Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

This is our first Halloween in Chicago, and I must say, it has been a good one. Two quick gripes, and then I will move forward. One being, the lack of pumpkin beer available on Halloween. Apparently, the season starts in September and ends early October. What?! That is absurd. Who wouldn't want a nice pumpkin beer on Halloween, or around Thanksgiving for that matter. It is upsetting. Secondly, Halloween baking materials are basically nonexistent the week of Halloween. Unless you buy your Halloween goods before fall even begins, you are out of luck. This system seems illogical, but what can you do?

Moving on, we have visited a pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, roasted seeds, attended Halloween parties, lost self-control with miniature candy and watched Blackbeard's Ghost. Halloween complete.

(headed to a UChicago Halloween party)

Tonight, I made some simple sugar cookies with a Halloween theme. I followed the recipe from The Craft of Baking. Sugar cookies can be hit or miss, but I enjoyed this recipe. The results were pretty good. There seemed to be a shortage of orange sprinkles this year, or I was too late in getting them (but in actuality right on time), so I made do with green and purple.

Simple Sugar Cookies recipe:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted (I used bittersweet chocolate because that is what I had, and it worked well)

Mix all ingredients and then split the dough in half and mix in the chocolate with the half in the mixer. Refrigerate for one hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

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