Halloween Pumpkin Cake

Katie here!  So I've been cruising Pinterest lately and got inspired by a pin with a pumpkin shaped cake.  Disclosure here - I've only ever made one other cake in my life, from a box, and it was a bust.  I clicked on the pinterest link and read the blog on the person who added this pin.  They were trying out cakes from a cookbook, which I don't own, and quite honestly seemed way beyond my skill set.  So I turned to the google and found on the Joy of Baking the below recipe, which I doubled to accommodate the amount of cake and icing I would need to make this masterpiece.  The recipe is for a traditional 2 layered cake.  In order to get the shape and size of the pumpkin I used a bunt cake pan and cooked two cakes.  I sliced off the bottom of each to create a flat surface and iced each flat side.  I then put the two flat iced sides together to create the pumpkin shape.  I used the some of the leftover pieces from creating the flat bottoms as the stem.  And my son pointed out that the pumpkin was missing a face, so I grabbed some chocolate chips for the face.  To create the orange coloring I used food color dye and after following the instructions on the number of drops using yellow and red, I just kept slowly adding each color until I got my desired orange hue.

There are of course a few shortcuts here if you don't want to go the route of made from scratch from start to finish.  You can always buy spice cake mix at the store and icing and just add the food color to get the icing to the desired color.

Overall I think the cake was a hit. I can tell you my Son was quite proud of the end results and still continues to stuff his face days later from this cake.

Please note that the below recipes are the doubled amounts vs. a single cake portions as indicated on the Joy of Baking link.

Cake Recipe:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2.5 cups light brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups canned pure pumpkin puree
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven.  Butter and flour the bunt cake pan.  Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time.  Add pumpkin and vanilla extract and mix well.  In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.  Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the pumpkin batter.  Pour half of batter in bunt cake pan, smoothing to make even.  Cook for 35-40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 10 minutes and then take cake out and cool on wire rack.  Repeat process for remaining batter.  Make sure cakes are completely cooled prior to icing.

Frosting recipe:
16 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
4 tbs pure maple syrup
6 cups confectioners' sugar

Combine the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add the maple syrup and sugar and mix until combined.  Do not over mix the frosting to thin.  Add food dye to obtain orange coloring.

Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Spookily Healthy Halloween Treats

Halloween is a time of a dentist's dreams. With candy and sugar around every corner kids are just a couple of treats away from the chair. I myself have had my fair share of dental work and probably have the worlds worst teeth so I have been doing my best to offer some healthier options at our festive holiday events this year. I'm sad to say that some of our festivities were canceled but hopefully we can make the best of it and still manage to get some trick-or-treating in on Wednesday.
So hear you go... my five top healthy Halloween treats for your next big event... be it a Halloween or Sandy themed affair! 

1. Apple Monster Mouths- Apple slices with peanut butter and almond slivers. Slice your apple, cover with peanut butter and then push the almond slivers into the flesh of the apple to make teeth.

2. Banana Ghost- Cut a banana in half and set it upright. Stick three raisins in it to make eyes and a mouth. I tried to roll mine in coconut to add some extra texture but it didn't work well so I would just stick it out with the regular banana.

3. Cheese Ghost- string cheese and raisins. Peal the bottom of the string cheese to make the fan of the ghost. Cut three slits in the other end of the stick and push one raisin in each hole to create the face. I actually used two raisins, one cut in half for the eyes and the other for the mouth.

4. Cheese and pretzle bugs and spiders- cheddar cheese chunks and pretzel sticks.

 5.  Hot Dog Mummy- hot dogs and crescent rolls, mustard eyes optional. Unroll the crescent rolls and use your fingers to pinch the perforations together to make one long piece. Cut thin strips to wrap the hot dogs with. I used my pizza cutter to cut these strips to make it super easy. Wrap the “head” of the hot dog and then the body leaving a small space for the face. Bake per instructions on the crescent roll packaging and serve!

Chicken Broccoli and Cheese Sandwiches

These days little B is really into “helping” mommy whenever he gets the chance. Whatever I am doing my little shadow wants to be right there to help. He wants to vacuum with me, fold laundry with me and of course cook with me. So now I am constantly trying to come up with new ways he can help out in the kitchen without making a HUGE mess for me to clean up later. These sandwiches are the perfect child friendly meal to make with your kids because there is a lot of assembling they can help with. It really was exciting to see how proud of himself he was when he got to serve daddy the dinner that he made.

