Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Halloween Treats from Caramel Apples to Cakes!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

As someone who likes to dress up or just dress outrageously, I've always been a fan of Halloween. As a child, I always wanted to be a "punk rocker" or the popular cartoon character of the year, but my mother wouldn't have it. She made every costume I wore, from the time I was Queen Elizabeth to when a refrigerator box was crafted in to a costume to make me a House, complete with a real lawn. (I could not sit down in the house costume, so my mother made me wear another homemade costume underneath!) This year was no exception & my mother produced 3 awesome costumes for myself, Ryan, & Strummer before I had even settled on what we should be. Ryan made a dashing Captain Hook, while I opted for the role of Peter Pan, Strummer was the Crocodile & I even had a lantern with a little Tinkerbelle on it to round out the cast. Strummer was a little less than thrilled by her costume, so I think the total minutes her costume was worn hover around 15.

We decided to host a Halloween potluck at our place, as San Francisco now lacks a celebration in the Castro & we're always happy to fill up on delicious vegan food! I started by making Caramel Apples from an excellent & easy recipe Kittee mentioned from Chow. I opted for three varieties, plain & Chick-O-Stick or Peanut Butter Bar coated. Next I took mini Chick-O-Sticks & Peanut Butter Bars & made candy bars by covering them in chocolate, similar to Butterfingers. I know most people say Chick-O-Stick taste like Butterfinger centers, but I must say the Peanut Butter Bar is far superior, as it lacks coconut. They're both downright delicious though & far too many were consumed!

The assortment of dishes & costumes were excellent! Elmo, a Deviled Egg (not vegan!!), Holly Golightly, a bumble bee, a tree, & even Sarah Palin & President Ahmadinejad were just some of the people in attendance! The treats on the table were great too, such as Pumpkin Whoopie Pies & Uncheese + Crackers from Erin at Vegan Homemade, Mummy dogs, baked beans, my Buffalo Tofu with Blue Sheese dressing, an excellent eggplant dip from Megan at The Sisters Vegan, & a killer Rice, Avocado, Tempeh dish that we all marveled at when it was served in a dome shape! We also snacked on vegan Doritos, chocolate covered pretzels, Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, & Ghost Dots. A filling feast was consumed by all & I feared I wouldn't fit in my costume by the end of the night! Luckily, that didn't happen & instead I just went to bed at 6am, happy that the shindig was a success.

Previous to the party, I made a Halloween themed birthday cake for a friend & awesome gal, Chris. She wanted something to fit in with the spooky theme of her birthday, so we opted for a Chocolate Orange cake, so we would have the Halloween colors in full effect. I topped it with a ganache spiderweb & left it at that, so she could further decorate with candles. It was pretty fun to make & I can see more ganache spiderwebs in my future!

By the way, I will be headed to Lula's Sweet Apothecary in NYC at 9pm on November 15th. If you're in the area, come join me, Ray Ray, & the PPK crew for some serious sweet tooth business!

37 comments:

Unknown said...

I wish you oodles of fun in NYC, just like you appear to have had on Halloween.

jessy said...

what awesome halloween costumes! your mom is the best! that's too funny about being a house and having another costume underneath. i love it! :) and ms. strummer is just too cute - even if she did only wear her costume for 15 minutes. ahahahahaa! yay!

the potluck spread looks super rock'n! those apples are the best! mmmmmmmm! the cake you made for your friend is awesome, too! i love the spider web, it's perfect!

have super mucho fun in NYC!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Looove the costumes!!

Have fun in NYC!!! My #1 favorite city.

VEGAN CARAMEL APPLES?!?!??! Girl, you need to check out my latest post.

Amey said...

what a great post Melisser! I love your wonderful homemade costumes. Even little Strummer!!! I am a total snob about homemade costumes. Even a cheap homemade costume is !00x better than a store-bought costume.

The Caramel Apples look so gorgeous. I haven't tried that recipe yet... not sure if I want to! How many caramel apples can one girl eat!?

Have a great time in NYC. yum yum

Anonymous said...

You're an awesome halloween couple. And please, I want a slice of that spiderweb cake.

Anonymous said...

you guys look adorable, and all the food looks amazing! i didn't do anything for halloween this year, and now i'm wishing i did.

the carmel apples look outta this world. what can i say, my sweet tooth is HUGE.

Destiny's Kitchen said...

That is so cool! Why didn't I think to roll mine in Chick-O-Sticks?! Next year...

Anonymous said...

I think I would have woken from your potluck sans teeth! I want tasty treats now too! That's so sweet of your mom to make costumes, and super cool ones at that. I love the spiderweb cake... even though spiders spook me silly.

For the Love of Guava said...

hmm... I had a fast food veggie burrito before we hit the town... jealous!! YUM!

Anonymous said...

