth and just freehand drew the nose with the glitter glue tip. SO EASY!

Zombie Cookies and Monster Fingers: This Year's College Boy Halloween Treats

If you’ve followed my blog for the past few years, you’ll know that I usually do a Halloween care package for College Boy. Halloween always falls around mid-terms and if you’re the parent of a college student, you might be familiar with the “send your kid a care package” letters that usually come out this time of year. Some company will deliver a care package to your student but needless to say, I’d rather make my own.

I try to make these fun but keep the cost down especially since we have to mail these. Dollar Tree, Michaels, and stuff I had on hand came together. 

This year I went with a Zombie / Monster theme . We’re huge “Walking Dead” fans. While Zombies aren’t known for eating bones, I couldn’t find any candy brain sprinkles so bones it is.

For this project you will need:

• Oreos
• Candy Melts ( I hadn’t yet decided between the green and the black but ultimately just used green)
• Bone sprinkles ( if anyone finds brains, let me know!)

Dipped Oreos are about the easiest thing you could ever do. To start:

Melt candy melts. I usually do mine in the microwave.

Once melted, dip. Place on wax paper. Sprinkle with stuff. Done. Seriously.

I had some green goo left over and I’d picked up a Halloween themed silicone mold at the Dollar Tree because I have wanted to try using them . I have had mixed results with the clear plastic molds. I’m hooked on the silicone molds!

I made crunchy candy Monster Fingers! I spooned the leftover green melted candy into the mold until about half full.  I spotted some M and Ms and decided to sprinkle them on top of the green candy. Then went over that with melted dark chocolate. When you bite into the finger, CRUNCH, just like a bone. I know, I’m twisted.

For the bone shapes in the mold, I filled with dark chocolate.  Not a great photo but didn’t have time to worry about lighting when I was trying to “set my bones”.

To package everything, I used these purple chevron striped cups I got last year from Pick Your Plum. I stacked the cookies and wrapped them using clear cello bags. Same for the fingers.

Paired the cups with these black and white star bags I picked up on one of my dig through the clearance stuff trips to Michaels. 75% off!

While I was at the Dollar Tree, I also picked up some pumpkin decorating kits. No carving required, the pieces just stick to the pumpkin. Last year I recall he and his friends went in search of no carve options so hopefully they still want to do this!

Filled the paper star bags with the cookies, finger, and additional candy and stapled the kits to the outside.

Dollar Tree also had some Zombie Outbreak tape that went well with the theme so added that. All packed up and ready to go!

2012 Halloween Treats  "Fangtastic Treat Bags"

2011 Halloween Treats  "Reverse Trick or Treat"

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Peppermint Bark Cupcakes and Cookie Pops

Thought I’d share the treats I did for my husband’s office. You might remember the cookie pops I did for Halloween. Same basic process…candy melts, Oreos, lollipop sticks. This time I just crushed up some candy canes to sprinkle on top. Voila. Peppermint Bark Cookie Pops.

I started out making cupcakes but completely spaced and forgot that he needed more than 2 dozen. So….supplemented the cupcakes with a box of cookie pops. Crisis averted.

Basic chocolate cupcake, vanilla icing, crushed candy canes = Peppermint Bark Cupcakes. I was completely lazy and used pre-made toppers by Wilton. Thank you Dollar Tree Christmas trays.

I wrapped each of the cookie pops in cello bags and tied with red and white striped paper ribbon I had on hand. Then at the very last minute I decided they needed a box so covered one w/ scrapbook paper in like 2 minutes. Made a medallion and stuck on the front.

Ooops. Fixed that tape that sprang loose before I sent them off.

These cookie pops are the stinkin easiest last minute thing to whip up. Seriously.

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