3 C diced cooked chicken (I used leftovers from our baked chicken the night before)

3 C chopped broccoli (I used frozen)

2 C shredded cheddar cheese

Ranch dressing

1 loaf of Italian bread

Cut the loaf of bread in half lengthwise and scoop a bit of the middle out. Drizzle ranch dressing over the bread and then sprinkle chicken and broccoli over it. Top with cheese and heat in oven until cheese has melted. If you have your chicken cooked ahead of time this dinner can be ready in 15 minutes from start to finish (or 30 with the need for extra toppings if you have a 2 year old assemble).

Coq Au Vin - Lemon and Capers Chicken

Katie here!  I was pretty intrigued when I first saw this recipe combo in Food & Wine Magazine a few years back.  The first time I had Coq Au Vin was at my sister's house and I was instantly in love.  Years later I was pretty pumped to find this modern take on the recipe.  And if you enjoy this version, click on the Food & Wine link above and they have three other versions that work off this base recipe.  I substituted out the butter with Earth Balance and served it over long grain rice with a side salad.  My husband asked me after the first bite how many servings he was allowed to go back for, so I guess I would say it was a hit!

8 bone in chicken thighs with skin
Salt and pepper
Flour
2 tbsp butter (I used Earth Balance as a non-dairy sub)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large garlic cloves peeled
1 1/2 cup Sauvignon Blanc
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
4 1-inch long strips of lemon zest
4 thyme sprigs
1 tbsp capers drained
1 bay leaf

Heat oven to 350.  Season chicken with salt and pepper and lightly coat with flour.  In a large ovenproof skillet melt the butter and olive oil over high heat.  Add the chicken, skin side down.  Brown on both sides, total cooking time 12-14 minutes.  Transfer chicken to plate and drain off all but 1 tbsp of fat from pot.  Add garlic and cook on low heat until soft, approx 5 minutes.  Add wine and boil until reduced by half, approx 5 minutes.  Add stock, lemon zest, thyme, capers, and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil.  Return chicken to the pot, skin side up.  Transfer pot to oven and cook for 45 minutes.  Return pot to stove top and boil until the sauce is slightly reduced, approx 5 minutes.  Discard thyme, bay leaf and lemon zest.

DIY Sesame Street Costumes: For less than $20 and in an hour

When I was little my grandma use to make our costumes for us. I vividly remember one Halloween asking to be a purple unicorn and how excited I was when my grandmother brought that costume to reality. I hope that one day B can look back on the fun we have had together just as I do now.

Always in favor of a photo op, I began thinking about Halloween costumes early (like maybe November of last year) and totally got stuck on the idea of doing a Sesame Street theme. After two years of purchasing costumes I decided I was ready to tackle a DIY project so I knew I needed ample time to prepare. I started questioning B about costumes a few months ago and we settled on Big Bird, lucky for me, my dear friend Sarah’s daughter is obsessed with Grover so I had a partner in crime to work with.

Please note Sarah and I are both bat Sh*@ crazy which is why we get along. We are somehow lucky enough to found ourselves a group of other ladies who are willing to be just as bat SH*@ crazy as we are, especially when it comes to holidays, play dates and photo ops. I am so thankful for this band of brothers who went above and beyond to make my dreams of a DIY costume year come true! To Sarah, Katie, Abra, Kate and Dana, thank you (and your adorable children) for rocking my socks off!

If you are looking for a cute, cheap and easy enough costume to make for your toddler (or yourself) check out our own DIY version of Sesame Street gone WILD!

What you will need:

1 Hooded sweatshirt in your color of choice (we ordered ours from jiffyshirts)

2-3 foam balls ( we used 2 inch ones from Michaels)

Felt (white and black for eyes and nose color of choice if needed)

Glue gun

Thread and needle

Scissors

·         Many of the costumes required additional items such as Abby and Ernie’s hair or Big Birds beak but Ill go through that later.

Eyes: Cut a square of white felt for each eye. Glue the felt to the foam ball using the glue gun, glue the black felt circles on to each of the felt covered balls and stitch the eye ball onto the hood of the sweatshirt. You could glue the whole eyeball onto the sweatshirt instead of sewing it but I wanted to be able to use the sweatshirt again and not have glue stuck to the outside of it.

