Witches Fingers

Gross everyone out with these creepy cookies.

1 cup Butter, softened 1 cup Icing sugar 1 Egg 1 tsp Almond extract 1 tsp Vanilla 2 2/3 cups Flour 1 tsp Baking powder 1 tsp Salt 3/4 cup Almonds, whole blanched 1 Tube red decorator gel (optional)

1 In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Beat in flour, baking soda, and salt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoonful of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press almond firmly into 1 end for nail. Squeeze in centre to create knuckle shape. Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle. 2 Place on lightly greased baking sheets; bake in 325F (160C) oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for 3 minutes. Lift up almond, squeeze red decorator gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place, so gel oozes out from underneath. 3 Remove from baking sheets and let cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough.

Servings: 5

Yield: 5 dozen

Send me a picture of your creepy creation !

Halloween Recipes - Black Cat Cupcakes

Everyone has a sweet tooth when it comes to Halloween! Only days away and the perfect time to cook up some spookily delicious treats! I'll be posting some great Halloween recipes over the next week. Here is one to start it off!

Black Cat Cupcakes

1 1/4 cup Oreo® cookie crumbs 18 1/4 ozs chocolate cake mix 24 pcs Halloween Oreo® cookies 16 ozs milk chocolate frosting black string licorice jelly beans semisweet chocolate chips 1 Preheat oven to 350. 2 Prepare 24 - 2½" muffin cups with cooking spray and flour; set aside. 3 Prepare cake mix according to package directions; stir in cookie crumbs. 4 Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 25 minutes. 5 Remove from pans; cool on wire rack. 6 Make cat faces on each of the remaining 24 cookies: using some frosting, attach 4 - 1½" licorice strings for whiskers, 2 jelly bean halves for eyes and 2 chocolate chips for ears. 7 Let set at least 30 minutes. 8 Frost cupcakes with remaining frosting. 9 Stand cat faces on edge on each cupcake. 10 Place 3" piece licorice string on back half of each cupcake for tail. Servings: 24 Yield: 24 Preparation time: 10 minutes

If you have a favorite Halloween recipes, please leave it in the comments.

Italian Sausage & Spinach Soup

1 Package Sweet Italian Sausage
64 oz Chicken Broth
1 Small Onion
1 Large Can Chopped Tomatoes
1 Cup White Rice
Handful of Baby Spinach

Remove sausage from casing and saute with onions over medium-high heat until cooked. Break the sausage apart as it cooks. Add chicken broth and heat until almost boiling. Add tomatoes and rice; reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is cooked, about 20 minutes. Add spinach and cook until spinach takes on a vibrant green color. Serve immediately. Garnish with cheese and serve with crusty bread.

Mustard Baked Chicken

This dish always gets raving reviews at the dinner table!

Serves 4

8 Chicken Pieces with bone
4 tbs butter, melted
4 tbs Dijon mustard
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp paprika
3 tbs poppy seeds (sometimes I use sesame seeds)
3 1/2 cups pasta shells
1 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400F

2. Arrange chicken pieces in a single layer in a large ovenproof dish.

3. Mix the butter, lemon juice, mustard, sugar and paprika together in a bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Brush this mixture over the top surfaces of the chicken and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Remove the dish from the oven and turn the chicken over. Coat the top surfaces of the chicken with the remaining mustard mixture. Sprinkle with poppy seeds and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

5. While its cooking, cook pasta shells in boiling water for 8-10 minutes.

6. Drain pasta and transfer to plates. Top the pasta with one or two pieces of chicken. Pour the mustard sauce from the pan over the chicken and serve.

Bourbon Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

4 small skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large clove garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chicken broth
2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey
salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a heavy skillet. Sauté the garlic and onion until onion is transparent. Remove garlic and onion from skillet with a slotted spoon. Brown the chicken breast halves on both sides. Return garlic and onion to skillet, add the chicken broth and bourbon. Cover and cook over very low heat until chicken is tender and done, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.