Mrs. Fox's Sweets 2011 Halloween Recap

The day has finally arrived....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year and I have made lots of desserts this past month in honor of it! This day brings out the kid in each of us! I love the costumes, trick-or-treating, spookiness, and cool crisp air, just to name a few things! Oh, and how could I forget to mention all the fun foods and creative desserts that Halloween lends ideas to?
Here are the Top 9 Most Visited Desserts from Mrs. Fox's Sweets, plus the last Halloween Dessert of the season:
  
Last Halloween Dessert: Miss Pink People Eater Cupcakes

     
#9: Spooky Nerds Cupcakes

  
#8: Fall Brownies

#7: Martha Stewart's "Broken Glass" Cupcakes

    
  

#6: "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" Cupcakes

   
#5: Caramel Apples (Improv Cooking Challenge #1)

 

#4: Jack Skellington Cake Pops

  

#3: Ghost & Monsters Halloween Brownies

 

#2: Banana Ghost Cupcakes

 

#1: Googly Eyed Monsters

  

Okay I couldn't stop there...may as well recap all of the sweets that I have made!

Ghost Brownie Pops

Mummies, Monsters, & Hybrids Cake Pops 

 

Spiderweb Cupcakes

Witch Hat Cupcakes

  

Jack-o-Lantern Cake 

Mini Jack-o-Lantern Cakes

 

Mummy Mickey Mouse Cupcakes

Candy Corn Cupcakes

  

Pink Skull Cake Pops

Halloween Dipped Pretzels

  

Be careful and watch out for ghouls, goblins, and princesses running around!

It's still not too late to bake up something, unless you are reading this at bed time!

Hope you had or are still having a wonderful Halloween!

  

Note: The rankings were as of the last Blogger Stats update before finalizing this post. All others are in no particular order.



Ghosts Brownie Pops

I made these cute Ghost Brownie Pops with the Wilton Brownie Pops 8-Cavity Silicone Mold. I have used this mold before and not really sure how much I liked it. It must all be in the brownie mix! This time, I used the Betty Crocker Low Fat Fudge Brownie Mix. I sprayed the mold and filled the cavities 2/3 full. The brownie pops baked in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, I then inserted sticks and then finished baking them for another 20 minutes.

The above picture from the first time I used the mold
in making Princess Brownie Pops.

After the brownie pops were done baking, I let them fully cool in the molds on a cooling rack. The sticks stayed in the brownies without a problem and worked great for dipping! Again, it must be the type of brownie mix.

After the brownie pops were cooled and unmolded, I dipped them in Vanilla Candiquik. I prefer using Candiquik for making cake pops and brownie pops. I have consistently had the best results with Candiquik versus other brands that I have tried. It reheats easily in the microwave and stays dipping consistency longer.

After the first dip, I let the candy set up and then gave the ghosts a second dip in the pool so the brownie didn't show through. I have found a second dip is really only necessary when using darker colored cakes or brownies.

The faces are drawn on with Duff Candy Writer!

The first time I used the Duff Candy Writer on my Jack Skellington Cake Pops, I had to put the tube back in the hot water a few times to remelt it. This time, I must have initially melted it better in the hot water and melting once was enough for all 8 pops! The Duff Candy Writer works great and there is still plenty left in the tube!

It's nice when everything works out easily as planned!

I hope that through my adventures, trial and errors, that I have helped you to easily create brownie pops!

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These Ghosts Brownie Pops are Haunting People at:

Lady Behind the Curtain: Cast Party Wednesday

This Chick Cooks: These Chicks Cooked

Frugal Wannabe Cooks: Foodie Wednesday

Pinch of This, That & the Other: Whisking Wednesdays

Bacon Time: Halloween & Fall Recipes & Crafts Linky

Sweet as Sugar Cookies: Sweets for a Saturday

Six Sisters' Stuff: Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Tatertots & Jello: Weekend Wrap up Party

Life in the Motherhood: The Great Halloween Link Up

The Southern Institute: Creative Me Monday

These Ghosts Brownie Pops were Featured at:

Frugal Wannabe Cookies: Foodie Wednesday

Purple Princess Brownie Pops

Yes...more Princess Brownie Pops!

Same brownie mix, same baking method, different decorating method

Purple Princess Brownie Pops

Last time I made Pink Princess Brownie Pops and I ran into a little difficulty in dipping the pops.

These were the first Princess Brownie Pops I made

This time instead of cooking the brownie pop halfway and then adding the stick as Wilton recommends with this Silicone Brownie Mold. I cooked the brownie fully for about 35 minutes at 325 degrees. I also filled the cavities a little bit fuller making 12 total to avoid the couple small ones I got last time. This time they took quite a long time to cool, so I put them in the freezer after about 10 minutes to speed up the process. I only have one silicone brownie mold, so I had to do this in 2 batches. Don't worry about the empty cavities the mold when the second batch it cooking, nothing bad happened.

I am trying a method to cover the brownie pop that I found in the Wilton Publication- Pops! Sweets on a Stick, they also have this method on their website, instead of trying to dip the brownie pop like a cake pop. Brownie pops are much heavier than a cake pop and want to fall off this stick easier in my experience.

Method 1- The base is first covered with the candy melts and a spatula and then chilled until firm. I decided to "pre-drill" a hole on the bottom by poking a stick in and then removing. I did so the candy wouldn't crack later when the stick is inserted.

