Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Too Old for Halloween?

It’s October and I am SO getting into the Halloween spirit (so to speak).
The spiders are climbing the stairs again:

Stair Spiders | www.BakingInATornado.com | #Halloween #decorations

Coffee is being served in appropriate mugs:
Halloween mugs | www.BakingInATornado.com | #Halloween #decorations

My friend has been designing season themed outfits for her kids:

Candy Corn Cutie costume by Stacy Sews and Schools | www.BakingInATornado.com
Click here for Candy Corn Cutie outfit tutorial

And I have, of course, been creating new recipes:

"Candy Corn" Bread | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #Halloween

"Candy Corn” Bread


But it was brought to my attention that I now have a mostly empty nest and maybe it’s time to {{gasp}} act more my age, leave Halloween to the little kids.

Wait.

What?

There’s a Halloween age limit? Is this like the height limits at amusement parks? ‘Cause I have a hard time qualifying there too.

But I don’t want to give up Halloween {{she says in her best whiny voice}}.

So is there such a thing as being too old for Halloween? Let’s see.

Five signs you may be too old for Halloween:

*People hand you a broom as a prop when you’re actually not in costume yet.
*You forget that all that candy was bought because kids will be coming to the door so you just eat it all.
*You remember that the candy you bought was for the kids. You sit there in costume anticipating the fun all night long but the kids never come so you eat all the candy. Then you realize that Halloween is tomorrow.
*You remember that the candy you bought was for the kids, you have the date right but you can’t hear the doorbell so you never give it out.
*They’re lowering you into the ground . . . for realz.

Five signs you may NOT be too old for Halloween:

*Halloween is the perfect excuse for playing with food. If you think that turning sandwiches into snakes, meringue into bones, and cookies into spiders is a productive way to spend your days, it’s not your age that’s in question here.
*You still give out candy. Everyone knows that you’re not too old for Halloween until you start giving out pennies.
*You have no shame. Want to test the theory? Put on a chicken suit, go to the meat section of your local grocery store and stare down anyone buying chicken.
*You still laugh out loud when you scare the bajebus out of the neighborhood kids.
*It’s October 31st, a year has gone by since last Halloween. One kid's far away and missing him hurts, the other kid and his friends lit your car on fire but you still get out of bed in the morning. No matter how old you are, if you’ve made it through another year, you’ve EARNED Halloween.

"Candy Corn" Bread | www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #Halloween


Happy haunting!


PS: This bread neither tastes like nor has candy corn in it, so you can just slice and serve if you don’t want to cut it into wedges.
Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics
 



“Candy Corn” Bread
                                                                              ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup milk
2 ¼ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 TBSP milk
2 TBSP unsweetened baking cocoa
 
1 TBSP plus 1 tsp Orange Juice.
6 drops yellow plus 2 drops red food coloring
 
1 TBSP Milk
2 tsp lemon extract
5 drops Yellow food coloring
 
Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X5 loaf pan.
*Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and ¾ cup milk.
*Mix in flour, baking powder and salt, just until incorporated.
*Divide dough into 3 bowls. In one bowl, mix in 2 TBSP milk and 2 TBSP baking cocoa. Spread evenly into prepared loaf pan.
*In the second bowl, mix in 1 TBSP plus 1 tsp OJ. Carefully spread evenly on top of the chocolate layer. Try not to mix the layers together.
*In the third bowl, mix in 1 TBSP milk, 2 tsp lemon extract and 4 drops yellow food coloring. Carefully spread evenly on top of the orange layer. Try not to mix the layers together.
*Bake approximately 50–55 minutes or until center springs back to the touch. Check after 60 minutes, you may need to tent tin foil over the top at that point.
*Cool for 10 minutes. Run knife around the edge and gently use it to lift bread from the bottom to loosen bread from the pan. Remove bread and cool completely before slicing.
*Slice bread into approximately ¾ inch slices. Cut the sides off of each slice from the bottom, up at a diagonal so you end up with a large center triangle. Arrange the triangles on a plate and serve.

30 comments:

  1. LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!!!
    And BIG HUGS!!!!! For missing Purdude and the whole car incident.

    I will be stretching my kitchen creativity this month. Heaven help us all..... ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the hugs, always appreciated. Can't wait to see what you do to . . . I mean in your kitchen!

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  2. Karen - you are too good! I thought that I had things going by taking out the Halloween recipe to place on our Mantel yesterday! Also love the sewing tutorial and our amazing recipe! I need to get on it in the kitchen:) And what??? lit your car on fire???

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    Replies
    1. Hey Monica, you're not fooling me, I've read your blog, you get more accomplished in an hour than I do in a day!

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  3. This is so cute, and looks yummy too! I LOVE your spiders climbing the stairs. Pinning to my Halloween Board. Yes - my kids are now teenagers, but I still look for Halloween ideas!

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  4. Love your blog and completely agree with you that we are NEVER too old to celebrate Halloween!!

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  5. Never, never, never too old for Halloween!!! My kids grew older long ago. But growing up is optional, right? We still dress up. Hand out treats. Decorate. We've even been known to dig a grave in our front yard. Ahh . . . Halloween . . .

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    Replies
    1. Yes, completely agree with you. I'm jealous of the digging the grave part, but I'd be in big trouble if I damaged the sprinkler system!

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  6. If push comes to shove you can always just go to a Halloween parties for grown-ups. And there are so many costume options too! Sexy maid, sexy nurse, sexy witch, sexy vampire. sexy elf, sexy alien... The list is endless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Remind me to never let you pick out a costume for me . . .

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  7. I like anything candy corn. I Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and candy corn one of my favorite treats!

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    Replies
    1. I like the original candy corn (now there are so many new flavors I can't even keep track) but I only like it this time of year. I think I'd like it less if I had it more.

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  8. I'm in the process of decorating right now, and by the time I'm done it will look like my house barfed up Halloween! Never too old - and anyone that says so is just a fuddy duddy. You're right - we deserve Halloween :)!

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  9. Halloween is my favorite holiday! I still get dressed up and go parties or clubs. Never too old! Why grow up? That's no fun.

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  10. I loved this post. Thanks for the laugh. Here is my opinion, and I also commented on Triberr: Never never too old for Halloween. I'm thinking of costume ideas right now. Two years ago I took my daughter trick-or-treating and went as myself. I regretted not doing anything that year, because it was always fun, and I briefly told myself I was "too old" for such things. Then I realized after, if you think yourself old you'll feel older. Boo to that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boo to that is right. If there's anything I'm learning as I go through life it's to take every fun opportunity that comes along!

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  11. I don't think you can ever be too old for Halloween. Great post!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I'm certainly still having a lot of fun with Halloween cooking and baking.

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  12. Oh I can't wait to hear how the latest disaster happened. Mine got arrested...gee mom I kinda forgot to pay that speeding ticket or to show up for the court date if it wasn't paid on time. This time mom said nope, deal with it. He called his other grandmother and was out 30 minutes later. What we must go through.

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  13. Hey you...I just love live live your recipes...I look forward to seeing your blogs everyday.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. What a great comment to start my day with a smile!

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  14. I'm trying so hard to get into the spirit this year...my older two are with their dad. I love Halloween. Normally. It's perking me up to see others getting into the spirit.

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    Replies
    1. I hope you get into the spirit of the holiday. The fun really is contagious.

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  15. Note to self: Buy a chicken suit NOW. You're always welcome to send some of that Halloween love down under, we still don't celebrate this one, and I think someone of your enthusiasm could totally change that.

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