Posts Tagged ‘halloween costume’

Homemade Candy Corn!

Monday, September 5th, 2011

Halloween is just around the corner! I love the Halloween season, I also love candy!! One of my favorite candies is probably candy corn. Candy corn is such a delicious piece of tastyness. Here is a little recipe I am thinking of trying out – Homemade Candy Corn!

Ingredients:

  • 8 ounces miniature marshmallows (4 cups not packed, or half of a 16-ounce bag)
  • 1 pound powdered sugar (4 cups), plus extra for dusting
  • 2 tbsp water
  • Yellow and orange (or red) food coloring

Preparation:

1. Dust your counter or a large cutting board with powdered sugar. Place the marshmallows and the water in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute, until the marshmallows are puffy and expanded.

2. Stir the marshmallows with a rubber spatula until they are melted and smooth. If some marshmallow pieces remain, return to the microwave for 30-45 seconds, until the marshmallow mixture is entirely smooth and free of lumps.

3. Add the powdered sugar and begin to stir with the spatula. Stir until the sugar begins to incorporate and it becomes impossible to stir anymore.

4. Scrape the marshmallow-sugar mixture out onto the prepared work surface. It will be sticky and lumpy, with lots of sugar that has not been incorporated yet–this is normal. Dust your hands with powdered sugar, and begin to knead the fondant mixture like bread dough, working the sugar into the marshmallow with your hands.

5. Continue to knead the fondant until it smoothes out and loses its stickiness. Add more sugar if necessary, but stop adding sugar once it is smooth–too much sugar will make it stiff and difficult to work with. Once the fondant is a smooth ball, divide it evenly into three balls. Set one ball aside, this will be the white portion of your candy corn.

6. Take one of the remaining fondant balls and flatten it into a round disc. You might want to wear gloves to avoid getting food coloring on your hands during this step. Add 4-5 drops of yellow food coloring to the center of the disc, and fold the disc over on itself so that the color is enclosed in the center of the fondant ball.

7. Begin to knead the ball of fondant just like you did before. As you work it, you will begin to see streaks of color coming through from the center. Continue to knead until the streaks are gone and the fondant is a uniform yellow color. Repeat the process with the third small ball, adding orange coloring (or a combination of red and yellow to produce orange) so that you end up with three smooth fondant balls, in white, yellow, and orange.

8. Now it is time to roll out the candy corn. If you have a very long countertop or workstation you can do it all at once, but if you are pressed for space you might find it easier to divide your fondant balls in half and assemble the candy corn in two batches.

9. On your powdered sugar-coated workstation, begin to roll the yellow fondant ball into a long worm shape, using your palms to roll it into a very long, thin cylinder. The exact size will depend on your preference for the size of your candy corn, but I recommend keeping it around 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch thick. Try to keep it the same size along the length of the fondant strip, but some minor variation is fine. Once the yellow worm is rolled out, repeat the process with the orange and the white strips, placing them next to each other when completed. When you finish you should have three long cylinders of yellow, orange, and white fondant, each approximately the same length and width.

10. If your fondant is slightly sticky, you should be able to press the strips together to create one unified fondant strip with three colors. If they are well-dusted with powdered sugar, they might not stick. If this is the case, you can wet a pastry brush and lightly run it along the sides of the strips, and the water will cause them to fuse together.

11. Once your strips are firmly pressed together, you should be able to start cutting. Cutting them in their present state produces a rounded candy corn. If you prefer a flat candy corn, you can very gently run a rolling pin along the top of the tri-colored fondant strip, to flatten the tops and press them closer together. Use a large, sharp knife to cut triangles out of the fondant strip. Unlike store-bought candy corn, these kernels will have alternating white and yellow tips.

12. Store homemade candy corn in an airtight container at room temperature for several weeks. This recipe will get sticky if exposed to too much moisture, so try it is best made and stored in a place with low humidity.

Speaking of candy corn here is a really great costume to  go with your homemade candy corn!  Candy Corn Witch!

Mental Patients

Thursday, September 9th, 2010
Straight Jacket

Straight Jacket

Up until the 1050’s the methods that were used to treat patients with mental disorders ranged from questionable to downright inhumane. Most of the time they did more to hurt these people than to help them. Some of the practices included ice baths for patients who were too excitable, electroshock therapy, insulin shock therapy, castration (for patients who were also sex offenders), and of course lobotomies. The lobotomies themselves could be something as simple as navigating an ice pick behind a persons eye and tapping it into their brain, to actually removing a pieces of skull and a piece of gray matter with it.

Most often, they were forced into a straight jacket and locked away in a room with padded walls so that they could not hurt themselves; and that is where the stereotypical Halloween costume for the ‘mental patient’ comes from. There are versions for both men and women should you decide to be a little crazy this holiday, and the come in several different varieties as well.

For women there is a ‘sexy straight jacket’ costume that features the jacket (of course) in pristine white; though unlike a normal straight jacket it features a scoop neck and an oval hole underneath to show a bit of cleavage, as well as some stylishly placed straps. It comes with a cute mini skirt and hat as well.

For the men there are straight jackets ranging from cotton fabrics to full-on authentic canvas jackets. They come in a variety of white and off white colors, as well as some in brown. There is a particular costume called the ‘straightjacket maniac’ that comes with a brown jacket and black straps, as well as a mask that looks like a maniac’s face and a cadge to go around your head. This costume has a more medieval feel to it and would definitely be fun to wear to a party. There are also straight jacket costumes associated with particular criminals, such as Hannibal Lector.

The End.

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Four horsemen are said to appear before the end of the world, they are the bringers of the apocalypse will cause chaos on earth before its end.

Four horsemen

Four horsemen

The first of the four rides a white horse, and the most speculation surrounds him. He goes out into the world wearing a crown and with the intent of conquest, and it is assumed that he is evil based on how he is introduced as part of the group that is very clearly evil. But still, he is different from the other three in some way, and everyone has a different take on what he truly is. Some claim that he is the antichrist, others say he is representing civil war, and another belief is that he is Christ himself, the second coming. That he could be there to sort out the wicked from the good.

Riding atop the red horse, is the second horseman of the apocalypse; war. It is pretty clear from his large sword the fiery color of his steed that his purpose is only for one thing; the killing of men, by men.

The third horse is black and the horseman who rides it represents famine. With him he has weighing scales, which were often used to weigh bread before it was distributed during famines. He also seems to be the only horseman who speaks. It is not indicated that it is famine speaking, but the voice that comes from the general direction of the four speaks of bread, wine and oil; things that would only concern him.

The final horseman, riding the ‘pale horse’ that insinuates something like the color of a corpse; is death. Though in some versions he carries a scythe (suggesting that he himself is the grim reaper) in most he carries nothing with him, and is instead followed by Hades.

With them comes the destruction of the world, and with them leaves all that was in it.

Adieu, my friends. Adieu.
-Black Widow