You two look too adorable, I am having sweets envy in the biggest way possible, and bon voyage for NY!

bazu said...

oh, I'm going to be sad to miss you in NYC! are you sure you don't want to hop over to berlin right after that, ms. global bisque??

daiku and I love, LOVE your costumes!

DJ said...

Looks like a grand potluck! And don't you all look cute?!

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

You are so cute in your Peter Pan outfit!! Such cuteness should be illegal, really.
Same thing for Strummer in her Crocodile outfit, TOO CUTE!! :)

All the food looks amazing! That dome shaped dish is out of this world! I LOVE the spiderweb cake, I'm adding it to my list of vegan Halloween links!

KitteeBee said...

ha ha, strummer looks awesome and miserable all rolled up into one.

it looks like y'all had a great halloween, and bedtime at 6am pretty much confirms it. damn. i hope you didn't have to bake the following day.

also, the ganache spider web is hott. i hope you have fun in nyc!

xo
kittee

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

blogger hates me. it wouldnt show me the word verification image... but i am determined to comment.

WHAT I WOULDNT GIVE FOR A VEGAN CARAMEL COVERED APPLE!! I'd totally let my teeth fall out for that.

Anonymous said...

wow! that is some halloween feast!

Anonymous said...

I love your costume!

x said...

Awesome Halloween potluck, Melisser! Strummer is toooo cute as a croccodile and the food looks fantastic :)

Penny said...

that halloween spread is just amazing. I'll aim to swing by Lulas on 11/15, sounds like fun!

sarchan said...

You guys look adorable in your costumes. Your mom sounds like a fun lady.

And need I say that spiderweb cake is cute and delicious-looking.

Bianca said...

Aw, Strummer...you cute little puppy! I love the gator costume. And ya'll look great too! Your mom's got skills.

And so do you with those yummy caramel apples. I kept seeing those on blogs, but I think now it would be too long after Halloween for me to try making them...

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

It looks like you had an amazing spread for your Halloween potluck! I'm going to have to try my hand at caramel apples; I haven't had one in ages!

My mom used to make all my Halloween costumes, too. I don't think I wore a store-bought costume more than once in high school. Your costumes this year were fantastic!

roberta jane said...

LOVE the costumes! And your tiny dog looks adorable!! Hope you'll be bringing him to Ventura!

aTxVegn said...

How fun and what great costumes! Way to go, mom! I did not know chikostix taste like butterfinger centers. I'm in trouble now.

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

ganache spiderweb - I love it!!

your pup is sooo cute!

funwithyourfood said...

AH your pup is adorable!

I usually am not a fan of non-chocolate candies but sour patch kids are one of my favs!

teddy

Anonymous said...

Hey lady, that cake was killer! Everyone, even the smart-ass who kept asking if there was bacon in everything, raved about it. Colleen posted some pics from the party including this one of the cake (http://www.flickr.com/photos/colleendavid/2997287578/in/set-72157608697899993/)

Strummer looked amazing, of course. I would love to see a vid of her eating taquitos in that costume though ;)

I wish my mom had made me a costume. She did the next best thing tho...she put out all the food while Rod and I ran around like maniacs getting our costumes on. After chopping my finger during the bruschetta prep, we were short on time, so I opted for the Harried Hostess costume with curlers, half a face of makeup, undergarments and slippers. I mean if you can't go to your own b-day party in slippers and underwear, what's the point, right? Rod was some sort of green man; an Amish Demon living in the corn or something...

Thanks a million you dark angel of baking!

Cakespy said...

This is way too much delicious! Looks like it was a freakin' awesome Halloween!

OH! Speaking of NYC I wanted to pass on a place by my friend's apartment in I guess East Williamsburg--it's called Mighty Diamond and it's all vegan, and completely delicious.

Bethany said...

sounds like a really fun halloween with lots of great food. Your mom is so cool for making the costumes - I love that your dog is the croc.

Joanna said...

that is a nice spread goin on there. your friend is so lucky to have you as a friend. none of my friends would ever bake me a cake.

Anonymous said...

Aw, you're too cute! Great costumes, both of you. :)

Anonymous said...

love the costume and what a lovely halloween spread! i went as an S&M vampire this year and it was so much fun but we had none of tht lovely food.

Anonymous said...

How do you stay so slim with all the lovely sweets you eat? You're always posting pictures of yummy cakes, candies, cupcakes and other sweets you've eaten on your trips or at potlucks and parties yet you're slim as can be. What's your secret?

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Please, can we make every day Halloween? Wouldn't that be awesome? Dressing up in a different costume every day, eating Halloween sweets every day... well, maybe we would tire of it after a few months!

Natalie said...

I leave you comments and the comment eater eats them. It makes me sad. Comments aren't vegan.

julie hasson said...

What a fantastic Halloween feast! I wish I lived closer to San Francisco.

Love the costumes. Yay for awesome moms who sew!

Have fun in New York.

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