[ HALLOWEEN ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Marshmallows dipped in colored white chocolate are all decked out for Halloween. A bowl of candy corn turns the treats into a centerpiece.
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One of the great tragedies of modern civilization is that we cannot allow our trick-or-treaters to eat homemade goodies. Out of fear of real-life goblins, we restrict them to commercially wrapped brand names -- no hand-crafted popcorn balls or jack-o'-lantern cookies handed out by some nice lady down the street.
If not for that, Debbie Cone's house would be the most popular in the neighborhood.
Think of Cone as Wilhelmina Wonka. She makes candy for the love of it, because it's challenging and she likes the way people react to the end product. To be her friend at Christmas is true good fortune. She's already thinking about the pretty little monogrammed boxes of homemade chocolates and mini-cheesecakes she's going to pass out.
But it is Halloween that looms before us. Not enough time to learn toffee-making -- although Cone can do that, too -- so instead she's got quick suggestions for personalizing the holiday.
She regrets that she can't pass these goodies out for trick-or-treat, but there are other venues. Her daughter's classroom potluck, for example. You can wrap them up nice and give them to families who won't mistake you for a Halloween ghoul. Or bring them to the office and ruin everyone's diet.
Her first suggestion could hardly be simpler -- a marshmallow on a stick dipped in chocolate and trimmed in
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Debbie Cone makes candy treats for her children's school parties and to share with friends. Here she's dipping marshmallows in melted chocolate.
Halloween candies. All this requires is a bag of chocolate candy pieces and lollipop sticks, both available at kitchen specialty shops and some craft stores. Get regular and white chocolate pieces (the white can be colored orange or purple with food coloring). Marshmallows, candy corn and orange/black candy sprinkles can be found at the grocery store. Some of them also sell molded sugar pieces in shapes of pumpkins and witches.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave (a few seconds on high, then check and stir; don't overdo it or the chocolate will burn). Impale marshmallow, dip in chocolate, then roll in sprinkles or stick with candies. Allow to set on waxed paper, then wrap individually in plastic. For a party presentation, fill a bowl with candy corn and stick a bunch of the pops into it.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Mini-marshmallows and M&Ms turn ordinary cupcakes into Frankencakes.
Cone began candy-making when she was pregnant with her first child and her husband was out a lot of nights working on a community theater production. "I'd never made candy before."
Her first project was peanut butter cups, which morphed into something called Buckeye Balls -- eyeball-shaped chocolate-peanut butter candies that also are a good Halloween idea.
Ideas came from Bon Appetit magazines that she'd been collecting. And although she started as a way to fill empty nights, Cone continued even after the baby came and life was considerably busier.
"My favorite day of the month was the day Bon Appetit arrived," she recalls. Family Fun magazine is another favorite source. "And I would watch the Food Network every time I sat down."
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Use refrigerated dough to simplify the baking, then put your time into decorating these cat cookies with candies.
In her single days, Cone was the type who'd come home from work and make salmon pate for one. As a mom she tried to keep up the from-scratch ideal. "I never bought anything packaged."
But with four children now, reality has entered the picture. "Usually I try to cheat around the recipes." She'll use slice-and-bake cookie dough, for example, but go hog wild when it comes to decorating.
Here's a recipe for one of Cone's favorites, chocolate eyeballs with peanut-butter pupils.
Line a baking sheet with waxed paper. Combine peanut butter, vanilla, butter and sugar in a medium-sized bowl, using your hands. Mixture will be stiff. Shape dough into balls, using 2 teaspoons for each. Place on waxed paper and refrigerate.Buckeye Balls
1-1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 16-ounce package powdered sugar
1 6-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening
Melt chocolate and shortening in a double boiler over simmering -- not boiling -- water. When smooth, pour into a small bowl or measuring cup.
Remove peanut butter balls from refrigerator. Insert a toothpick into each ball and dip in chocolate so that 3/4 of each ball is covered. Return to waxed paper, chocolate-side down, and remove picks. Refrigerate 30 minutes, until chocolate is firm and no longer sticky.
Store in plastic containers with waxed paper between each layer of candy. Makes about 5 dozen.
Nutritional information unavailable.
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