Foiled again by the rain.
It’s been raining for 4 days. Cold, spitty kind of rain. The kind of rain that raises the humidity enough that candy won’t set.
But, like I wrote in last Wednesday’s Call Secrets of the OR, I am nothing if not flexible.
You see, Halloween is my favorite holiday. What’s not to love?
The costumes!
The candy!
The carving of the pumpkins! Or, if you’re me and busy, the buying of pumpkin to put on the front stoop.
I had planned four different candies for this Cookie Thursday is a Thing, Halloween edition! This is a traditional even that has been rained out several times during CTIAT.
But alas, it is too humid.
I was going to make an old fashioned vinegar candy.
I was going to make marshmallow candy corn.
I was going to attempt pop rocks again.
I was going to attempt strawberry mochi.
But what did I make as a pivot?
I made no bake matcha bark (gotta have something green, you know), caramel sweet chex mix, cheddar pickles and, the only recipe that made the line up for this Trick or Treat CTIAT Halloween edition, caramel hot Cheetos.
Also, there is a Trunk or Treat at the hospital right after CTIAT, so I didn’t want to get too ambitious.
The cheddar pickles was something I’ve made before and the department really liked. This was a super easy quick bake. Put the pickles in a layer on a paper towel and pat dry, taking care to make sure they aren’t too small or too large. Very goldilocks this recipe. In a mini muffin tin, put some shredded cheese into the bottom, top with a pickle, top with another layer of cheese. Simplicity itself.
Everything else was a new to me recipe.
The no bake matcha bark was decidedly simple to make. Three ingredients. White melting chocolate, matcha, and rice Krispies. Melt the chocolate, add the matcha, and when it is all combined to a pale green, add the cereal. Chill to set. This was surprisingly tasty. My husband swears by matcha, which is why we had it in the house.
I started the caramel for the caramel hot Cheetos. This is also a simple recipe, 2 c brown sugar, 1 c butter, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 10.5 oz bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos. Make the caramel, stir in the baking soda until the mixture is pale and frothy, add caramel to the Cheetos. Double check the bag against the recipe and realize that the bag was 10 oz of Cheetos.
Shrinkflation strikes again.
All of a sudden, I had more caramel than I knew what to do with. I portioned out most of the caramel into the Cheetos and stirred. I spread them out on a baking pan and baked at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring halfway through. I remembered we had a box of peanut butter chex that had not been eaten. I quickly upended it onto a baking sheet and stirred in the caramel. Now I needed more binder/fluid and I poured in the rest of the white chocolate. After the caramel Cheetos came of the oven, I popped the sweet chex mix in. I didn’t bake this for an hour, more like 20 minutes. When I pulled it out, I stirred it all together. The white chocolate was melty and the caramel was caramelly. Good enough. I chunked it apart and went to lunch with my mom.
When I got home I pulled the match bark out of the fridge and broke it apart.
I used parchment paper as boats for the four makes, so that the pickle juice wouldn’t get on everything and because it just looked neater that way.
Off I went to the hospital with my 2 trays of makes.
Another CTIAT Halloween down. Time to start planning the rest of the year.
Psych!
I’ve already got the rest of the year planned.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 