Noses: If your character has a nose (Elmo, Grover, Abby, Ernie) cover your nose with felt and sew or glue it onto the sweatshirt between the eyes.

Additional Items:

Big Bird: for his eyes I covered the back half of each of the eye balls with pink felt and then drew a bright blue rim with a blue sharpie marker on each of them to create the effect. For his beak I used one yellow piece of felt. I folded it into a triangle shape and glued it together in a triangle shape. Once the glue was dry I stitched the beak to the underside of the hood trying to only get the thread through the inside layer of the sweatshirt so that the stitching would not show through. The biggest undertaking for this costume really was the legs. I found a pair of orange sweat pants for $8 on clearance at Old Navy which had me doing a happy dance. I purchased the awesome pink ribbon at Michaels and did a really easy stitch job to secure the ribbon to the pants. I plan to cut the stitches out after Halloween so that B can continue to wear those awesome sweatpants all winter. SCORE!

Ernie: Ernie’s mama (703 Mommy & Me contributor Katie) used a piece of black faux fur to create the hair. Fur like this is readily available at fabric stores and since you only need a 2 or 3 inch piece it is super cheap. Katie achieved Ernie’s striped sweater look using painters tape! How cool is that?? What a great cheap and easy to get the effect without having to do anything permanent to the shirt!

Abby: Abby’s mom Kate is a master crafter which is why her hair is simply BANANAS! Her eyes were accomplished by adding a fan of black felt to the back side of the foam balls to create her signature eyelashes. We used the same blue sharpie to line her eyes and then added a dot of white out to complete the look. Her pig tails are poms of yarn that were sewed into the top of the sweatshirt.

The basic level outfit cost each of us $15 for the sweatshirt and less than $3 for the other supplies. Each outfit took about an hour to assemble which means you all still have time to make your own custom costume for under $20! 

Potato Topped Chicken Pot Pie

I have a plethora of potatoes in my house right now. The last few weeks our CSA has sent a bag full and I guess I have been slacking on coming up with new ways to use them. Since I am big into the comfort food season right now I thought I would try a fun potatoey spin on my traditional chicken pot pie recipe.

I do love the original so I am not quite sure I could replace it with this one but I will say this one gets an A+ for presentation and taste. The most important thing is slicing the potatoes super thin so they fully cook. The best way to achieve this is to slice them on a mandolin but if you don’t have one, slice carefully with your knife. So I guess the moral of this story is, if you are looking for a classic comfort food that will WOW even the most particular of guests, give this one a try.

1 whole chicken breast (2 split) bone in, skin on

EVOO

Herbs de Provence

4 C chicken stock, (I used my MYO Crock Pot Stock that had been frozen)

1 chicken bouillon cube

½ C butter

1 Onion, chopped

½ C flour

¼ C milk

2 whole carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 C frozen peas

½ C parsley, chopped

Frozen pie crust (one)

 3-5 medium potatoes, thinly sliced

Rub chicken breasts with EVOO and sprinkle with Herbs de Provence. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove bones and skin and chop into cubes and set aside. To create the sauce mix chicken stock, bouillon together and set aside. Sautee onions in butter until they are translucent and add flour and continue to stir until the rue has thickened. Add stock mixture, salt, pepper and milk and continue to mix until everything is incorporated. Add the chicken, veggies and parsley and mix well.

Pour the entire mixture into the pie crust and then top with thinly sliced potatoes. Sprinkle salt over the potatoes and then either spritz or brush with EVOO. Bake at 375 for an hour.

Coconut Curry Chicken Fingers

When I hear chicken fingers I think super fried, fast food that is a kids dream (or at least my kid), so I get really excited at the chance to class them up a bit. These coconut curry chicken fingers are the perfect way to achieve a delicious adult flavor profile while still keeping your kids happy at mealtime. Since I once read (don’t you hate how reading things makes you think they are facts) that kids who eat curry and other strong flavors at a young age are more likely to have a better palet as an adult I now feel the need to feed my child curry on a semi-regular basis hoping that he will continue his mamas passion for food.

