Friday, November 25, 2011

Halloween Treats

I had a lot of fun preparing for our Halloween Harvest Party.  The idea for these dipped Oreo's was conceived on The Idea Room, but I wanted to give some specific instructions and tips that helped me.  I've dipped oreos for years, but always in various forms of chocolate.

Supplies
Wilton Candy Melts in White, Orange, and Green
Ghiardelli Chocolate Chips (I used Milk Chocolate)
Pretzels (for Stems)
Double Stuf Oreos
Lollipop sticks
Wilton Candy Eyes

I started out by putting the sticks in the Oreos.  Immediately, I ran in to some minor problems.  Even gently twisting the sticks into the cream, if I burrowed the stick deep enough inside the cream, the cookie would break, and I knew that if it wasn't in far enough the cookies would fall off as I dipped them.  Then I got this idea...
From October 2011


I "glued" the sticks inside the oreos with some of the candy melts, and let them chill in the fridge until set up.

Then I started the dipping process...
From October 2011


A little note on working with candy melts...I know they say on the package that you can microwave them, but I did that with the first batch of orange and was NOT happy with the consistency.  Using a double boiler (in my case, a glass bowl on top of a pan of boiling water) provided a much smoother texture and consistency.

For the pumpkins, I broke straight pretzel sticks into pieces, and placed them in the freshly dipped oreos..
From October 2011


For the leaves, I put the Wilton Leaf tip on a decorating bag, and using melted green candy melts, piped on the leaves. 

From October 2011

The mummies were much of the same.  After "glueing" the sticks in, I dipped them in the white candy melts.  I let them set up until mostly firm, then piped the "bandages" using a decorating bag that I cut the tip off to the size I wanted (do it a little at a time until you get the size of strip you want). 

I got even smarter by the time I started the chocolate spiders...I used the oreo container to prop the sticks while they set up...
From October 2011


From October 2011

I used the pretzels for the spider legs as well, but it was a little problematic.  They kept catching on things and breaking off...on The Idea Room, she used candy strings, but I couldn't find anything like that at Walmart or Target. 

The finished product...
From October 2011


I'm sorry it's practically December, but I can't seem to catch up...:)