HALLOWEEN GINGER CAKES

1 cup Shortening

1 cup Brown sugar

2 Eggs, well beaten 1 cup Molasses

4 cups Flour 1 teaspoon Soda

1 Tablespoon boiling Water

1 teaspoon Ginger

1 pinch Salt

Cream the shortening and sugar together. Add eggs and beat thoroughly. Add the molasses and baking soda which has been dissolved in the boiling water. Sift the flour and ginger together and combine with other ingredients. Mix well. Pour into well-greased muffin pans and bake at 350-F about 20 minutes.

PUMPKIN ROLL CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

3 large eggs, beaten to blend

2/3 cup canned solid pack pumpkin

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 13x9x5/8-inch jelly roll pan. Line pan with waxed paper; butter paper. Mix first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Lay kitchen towel on work surface; dust with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar. Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Turn out cake onto sugared towel, waxed-paper side up. Fold 1 side of towel over 1 long side of cake, then roll up cake jelly roll style. Cool cake.

Combine cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla in medium bowl; beat to blend. Mix in walnuts.

Unroll cake; leave on towel. Peel off paper. Spread cream cheese filling evenly over cake. Using towel as, roll up cake and place seam side down on platter. Trim ends of cake. Dust cake with powdered sugar. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)Serves 10 to 12.

Cut cake crosswise into 1-inch-thick

Roasted Pumpkin Seed recipe

Don't throw out the seeds when making Jack-O-Lanterns or cooking fresh pumpkins, they make great snacks that are rich in fiber as well as vitamins B and E. Kids especially love them. Purists will want only salt as a seasoning, but if you're feeling adventurous, experiment and have fun with seasoning blends.

1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds
2 tsp. melted butter or oil (olive oil or vegetable oil work well)
salt to taste
Options To Taste:
garlic powder
cayenne pepper
seasoning salt
Cajun seasoning blend

Preheat oven to 300° F.

While it's O.K. to leave some strings and pulp on your seeds (it adds flavor), clean off any major chunks. Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and seasonings of your choice. Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

Roated Pumpkin Seeds
Yep, its easy. Clean off  all the mess and place them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Salt them if you wish. Put them in a 375 degree oven until toasted. Maybe 15-20 minutes. Thats all.

Cat Poop Cookies

Chocolate Ingredients:

1/2 c Honey
2/3 c Butter, margarine, or lard
1 Egg
1 ts Vanilla extract
2 c Whole wheat flour
1/3 c Cocoa powder

Grape-nuts(tm) cereal Mix-Ins:Coconut; (tapeworms) Chocolate chips Butterscotch chips Peanut butter chips Spaghetti or ramen noodles, cooked - (roundworms) Corn Peanuts "puffy pastel things" * -find at Chinese restaurants *NOTE: "puffy pastel things are to look like the cat ate styrofoam packing pellets-I haven't tried this To make: microwave the honey till it bubbles(about 1 minute). add the butter,(i've been told using lard makes for a more realistic texture and softer cookie) and the molasses, if any. add the egg, mix well, then mix in all the other stuff. add mix-ins of your choice to some or all of the batter. Chill 1 hour in the freezer or several hours in the fridge. roll dough logs of random length and the diameter of cat poops. Roll logs in grapenuts and bake at 350 degrees till done (maybe 10 to 15 minutes but with my flaky oven you never know). Serve in a disposable cat litter box on a bed of grapenuts, with a cat litter scoop. I hear you get lovely effects by dec! orating the box and scoop with melted chocolate or pudding. I imagine brown sugar might work as a substitute for the new clumping litters, but i havent tried it. This recipe worked especially well at the halloween party where the table was already decorated with plastic flies.

Bewitching Hands

Planning Tip:

Can be refrigerated in a rigid airtight container with wax paper between layers up to 1 day or frozen up to 1 month.

Green and yellow liquid food color

1/2 an 18-oz roll refrigerated sugar-cookie dough
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Fingernails:

Candy corn

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Have ready a 33/4 x 23/4-in. hand-shaped cookie cutter (see Note) and baking sheet(s).

2. Knead drops of food color into dough until a yucky green. Knead flour into dough. Shape into a 1-in.-thick disk, wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll out.

3. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll dough to 1/4 in. thick. Cut out hands. Reroll and cut scraps once; reserve remaining scraps.

4. Place half the hands (see Tip) 3 in. apart on ungreased baking sheet. Make a 1-in. cut between each finger toward palm. Pinch fingers so each is about 1 in. longer, thinner, wavy and gnarled. Press down on fingertips (so candy-corn nails will fit later) and on palms to make a little thinner. Mark knuckles with back of a knife. Roll reserved scraps into balls for warts. Gently press warts on hands.

5. Bake 7 to 9 minutes until pale golden around edges. Remove and immediately press candy-corn nails on fingertips. Cool hands on sheet on a wire rack 5 minutes before removing cookies to rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining hands.

Tip:

If a hand-shaped cookie cutter is unavailable, draw the outline of a small childs hand on cardboard, cut out, use as a pattern to cut out the dough, then proceed with Step 4. Yields will vary.

Halloween Punch (alcohol-free)

12 oz orange juice concentrate, frozen
12 oz grape juice, white, bottle
2 litre 7-Up
1pt sherbet, lemon or lime
Green food coloring

Mix together orange juice concentrate, white grape juice, 7-Up, lemon or lime sherbet, and several drops of green food coloring. Serve the punch with large plastic spiders or large plastic flies floating on the top (just be sure the spiders or flies are big enough that people will see them and they won't be swallowed by accident).

Crispy Little Pumpkins

Planning Tip:

Make up to 1 week ahead. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

3 Tbsp stick butter or margarine
1 bag (10 to 10 1/2 oz) fresh, white marshmallows (any size)
20 drops yellow liquid food color
12 drops red liquid food color
6 cups toasted rice cereal (such as Kelloggs Rice Krispies)
Stems and features:

Black licorice twists, mini M&Ms and sticks Fruit-Stripe gum

Handles:

Black licorice lace cut in 6-in. pieces

1. Have ready a 1-cup measure. Melt butter in a 4- to 6-qt pot (preferably nonstick) over low heat. Add marshmallows; stir until melted. Add food color; stir until mixture is orange. Remove from heat, add cereal and stir until well-coated. Let stand just until cool enough to handle. (If mixture cools too much, scrape onto wax paper and microwave a few seconds at a time, just until malleable.)

2. For each pumpkin: Coat hands and cup measure with nonstick spray or vegetable oil. Pack cup with cereal mixture. Immediately turn out onto work surface, form into a pumpkin shape and insert your thumb into top for stem. Let stand 30 minutes or until firm.

3. To decorate: Cut licorice twists into 2-in. pieces for stems and in tiny triangles for eyes and noses. Firmly press in place. Cut gum into smiling mouths. Firmly press gum and/or M&Ms in place for mouths (see Tip). Make holes for handles with a toothpick; insert handles.