As I said earlier this week, the sweet smell of the coconut and the spiciness of the curry totally filled my house with the most delicious smell (at least until I burned the second batch) so I couldn’t wait to taste them at dinner. The result was a delicious juicy tender with a crispy crunchy breading full of flavor. So for all of you out there who have been anxiously waiting, I give you the 703 Mommy & Me Coconut Curry Chicken Fingers!

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken tenders

2-3 c buttermilk

1 c unsweetened shaved coconut (I get this at Whole Foods since most other places only offer sugar covered coconut)

1 c panko bread crumbs

1 tsp curry powder

½ tsp garlic powder

S&P

Coconut oil (or oil of choice)

Soak chicken tenders in buttermilk for at least 30 minutes (up to 24 hours) and then season with salt and pepper. Mix together the coconut, panko, curry, garlic powder and more S&P in a bowl and begin to coat each tender individually. Be sure to thickly coat each tender by smashing as much of the breading onto it as possible. Once breaded, set each tender on a baking sheet. Spray or drizzle oil over each tender and then bake at 500 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Little B ate his with ketchup but I prefer mine with some Ken's Sweet Onion dressing. DELISH! 

Fennel Crusted Pork Roast with Pears and Potatoes

Katie here!  It's fall time and this recipe from Real Simple Magazine is one of my favorites.  It is super easy and bursting with flavor.  I used a small mortar and pestle to crush the fennel seeds, but if you don't have one handy try using the bottom of a small pan or even grinding them in your coffee grinder (just remember to clean it well after you are done).

1 tbsp fennel seeds, crushed
2 cloves of garlic minced
4 tbsp of olive oil
salt and pepper
2lbs of boneless pork loin
2 red onions quartered
1 lb small white potatoes quartered
3 Bartlett pears cored and quartered

Heat oven to 400. Mix together the fennel, garlic 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1tsp salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper.  Rub on pork and put into roasting pan.  Mix together the onion, potatoes, pears, 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper with remaining oil.  Scatter around the pork and roast until 160 degrees, approx 70 minutes.  Let pork rest for 5 minutes.
 

Salted Caramel Apple Pie

So we went apple picking… I have a bushel of apples in my house and I need to start using them pronto. Lucky for me my good friend Nicole sent me this apple pie recommendation last week which got me thinking. Never being able to leave good enough alone I decided to take the bourbon pie a step further turning the sauce into a salted caramel deliciousness that blew my mind. For those of you who are in that salted caramel love affair right now you MUST try this pie. I seriously cannot even explain how good it is.

Spiced bourbon to salted caramel comes easy here. Remove the cinnamon, add some salt and allow the sauce to caramelize around the edges of the new crispy crumble pie topping. The milk and corn starch really are the key ingredients to the filling, ensuring the pie has a thick and almost creamy texture that is to die for.

This recipe is an alteration from the original found on A Beautiful Mess

1 pie crust (I used premade but feel free to MYO if you have the time)

Filling:

4-5 tart apples (PINK LADY!!)

½ C milk

1 tbs corn starch

2 tbs bourbon

2/3 C dark brown sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Zest from one lemon

1 tsp salt

Topping:

¼ C cold butter

½ C sugar

½ C flour

Thinly slice the apples and set aside. In a small bowl, mix all the other filling ingredients together and then pour over the apples tossing them until they are evenly coated. Pour mixture into the pie crust and then mix the topping together. To do this you combine the ingredients in a bowl and mush them together with your hands until it resembles clumpy dirt. Sprinkle over the apples trying to evenly cover them and then bake the pie at 350 for 45 minutes.

Weekend Recap

We had the absolute best weekend full of all sorts of fun events. Saturday morning we checked out the Fire Prevention Week activities at the Falls Church Fire House in the morning and then headed up to Homestead Farm in the afternoon for some apple and pumpkin picking. The perfect weather continued on Sunday so we decided to play tourist in our town and hit up the national mall. B had an awesome time trolling the memorials and posing for the countless photo ops. While I never got around to that pesky “to do” list I can’t complain because we really did have the best time.

One of my favorite weekend activities was the time we spent at Homestead Farm in Poolsville MD for the afternoon with all of B’s cousins. This was the third year we headed out there and probably my favorite yet. It was so fun to do everything with our gaggle of geese and it made me so excited for the years of fun to come. We started out the afternoon with some apple picking, did a little animal feeding and then rounded out the day with a hay ride to the pumpkin patch. We found the perfect 22 lb pumpkin that both B and I were in love with and then tragedy struck. We woke up this morning and someone had STOLEN our pumpkin off our front steps. I was devastated… B got over it as soon as we took him to the pumpkin “patch” in the CVS parking lot next to our house and picked him out a new tiny pumpkin of his own.

