Pinteresting: With some Halloween Decorations

I'm one of those people who decorates for NO HOLIDAY EVER.  I put up a 3' Christmas tree, if I put a tree up at all.  Don't get me wrong.  I love parties and I love to host parties, just not at my house.  I'm thinking Matthew or Ryan should have a party soon, so I can get my hostess with the mostest on.  I made pumpkin cheesecake and pear pie for Matthew's football get-together Sunday.  Recipes for me to post there.  I need to make that happen.  So much to do, so little time...  Have some decorations:

I love this for the simplicity.  I love this for the nontraditional colors.  I love this.  I think it would look stunning for v-day with l-o-v-e instead of boo.

One of my friends got gel splatters and handprints to put on the door.  I think those are fun!  Here's a door runner version.

 

If you ever wanted to know how Paula Dean decorates her house for Halloween, here ya go.

Vampire Pumpkins! I would also like to see these with bubba teeth.

I'm not sure what this is made out of.  Foam board?

 

Glow-in-the-dark paint.  Not just for Halloween.  Paint your own shapes on the ceiling in the kid's room!  Who needs star stickers?  Pshhh.

 

These bats are my favorite, but this is actually a link to 40 decor ideas.

 

Do you decorate for the holidays?  Let me know how into holiday decor you are in the comments below.  I may be late with my pinteresting today, but at least I'm here!  

Bacon Cheese Twisty Things

My mom loved to throw parties when I was a child.  I remember her making these and some chicken/bacon pinwheels that were really good (I wish I could remember what was involved with making those).  I got to help out with these and they are super-simple to make.  The preparation process takes maybe 15 minutes and then you just toss them into the oven to bake low and slow.  These are delicious and almost effortless.  Even better, if you still need to come up with something to bring to your Superbowl party tonight, you still have time to make these!  Here's how:

Cast of characters:  Bacon, Parmesan cheese, and club crackers (Seriously, that's it!)

Cut the slabs of bacon in half.  I need lots of twisty things, so I'm using two pounds of bacon.

Arrange the club crackers on a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.  You want the bacon grease to fall away as it cooks so the bacon will crisp up.

Scoop out the Parmesan cheese.  I use a teaspoon.

 

Spoon it right on top of the club crackers.  It doesn't have to be perfect.

Some assembly required.  Pick up a cracker

wrap the bacon around from one end. . .

. . . to the other.

Ta-Da!

Repeat the whole wrapping thing until you run out of bacon or crackers or cheese.

Bake these guys at 250° for 2-3 hours.  Here they are after just one hour.

And here they are all done after three hours!  The ones on top were made with bacon that was a little thicker.  I prefer my twisty things with crispy bacon, but I'm being equal opportunity for the party.

I'm guessing you don't really need a recipe, so I'm not going to spend the time creating a printable one.

Bacon Cheese Twisty Things
Ingredients:
Bacon
Parmesan Cheese
Club Crackers  

Cooking Instructions:
Preheat oven to 250°.  Arrange crackers on top of a wire cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.  Spoon Parmesan cheese over the crackers, about 1 teaspoon per cracker give or take.  Cut the bacon in half.  Pick up one of the crackers with cheese and wrap the bacon around the cracker, doing as best you can to cover both ends.  Once you run out of ingredients or have enough twisty things, put your full baking sheet(s) in the oven.  Allow to cook a minimum of 2 hours, but they will probably take more like 3 hours. 

Enjoy!
~elle

Maple Cheesecake Cupcakes with Bacon!

Need I say more?  Wait.  I do?  Ooookay.  The idea for these cupcakes was born from a post on Facebook.  I hate making decisions, so I posted a poll on the event page for my friends' annual Super Bowl party asking if people would prefer bacon cheese twisty things or cheesecake cupcakes with strawberries.  One of my friends commented "bacon cheese twisty things, or bacon cheesecake cupcakes."  I suggested maple cheesecake with chocolate dipped bacon?  My friend replied, "Hell Yeah!"  While I nixed the chocolate dipped bacon in favor of the simpler candied bacon, you have my friend Matthew to thank for the inspiration.

I'm using my standard cheesecake formula with a few tweaks--namely, add maple syrup and subtract lemon.  Let's get started:



Cast of Characters:  cream cheese, bacon, dijon mustard, maple syrup, pepper, salt, butter, graham cracker crumbs, sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla

put graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a bowl

add melted butter

mix those things together until the crumbs are thoroughly coated with butter



scoop the crumb mixture in your cupcake liners

fill up the liners with the cheesecake mixture

whisk together maple syrup and dijon mustard

liberally spread the maple syrup/mustard mix onto the slices of bacon

 

Maple Cheesecake Cupcakes with Candied Bacon

(makes 18 cupcakes)

Ingredients: 

1/2c graham cracker crumbs

1t sugar

2T melted butter

16oz cream cheese

2/3c sugar

1/3c maple syrup

3T flour

1/4t salt

2 eggs

1t vanilla

6 slices of bacon

1/2c maple syrup

1t Dijon mustard

Pinch of pepper

Cooking instructions: 

For Crust:  Preheat the oven to 350º.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, first amount of sugar, and melted butter.  Stir until graham cracker crumbs are evenly coated with butter.  Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.  Spoon the crust mixture into the cupcake liners and tamp down with your fingers.  Place the crusts in the oven and bake about 8 minutes to avoid the crumbly crust when you take the cupcake out of the liner to eat.

For Cheesecake:  Cream the cream cheese and second amount of sugar together with a mixer.  Add first amount of maple syrup, flour, salt, eggs, and vanilla and mix until smooth.  Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature; otherwise you will end up with lumpy batter.  Begin filling the cupcake liners with the cheesecake mixture.  Cheesecake doesn’t rise like other baked goods because it doesn’t have a leavening agent, but you still don’t want to overfill the cups.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Allow the cakes to cool on the counter before moving to the refrigerator to set.

For Bacon Garnish:  Arrange the slices of bacon on top of a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.  You want the bacon fat to drain to the bottom of the pan while it’s cooking so your bacon crisps up a bit.  Whisk second amount of maple syrup and Dijon mustard together.  Liberally coat the bacon strips with the glaze.  Bake in the oven 12-15 minutes.  Take the baking sheet out, sprinkle a tiny bit of pepper on each slice, flip the bacon, coat the other side with the glaze, and return to the oven for another 8-10 minutes, or until it is at your preferred doneness.  Sprinkle pepper on the other side of the bacon.  Allow to cool before breaking each strip of bacon into thirds and arranging on top of the cheesecakes.

Enjoy!

For a printable version of this recipe, click here (recipe will open in a new window).

Let me know what you think!  Leave me a comment here or send me an email at ellelittleblogATgmailDOTcom