Pine Tree Fruit Kabobs

The pine in this case is pineapple, and laden with colorful fruit kabob branches, it’s one holiday center­piece almost too good to eat. To assemble one, cut off the top and about 1 inch of the bottom (for stability) of a large pineapple. On 4 to 5 inch bamboo skewers (you’ll need about 50), thread 3 to 5 pieces of assorted fresh fruits — melon chunks, grapes, strawber­ries, and the like — leaving an inch or so of skewer to stick into the pineapple; if your skewers are too long, you can easily cut them to size with the cutting blades of a pair of pliers. As you finish each skewer, insert it at a slight down­ward angle into the pineapple, starting at the bottom. Top with a skewered slice of star fruit or a star carved from the extra pineapple. Once the branches are eaten, don’t forget to slice up the tree trunk!

Gingerbread Men Cookies

Gingerbread Men
3 cups flour
2 tsp. McCormick® Ground Ginger
1 tsp. McCormick® Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. McCormick® Ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup (1/2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
l egg

MIX flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

ROLL out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE in preheated 350°F oven 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just beginning to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Decorate as desired.

Makes 2 dozen.

Snowman Christmas Cake

snowman cake
MAKES 24 servings
prep 15 minutes
BAKE at 350° for 43 minutes
EQUIPMENT
2 8-ounce ovenproof glass bowls 2 12-ounce ovenproof glass bowls 2 4-cup ovenproof bowls or
metal ball pans (such as Wilton) 9   foil cupcake liners
Chopstick or wooden skewer
INGREDIENTS
2    boxes (18.25 ounces each) yellow cake mix
8   large eggs
2   cups buttermilk
2/3   cup vegetable oil
1    bag (14 ounces) flaked coconut
1     roll strawberry fruit leather (such as Fruit by the Foot)
2    cans (16 ounces each) vanilla frosting
1     orange fruit slice
12 mini chocolate chips
2   cream-filled chocolate cookies (such as Oreo)
1    thin chocolate cookie (such as Famous chocolate wafers)

Heat oven to 350°. Coat bowls with nonstick cooking spray; coat with flour. Place foil liners into muffin-pan indents.
Combine cake mixes, eggs, buttermilk and oil. Beat on low speed until just combined. Increase speed to high; beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Spoon 2V2 cups batter into each of the largest bowls, 1 cup batter into each of the medium bowls and Vi cup batter into each of the smallest bowls. Divide remaining batter among the 9 prepared cupcake cups.

Bake at 350° until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean: about 17 minutes for the cupcakes, 22 to 25 minutes for smallest bowls, 30 minutes for the medium bowls and 40 to 43 minutes for large bowls. Transfer cakes to a wire rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, place the coconut in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl. Cut fruit leather into a 6-inch and an 8-inch length. Fold each in half, pressing to secure, to get 3-inch and 4-inch lengths. Use scissors to cut fringe on short end of each piece.

Invert cooled bowl cakes onto work surface. Trim flat sides to make level.

Place one of the large bowl cakes, flat-side up, on a platter. Spread top with vanilla frosting. Place the other cake layer on top, flat-side down, to create a ball. Spread a thin layer of the frosting all over cake. Gently press the coconut all over to cover.

Repeat with the remaining cakes to make 2 smaller balls.

Place the medium ball on top of the large ball. Insert a trimmed chopstick or wooden skewer for support. Place the 2 pieces of fruit leather as the scarf on top of the middle cake. Add the small ball cake on top. Add more coconut, if necessary.

Cut the orange fruit slice into a %-inch triangle for the nose and attach in the center of the small cake. Add the mini chips, pointed-end in, as the eyes and the mouth. For the hat, attach the 2 cream-filled cookies to the flat chocolate cookie with some of the remaining vanilla frosting. Arrange hat on top of snowman.

Spread remaining vanilla frosting on top of the cupcakes, sprinkle the tops with the coconut and serve with snowman.

PER SERVING 530 calories; 25 g fat (8 g sat.); 5 g protein; 73 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 463 mg sodium; 73 mg cholesterol

Candy Apples

CANDY APPLES

8 wooden craft sticks 8 medium Gala apples 2 (6.5-ounce) packages caramel apple
1 (16-ounce) chocolate bar 16 ounces vanilla bark coating Orange paste food coloring Toppings: colored sprinkles, chopped peanuts, black writing gel

INSERT craft sticks into apples. Cover each apple with 1 caramel wrap.

MICROWAVE at HIGH 15 to 20 seconds. Cool

MELT chocolate bar in a small saucepan over low heat.

DIP each apple into chocolate; let dry. MELT vanilla bark coating in a small saucepan over low heat; stir in orange food coloring.

DIP or drizzle each apple with vanilla coating mixture. Decorate with desired toppings, and let dry. Yield: 8 apples. Prep: 40 min.

NOTE: For testing purposes only, we used a Ghirardeili chocolate bar.

Meat Platter/Meat Head for Halloween

Ok, maybe a little gross, but a really eye catching food for all those Halloween enthusiasts.

In no way is there any kind of justification or morality for this kind of dish!  I only know that a cold cut bedecked skull upon a platter into the midst of a crowd of Halloween revelers chanting Meat Head. Meat Head. MEAT! HEAD! is to know what it is to touch the face of an angel.

Here’s how to make your own.

Supplies
– 1 plastic skull
– 1 box of red or green gelatin
– Cream cheese (optional)
– Food coloring (optional)
– Plastic wrap
– 1-2 cookie sheets
– 1 1/2 pounds thinly-sliced cold cuts
– 1 hard boiled egg
– Olives or cocktail onions
– Toothpicks

1. Wash a plastic skull. If it isn’t labeled as food safe, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Place this on the most decorative platter you possess.

2. Prepare a batch of gelatin, using HALF the amount of water suggested. Pour this onto a plastic wrap-lined cookie sheet to a depth of 1/4 inch, chill and let it congeal. Use a red-colored flavor for a gory look, or green if you should care to add an alien undertone to the festivities.

3. When the gelatin has set to a rubbery consistency, slice it into swatches and mold these around the skull. It may not be possible to thoroughly cover the entire head. You may also opt to augment coverage with cream cheese, stirred with the food coloring of your choice.

4. Layer the entire surface with thin slices of cold cuts. Deli ham can provide a smooth, only mildly-revolting skin, but salami and mortadella evoke a delightful soupçon of postmortem putrefaction.

5. Halve a hard boiled egg, then halve the yolk and press sides into the eye sockets. Pimento-stuffed olives or pickled cocktail onions make delightfully disturbing pupils. If you should care to amp the hue with beet juice or red food coloring, who in the world would stop you?

6. Augment the presentation by decking the platter with cooked, sauced spaghetti, meat scraps, pimento-topped hummus – however the spirit moves you.

7. Lower the lights, clear a space on the buffet table, and select thematically appropriate music for your ascension into Halloween host immortality as you introduce Meat Head to his adoring new fans.

Serve with forks and crackers. Most guests by then are whipped into a state of meat-adoring ecstasy and will simply lunge at Meat Head with their fingers, clawing off his flesh and stuffing it into their gaping maws, but you yourself may wish to maintain a sense of decorum. You’re not a savage, after all.