B's perfect pumpkin

Sorry for the side bar… back to the farm coverage. Homestead is awesome. If you decide to head out there you should know that they have tons of options for PYO produce throughout the growing season but the only apple variety in season right now is Pink Lady. This works well for me because they are one of my favorite varieties. I love their super tart flavor and crispy, crunchy texture and they are perfect for all the baking and cooking projects that I have planned. If you have never been out to Homested before I would definitely recommend checking them out for a little extra fall fun. The farm is located about a 45 minute drive from Arlington and has enough activities that you could easily pack a picnic and spend a full day checking it out.

cute little pumpkins

We ended up with a whole bushel of apples so of course you should be expecting many apple recipes in your near future.

Winter Squash and Swiss Chard Pasta

Planning for play dates has gotten even more complicated these days. I am always looking for fun new recipes to feed a crowd on a budget that are also dairy free and preggo friendly. Since I am trying to take advantage of my last couple of weeks of our CSA I decided to whip up a hearty pasta featuring some of last week’s veggies. Winter squash and Swiss chard. Both the ladies and the babies seemed to enjoy it and it reheated well I think this one should definitely stay in my rotation.

1 box of whole wheat penne pasta

1 bunch of Swiss chard, cleaned dried and chopped

2 small to medium winter squash

EVOO

1 can white beans

1 onion, chopped

1 head of garlic

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

Toppings: Parmesan cheese, bacon crumbles

Toss peeled and chunked squash in EVOO, S&P and spread out evenly on a baking pan. Peal garlic and set aside 3 cloves. Sprinkle the rest around the baking pan and place in the oven. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. Add EVOO, onion, chopped chard stems and the remainder of the garlic to a skillet and allow the onions to sweat. Add the chard leaves and season with S&P and vinegar. Allow the greens to cook down until they are bright green but not yet soggy. Remove from heat and set aside. (These two steps I did the night before and then stored all the ingredients in an air tight container in the fridge overnight.)

Cook the pasta according to directions on the box. Strain cooked pasta, reserving 2 cups of pasta water to use in the sauce. Heat about 1 tbs of EVOO in a pan. Add the roasted garlic cloves smashing them into the pan until they resemble a paste. Slowly add water to the pan until it begins to look like a sauce. Add vegetables and beans (bacon and cheese if using) and toss until everything is coated evenly. Add the pasta and as much EVOO as needed to coat the pasta. Season with S&P and then sprinkle additional cheese and bacon over the top.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - Dairy Free

Katie here! Has anyone noticed the pumpkin craze on Pinterest?  Well I am right there with them and decided to set out to create a dairy free pumpkin chocolate chip muffin for our 703 Mommy and Me followers.  I took the base recipe of chocolate chip pumpkin muffins from joy of baking.com and altered a few procedures to decrease the prep time and then used my favorite dairy alternatives.  I was relieved when all taste testers loved them.  When it comes to butter substitutes I love Earth Balance.  It cooks and tastes the closest to butter.  Also I was tipped off by Midori on dairy free chocolate chips from Trader Joe's.  Also I had doubled this recipe when I made it with no issues.  Below yields 12 muffins.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup of earth balance butter substitute or any other non-dairy butter substitute at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips -dairy free (I used Trader Joe's)

Heat oven to 350.  Place rack in middle of oven.  Spray each muffin tin with veggie or canola oil (I used canola).  In a large bowl mixed together flour, baking soda, all spices, and salt.  In another bowl mix together the butter and sugar until creamy (I did it by hand). Add the eggs one at a time and continue mixing.  Add vanilla and mix.  Add the flour mixture in batches, in addition to the pumpkin puree.  Keep mixing until well blended.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups evenly.  Place in oven and bake for approx 18-20 minutes or until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Halloween party planning tips with the Candy Buffet Queen

Hi, My name is Mikell Reed Carroll and I am a Diplomat turned Candy Buffet Queen!  I recently turned my passion for sweets into a profession by opening my own business: Candy Buffet Queen!

