Orthodontic Friendly Halloween Recipies

Spooktacular Pumpkin Cake

Provided by the American Association of Orthodontists

Ingredients:
1 pkg. yellow or white cake mix
½ cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
¼ cup water (add 2 tbl. of water if eggs are small)

Directions:
Put cake mix in a large bowl. Make an indentation in the center and pour in the oil and one egg. Mix using mixer, then add the rest of the eggs one at a time, beating after each one.

Add pumpkin, sugar, spices, and then water.

Bake in greased and floured tube pan in 350 degree oven for 60-70 minutes (depending on oven calibration). Cool before removing from pan.

Spider Bites

Recipe idea adapted from “The Braces Cookbook” by Pamela Waterman
Makes: Approx 36 treats

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1 Tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa
1 Tsp. salt
½ Tsp. baking powder
1 package black rope licorice, cut into 1-inch pieces**
1 small tube of white (or color of choice) frosting
Toothpicks


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine shortening, sugar, water, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add eggs into the mixture and blend. Slowly mix in flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder using low-medium speed. Drop tablespoon helpings of mixture onto ungreased cookie sheets and roll each helping into a ball.

Bake 9 minutes at 375 degrees. The batch should produce around three dozen cookies.

Let cookies cool for about 10 minutes. Then using a toothpick, create four small holes in either side of the cookie. Still using the toothpick, push one end of a piece of the cut licorice into each hole, creating the “legs” of the spider. Once all eight pieces are in place, create eyes or decorate at will using the white frosting. Then eat and enjoy!

**Licorice can sometimes stick to braces; parents should monitor

Slimy Lime Fruit Punch

Adapted from Parent Magazine

Make sure top use a very large bowl or a saucepan with high sides when making this frothy mixture. The meringue powder will really foam up when you start whisking.

Ingredients:
Powdered lemonade mix to make 2 quarts
1 peeled and sliced orange
1 sliced lime (approx. 1/8” slices)
1 pint raspberries
2 tubes red decorating gel
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. meringue powder
2 liters seltzer
10 drops green food coloring
4 drops yellow food coloring

Directions:
Squeeze red gel down the inside of 12 small, clear glasses. Let dry about 10 minutes.

In an extra-large bowl, combine lemonade mix, sugar and meringue powder. Slowly pour in seltzer, whisking continually until combined. Stir in green and yellow food coloring. Add sliced fruit and berries for color.

Pour punch into glasses and serve.

Pumpkin Cookie Pops

Adapted from www.pumpkinnook.com

Ingredients:
¾ C unsalted butter, softened
½ C brown sugar, firmly packed
½ C canned or fresh cooked pumpkin
1 tbsp orange zest
1 egg yolk
1 tsp pure vanilla
2 ¼ C all-purpose flour
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
20 wooden sticks (tongue depressors or Popsicle sticks work best)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, combine with electric mixer the butter, brown sugar and orange zest. Add the pumpkin, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix.

Gradually add the flour and spices. Mix with your hands to create a soft dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into two pieces. Roll out each piece to 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut into pumpkin shapes with cookie cutters.

Place on ungreased baking sheet and securely insert a wooden stick into the bottom half of each pumpkin cookie.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Decorate with favorite frosting.

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Softies

Recipe idea adapted from “The Braces Cookbook” by Pamela Waterman

Makes 36 – 40 cookies

1 ^1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 15-ounce can plain pumpkin purée
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon milk
1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. In large mixing bowl, with a mixer or whisk, combine pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, oil, molasses and milk. Add flour mixture slowly into pumpkin mixture until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

The dough is very soft. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets, 12 cookies to a pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Store in a covered container between sheets of waxed paper.

