baking for Halloween

I admit, I went a little Oreo-crazy today. I will blame it on pregnancy, but everyone knows that once you start using these delicious little cream-filled cookies, you just can’t stop! I had two packages to use so I chose to make two goodies for a Halloween pot luck tonight. We were supposed to bring a “side”.. is dessert a side?

First up, since I had a busy weekend out-of-town and my exhausted little pregnant body is still reeling, I chose to make the super-simple but really tasty and adorable chocolate-covered Oreos. These are so easy to make and a real hit at get-togethers. Here is what you need:

1 package Oreos (your choice of flavor)
parchment paper
chocolate bark (available on baking aisle)*
any kind of sprinkles or frosting drizzle you’d like to use for decoration

*Chocolate bark comes in a package of about 12 bars of delicious chocolate used for candy making and coating.

I used Cool Mint Oreos with Wilton Mint Drizzle Icing, and regular Oreos with cute fall-themed sprinkles by Wilton.

1. Turn an eye of your stove to LOW. This is very important! I am a very impatient person and I like to try to rush through steps, but take my word and do NOT try to start cooking the chocolate on High just to speed up the process. You will burn chocolate on the bottom of your pot, and even if you correct the heat, you will have little burned flecks mixed in with your fresh chocolate. Start out on low.

2. In a medium-sized pot, place 6 bars of chocolate bark, and stir every couple of minutes until the bark is melted.

3. Place a large piece (about 1’) of parchment paper on your counter near the workspace.

4. Drop Oreos, one at a time, into the pot and use a spoon to bathe them in chocolate. Once covered on all sides and the top, scoop the Oreo out and place on parchment paper.

5. If using sprinkles, I advise you to sprinkle them on while the chocolate is still wet (you can sprinkle a few at a time as you cook). If using an icing drizzle, wait until the chocolate dries.

6. Allow Oreos to dry thoroughly and ENJOY!

I’m proud to say that I only ate one of these while I was cooking!

All right, one treat down, one to go. I grabbed a book that my friend Tami gave me for my college graduation that shows some easy, fun goodies to make that start with a plain boxed cake mix. On my agenda was a simple layer cake with some Halloween inspiration.

This layer cake was simple: prepare a white cake mix as directed, then fold in 8 crushed Oreos before separating into two 8" cake pans (I stick the Oreos into a ziploc baggie, seal it, and beat them with the bottom side of a soup ladle. Also a fun way to get out any pent-up aggression). Cook as directed and then layer using white frosting. In a separate can of frosting (or homemade frosting, if you’re feeling like Miss Fancy-Pants), use orange food coloring or equal parts red and yellow to color the white frosting.

I used the leftover plain white frosting to make a crumb coating, which is just a quick, sloppy coating of frosting that may get crumbs from the fresh cake all mixed in with it. Then I stuck the cake in the freezer for 30 minutes to let that frosting harden a bit. I took the cake out and coated it in the pretty orange frosting, and then smashed up about 10 more Oreos. Tilting my cake plate, I used a spoon to smash Oreos from the baggie onto the bottom edge of the cake. This takes the longest of the whole project!

Finally, I used any leftover orange frosting to make a pretty, photogenic swirl on the top of the cake and used my final whole Oreo cookies as a Stonehenge-like décor on top. Voila!