8 SIDELINES OCTOBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Halloween Surprise Cookies
Ingredients: One package of refrigerated sugar cookies, small tube of
royal icing, small tube of black decorating icing and Halloween sprinkles.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper
and set aside.
Roll out your cookie dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out
your desired shapes. To make each Halloween Surprise Cookie, you will
essentially need three cookies - a base, a center and a top. The base and
top are the same, but to make the center piece, use a smaller cookie cutter
or knife to cut out a place where you can eventually hide sprinkles, leaving
at least a 1/4” edge on the cookie. Carefully place trios of cookies onto your
cookie sheet and bake according to package directions. Allow to cool.
Starting with a base (a whole cookie), pipe a small amount of royal icing
along the edges and layer the center cookie on top, pressing down gently.
Fill your center cookie with sprinkles in the indentation. Place royal icing on
top edges of center cookie and add the top cookie layer. Press down gently,
making sure all edges are sealed. Repeat with remaining cookies. Take your
black decorating icing and decorate the tops of the cookies. Allow to dry completely before serving.
Autumn Pudding Cups
Ingredients: One package of chocolate instant pudding, 1 package of vanilla
instant pudding (green colored if you can find it), 4 suckers, 1 cup of chocolate
chips (milk or dark), and autumn leaf sprinkles.
Directions:
Make each package of pudding as directed. Color the vanilla pudding so that it
is the color of grass. Line out four clear glasses or mason jars. Place each flavor
of pudding into a large Ziploc bag, snip the corner and pipe the pudding into cups
starting with the chocolate first. You want the glasses to look like a cross section
of your yard. Clean up any streaks on the side of the glass. Cover and refrigerate
until ready to serve.
In a double boiler or in your microwave, heat your chocolate until it’s melted.
Line out wax paper on your counter. Pour your sprinkles into a bowl. Unwrap
the suckers and dip into chocolate. Coat each with sprinkles and set on the wax
paper to dry. Take remaining chocolate and place into a small ziplock bag. Snip
the corner, and draw stick-like trees onto the wax paper. Sprinkle some leaf
sprinkles on what would be the bare branches of your tree. Allow to dry.
When you’re ready to serve, remove the covers from your pudding. Place a
chocolate tree and dipped sucker into the pudding, propping on the side of the
glass. Sprinkle some extra sprinkles and serve immediately.
By Kat Nielsen
October is by far my favorite month of the year. The leaves
start to change, the weather breaks, and every afternoon is an
excuse to trail ride. Most of all though, October means Halloween
has officially arrived. While I love to start prepping in August,
sadly many people around me just can’t find that same level of
enthusiasm. Is it just me?
Some of my fondest memories in relation to Halloween require
months of prep, but they’re centered around horses so I seem
to get away with my enthusiasm more readily. It’s all about the
costume class! While it’s not something you can necessarily
prepare for in terms of counting strides or working on transitions,
it is about counting stitches to make sure your costume doesn’t
fall apart when your horse moves. And, it’s about working on the
transitions from horse and rider to fire truck and fire fighter (my
all-time favorite costume).
This month’s featured recipes are less “recipe” and more ideas
to kick-start the food you should be crafting this season. The
Halloween Surprise Cookies will “trick” you into thinking they’re
just a large layered cookie, while the Autumn Pudding Cups are
an easy and delicious “treat” for your guests.
Have fun with your food and the chance to dress your horse up!
Even if your horse acts like every cat you tried to dress up when
you were little, at least you’ll end up with some epic pictures and
plenty of giggles.
To full plates and eating your tarte out.
About the writer: Author Kat Nielsen is a horse enthusiast turned food blogger.
She maintains a day job in the horse world handling marketing and brand support to
various companies while enjoying her evenings and weekends writing recipes and
blogging all about her culinary experiences. Visit her blog at EatYourTarteOut.com
or email her at
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Good Food Hunting
Autumn Pudding Cups are a whimsical way to
celebrate the changing seasons.
Photos by Kat Nielsen
Howling Yummy Treats!
Halloween Surprise Cookies are large cookies
that have sprinkles in the center when you bite in.
Surprise!