Meatloaf in a Pumpkin/Squash Recipe by Pamela Waterman, author of The Braces Cookbook For Halloween this makes an easy yet impressive main dish complete with its own side vegetable. Serve as wedges of pumpkin-plus-beef. If pumpkins aren’t handy, use several dark green acorn-squash sliced down the center – the deep orange insides form a dramatic contrast, and guests receive their own halves. 1 pumpkin, approximately 8 inches to 10 inches diameter, or 3 to 4 small acorn-squash 2 pounds ground sirloin (best for its low fat content) 2 eggs ¾ cup ketchup ½ cup water ¼ cup dried minced onion 1 ½ cups bread crumbs (plain or seasoned) For pumpkin, bake at 350 degrees for 1½ to 2 hours. For acorn squash, bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1¼ hours. For a pumpkin, cut out a “lid” about 5 inches diameter, then clean out the pumpkin, throwing away the lid, seeds and stringy parts. For the squash, poke the sides of the squash three or four times with a fork, then microwave them uncut for 10 minutes on high power. This trick makes them much easier to cut and scoop. Using a hot-mitt to handle them, cut them in half, and clean out the seeds and strings. In a large bowl, stir together the ground sirloin, eggs, ketchup, water and onion. Add bread crumbs and mix thoroughly. With a large spoon, scoop the meatloaf mixture into the pumpkin or squash-halves, filling just about to the brim. Put any leftover meatloaf in a 5-inch x 9-inch bread pan to bake by itself. Place pumpkin/squash a 9-inch x 13-inch pan and pour in about half-an-inch of water in the bottom of the pan to keep the skins from burning. (Six squash-halves fit best into two 9-inch x 13-inch pans.) Bake at 350 degrees: the pumpkin will take 1 ½ to 2 hours, and squash-halves about 1 to 1 ¼ hours. A pan of extra meatloaf will usually take less time; check it at one hour. Serves 6 to 8. Chef Amee’s Gourmet Touch: Replace ketchup with 1 cup diced tomatoes, drained, plus 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 Tablespoon of chopped parsley leaves.

Frightful Finger Cookies Makes: Approx 24 cookies 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup powdered sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon almond extract 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 3/4 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup almond slices, or whole almonds 1 tube red decorating gel 1 tube green food coloring (optional) Preheat oven to 325°F. Beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Slowly beat in the flour, baking powder and salt. If you want green finger cookies, add drops of green food coloring to dough until you achieve a nice deep green color. Divide the dough into four equal parts, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Take one quarter of the dough at a time from the refrigerator. Break off one heaping teaspoonful and roll it into a finger shape. Squeeze in around the middle of the finger to create a knuckle shape. Then, using a butter knife, make indents in several places to resemble a finger. Repeat with rest of dough. Place cookies on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes - let cool. Then, squeeze red decorating gel onto the tip of each finger and gently press an almond on top so the gel oozes out from underneath. Remove cookies from baking sheets and let them cool on wire racks.

Black-Cherry Fruit-Bats and Citrus Orange Pumpkin Fruity Cutouts

Recipe idea adapted from “The Braces Cookbook” by Pamela Waterman

Black-Cherry Bats:
2 3-ounce packages black-cherry gelatin (dry)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup grape juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Empty both packages of dry gelatin powder into a large bowl. In medium saucepan, stir together water and juice; bring to a full boil then remove pan from heat. Pour hot juice mixture slowly into bowl, stirring constantly with a large spoon. Keep stirring for two minutes or until all granules have dissolved. Add lemon juice and stir to mix.

Pour mixture into a 9-inch round or square pan and place pan in refrigerator. Chill for at least 3 hours or until firm. Cut into squares with a knife, or into bat-shapes with cookie cutters dipped in hot water. If pieces are hard to get out, set the entire pan for a minute onto a cookie sheet filled with a quarter-inch of hot water. Makes two dozen. Keep chilled.

For the Citrus Orange Pumpkins, repeat the directions with:

2 3-ounce packages orange gelatin (dry)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice (no pulp) or lemonade
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Use pumpkin-shaped cookies cutters as desired.