Pre-drilled holes, stick my finger into one before the candy was dry

Next, the brownies are placed on a cooling rack placed on top of a parchment covered baking sheet and the melting candy can either be piped, poured on top of the brownie, or you can roll the brownie in the melts. Using the Wilton brand melts melted in the Wilton Chocolate Pro, they were too thick to pipe or pour. I tried adding to shortening but it was still not very pourable. I ended up rolling the sides of the brownie in the melts with a bamboo skewer stuck in the pre-drilled hole and with one finger on the base (where the candy was already dry) and one finger on the top. I used a spatula to cover the top finger spot after I sat the brownie back on the rack.
I couldn't get the candy as smooth as I wanted and I am not sure why I can cover cake pops fine, but can't cover a brownie pop?!
After the brownie is covered with candy melts, immediately insert the Princess Pops Fun Pix. Let sit until cooled or refrigerate a few minutes as I did. Once the candy is set, dip your pop stick into candy melts about 1/3 inch and insert into the pop for upright pops. Let these lay on the parchment paper a few minutes until the candy that is holding the stick in sets.

Pops laying on parchment for stick to dry

Putting the stick in last worked out very well.

The Princesses stood up fine. Something finally went as planned!

 Method 2- Cover the pop the same as in Method 1, no pre-drilling hole in base. After covering the brownie with candy melts and inserting the Princess Pops Fun Pix, insert the stick eipped in candy melts right behind the Princess Pops Fun Pix, and place Princesses on a Pops Doilies.

Final Decorations- Pipe on designs in whatever pattern you wish either with Royal Icing or Candy Melts in a piping bag with size 2 tip or just snip just a tiny bit the end off the bag.

After having a problem once again getting these Princess Brownie Pops covered in candy melts, I decided they were fine without the extra decorating that I did on the Pink Princess Brownie Pops.

Better view of doilies

If Princesses aren't your thing or you have a Prince and not a Princess, Wilton also makes Jungle Pals Pops Fun Pix! However, I am not feeling that adventurous!

 

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These Brownie Pops are shared at:
Something Swanky: Sweet Treats Thursday
Miz Helen's Country Cottage: Full Plate Thursday
Mangoes and Chutney: Fat Camp Friday

Princess Brownie Pops

Today I am making my first Brownie Pops!

 I am using the Wilton Brownie Pops 8-Cavity Silicone Mold to bake the brownies in. Unlike cake pops, these are actually baked right into the shape and halfway through baking you insert the stick, so this eliminates a couple of the steps needed to make cake pops.

First prepare the brownie mix as directed on the box. I used a Duncan Hines Snack Size mix. It made 13 brownie pops, perfect number for decorating! However, I just have one brownie pop pan, so I am going through the steps twice. Make sure you have the racks in your oven far enough apart in the oven to accommodate the stick once you insert it halfway...you won't want to be rearranging the racks once the oven is on! Preheat oven according to your box directions.

According to the directions on the sleeve that the brownie pop mold comes in, I needed to spray the cavities with cooking spray and then fill the cavities 2/3 full with batter and bake 10-15 minutes and then remove and insert cookie sticks (I used 6 inch sticks), place back in the oven and bake another 15-20 minutes. The first batch, I pulled out at 10 minutes and inserted the stick and a couple sticks came out leaning in the end, so wait the full 15 minutes before inserting sticks. To fix the leans I have removed the sticks and will insert it with melted candy melts as I would a regular cake pop. I let the pops sit in the pan for about 10 minutes to cool before removing them, they unmolded very easily.

Once all of your brownie pops are cooled, it is just like making cake pops! Melt your candy melts in your Wilton Chocolate Pro. I also colored my Wilton Pink Candy Melts a little pinker with Wilton Candy Coloring. Dip your brownie pop, gently shaking off any excess and placing in your holder to dry.

Overall, that was easier said than done...and I have been successful at making cake pops in the past...however today the brownie pops weren't quite working out as planned. Before dipping and during dipping, the brownies wanted to slide down the sticks, they wanted to fall off the sticks, and for some reason the melting candy wasn't sticking to the brownie as nicely as I wanted either. Maybe it is due to the warm weather, high humidity, and rain today? I ended up gluing around the stick with candy melts and popping them in the refrigerator to set.  I will give the Brownie Pop Silicone pan another chance with the sticks, but right now I think I should have cooked the brownies without the stick and when they were done continued on as if creating an actual cake pop, with inserting the stick dipped in candy melts, chilling, etc.  

I am using the Wilton Princess Pops Fun Pix and had read that it does work best if you go ahead and insert the pix before the chocolate/candy sets to avoid cracking. I used a small knife to cut a small slit before inserting the pick to make this a little easier.

  Since I only had 13 brownie pops to begin with and 2 packs of the Princess pix (8 in each pack), I decided just to make the Pink Princesses today and to save Purple Princesses for another day. 

I even tried to dip one in without a stick! However, I was unable to shake it off without making a mess of things. The dress was nice a flowy, but my piping with too thick of icing made a mess of that!

After the melting candy had set, I used a size 2 tip and Royal Icing to pipe some designs onto the Princess dresses. My piping skills still need some work!

Here are the Princesses decorated with Royal Icing and a Size 2 tip

In the Wilton- "Pops! Sweets on a Stick" book they show the Princess pix pops with the stick coming out of the bottom and the pick on the top...as I have done...mostly. On the package of the Wilton Princess Pops Fun Pix they have the brownie pop sitting on a flat surface with both the pick and stick coming out the top. Maybe it would have been easier with the stick and pick coming out of the top.

Lesson learned- "if life gives you lemons.... someone will like them."
My little Princess thought these Princess Pops were perfect! I have to admit...they tasted great!



View My Cake Pop Posts
Basic Cake Pop Tutorial
Owl Cake Pops
and if you don't want to make them or they don't turn out get
Starbucks Cake Pops