Candy buffets are not only delicious and beautiful, they can make any event more fun and festive elevating it to the next level. Since Halloween right around the corner, I thought I would share some of my favorite tips and tricks on how to make your own candy buffet for your Halloween party, ensuring this years party is your best event yet!  

ONE: Display jars for the candy.  You may have jars around the house you can use so get creative.  Apothecary jars, mason jars, glass bowls or other containers are perfect for this. Don’t be afraid to borrow them from neighbors or friends or if you feel like stimulating the economy, you can find very nice and inexpensive glass display jars at discount stores like HomeGoods or  Ross for as little as $5.99 to $19.99.  For visual appeal it is best to have jars of various sizes and heights.  Usually 5-7 is good for a smaller event and 10-12 for a larger event but keep your budget in mind, the larger the containers and the more jars you have the more candy you will need!  If  you have a small budget, use shallow containers and jars, and achieve height by stacking them on different props from around your home to create the visual impact you are looking for.  You may also want to purchase small scoops and tongs for your guests to use to get the candy out of the containers. These are most important if you have unwrapped items in your buffet.  Tongs and scoops can be purchased at: Oriental Trading  or Candy Warehouse.TWO: Choose theme colors.  For Halloween black and orange are natural choices, but purple, white, red or green are great accent colors as well.  Once you have your colors, keep most of the candy in those two to three colors, this will help give a better visual appeal to your Halloween candy buffet.

THREE: Containers or bags for your guests. These can be as simple as a brown paper bag dressed up with black construction paper bats or you can purchase ready made treat bags from craft stores, Oriental Trading or sometimes they can even be found at discount stores like T.J.Maxx. 

FOUR: Choose your table set up your candy buffet.  Choose a table cover that goes along with your theme color and if you want to add an extra special touch add a festive Halloween table runner. Set up your linens, arrange your containers and fill them with candy.  Add colorful ribbons that compliment your theme colors to the tops of jars and around lollipops.  Last but not least, add a few decorations to the table will help make your candy buffet pop even more.  Don’t forget to display your treat bags or boxes so your guests can enjoy your hard work. Extra touches like a banner or candy jar labels out of construction paper and ribbons will put the final touches on your display.

A few final notes:

When purchasing candy, make sure to keep the size of your containers and the number of guests you are having in mind.  Most companies recommend 8 ounces of candy per guest.  Remember to keep your colors in mind purchasing candy in colors that match your theme.  I purchase my candy online at Candy Warehouse or Candy.com.  If you buy online be sure to check retailmenot.com first to see if there are any discounts available at these online retailers.  These retailers offer free shipping or between $10 to $20 off an order by checking this site.  The smaller candy buffet (pictured) has about $55 worth of candy and the medium sized buffet has about $85 of candy. Another great personal touch is to add baked goods.  Cookies, brownies and cupcakes decorated to match your theme can be displayed on coordinating glass trays or cake stands.  Letting your kids help bake and decorate the baked goods can make this a fun experience for the whole family.  If you are like me and don’t like to bake or don’t have time to you can purchase pre-decorated Halloween baked goods at your local grocery store or bakery to add a great touch to your buffet!

I am really excited about my new candy buffet business and in order to expand my events portfolio I am currently offering my services FREE for those in the D.C. Metro area.  This means you pay for the candy and I will provide my expert design services, containers and props and set up and clean up of your customized candy buffet for FREE!!  E-mail me at candybuffetqueen@hotmail.com for details or to book your event today.  You can check out pictures from my events and keep up with special promotions and offers by visiting my facebook page. 

I hope this tutorial has been helpful, and that you have a great time designing your very own Halloween candy buffet, and remember, I’m here to help you make your special event even sweeter with a custom candy buffet!!

Mikell Reed CarrollJ

Candy Buffet Queen

Candy used in my buffets pictured:  Lindor Peanut butter filled truffles, Hershey’s Dark kisses (purple kisses), Hershey’s pumpkin spice kisses (orange kisses), Brach’s candy corn, Hershey’s kisses (silver kisses), Hershey’s Bliss Rich and Creamy Dark Chocolate (Maroon purple), Hershey’s Bliss Smooth and Creamy Milk Chocolate (violet purple) and whirly pops purchased at discount store.