Pumpkin Schmear, Jello Cake, Mummy Dip & What's Your Halloween Name?

Well folks, here we are, the last weekend before Halloween. Is it just me or did October fly by? So in the spirit of having a little holiday fun I thought I'd share a couple -frighteningly good- ideas from the archives... This Pumpkin Schmear is a great way to start the day, and who doesn't like bagels?

Having a party? May I suggest a colorful, and tasty, Jello Layer Cake. This is a fun alternative to poke cakes and it's easy and very festive:@)

How about a Mummy Avocado Dip,

a tad healthier and cute!

And just for fun...

Have a spookily good weekend:@)

Quick German Chocolate Cake Topping -for brownies or cake

I wanted to add a little somethin-somethin to a store bought brownie mix, and this turned out to be dangerously good... I decided to frost them with a Quick German Chocolate Cake Topping. A few ingredients get cooked in a pan on top of the stove, and once the frosting cools a bit, it's a thick, ooey, gooey, sticky, decadent treat. This is one of those desserts where both boys were saying at the end of dinner, I'll be glad to take some of those brownies home:@) Don't hesitate to give this icing a try folks, the recipe below is for 8x8, double it for a 9x13 or layer cake.

German Chocolate Topping for an 8x8 pan:

1/4 C butter

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C coconut

1/2 C chopped pecans

1/4 C Half and Half

1/4 tsp vanilla

1. In small sauce pan melt butter over medium heat.
2. Add everything else, bring to simmer. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbling. About 3-5 minutes.
3. Let cool for a couple minutes, then top brownies or cake.

Enjoy a Snack and Have a Happy Day:@)

Chunky Monkey One Ripe Banana Muffins -Use it up...

If we buy bananas we know one thing for sure, they can ripen quickly. And as Halloween approaches, we also might have some leftover candy to use up... May I suggest a small (or large) batch of Chunky Monkey One Ripe Banana Muffins. They are surprisingly good and call for minimal ingredients. The banana simply gets mashed with a fork, and I mixed the batter with that fork too. Paper cupcake liners help make clean-up easy. This is a nice recipe to use up that last one ripe banana folks:@)

This is a variation of two recipes previously posted, One Banana Muffins and Chunky Monkey Jiffy Mix Corn Muffins. Even easier, buy a banana muffin mix and add a peanut butter cup:@)

Speaking of monkeys...

I bought a new coffee mug for the office:@)

Yep, that about sums things up.

One Ripe Banana Chunky Monkey Muffins

One large banana

1/4 C sugar

1 egg

2 1/2 Tblsp butter, melted

1/2 C A/P flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt-optional -I used salted butter instead

One unwrapped miniature peanut butter cup for each muffin

1. Mash banana in medium bowl.
2. Stir in sugar, egg and butter.
3. Add flour and baking powder, mix well.
4. Pour into paper lined muffin tin. Plan on about 5-6 muffins.
5. Add peanut butter cup to each muffin, slightly push down.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool and enjoy!

Let's use it up and 

Have a Happy Day:@)

Jelly Belly Candy Corn & Candy Corn through the years...

When I was a kid, my two favorite candies were jelly beans and candy corn... My co-worker found Jelly Belly Candy Corn! And it's good stuff folks, kind of like a higher end candy corn:@) And I like the size too, just a little smaller than traditional candy corn, making it great for decorating treats.

And then I was curious, what else have we done with Candy Corn here at PIM through the years? Plenty:@) Click for recipes and ideas...

Candy Corn Cake ~ Sugar Cookies

No-Bake Sweet and Salty Fall Snack Mix

and Candy Corn Deviled Eggs

Barbie Candy Corn Dress Free Pattern

$ Store Candy Corn Container Recycled Tea Light:

End of Season-use it up: 

Candy Corn Fondue and 

Turkey Toes Thanksgiving Place Settings

📌My Candy for All Seasons Pinterest Board here.

📌Halloween Food Pinterest Board here.

Make something just for fun and

Have a Sweet Weekend:@)

Easy Canned Pear Cake with Pumpkin Spice

When it comes to fall flavors we mostly think of apples and pumpkin, but pears are a fall fruit too, and pear goes well with the warm spices of autumn... I whipped up this Easy Canned Pear Cake with Pumpkin Spice for Sunday dinner. It was the day we stacked fire wood, so I thought it best to treat the boys to something sweet after dinner:@) This batter will be very thick, that even worked well with the wetter canned fruit. And I thought the whole walnuts would be pretty, but do recommend using chopped nuts so you get some nut in every bite. This is a nice recipe to tuck away folks, easy enough to change up the fruit and spices as desired, or to use what's on-hand.

Nothing fancy,

but great with a nice cup of coffee or tea:@)

A busy day:@)

Canned Pear Cake with Pumpkin Spice-adapted from here

3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

1/3 C oil-I mixed half oil, half applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tblsp butter, melted

1 1/2 C A/P flour

pinch of salt

1 3/4-2 tsp pumpkin spice

15oz can pears, diced and drained well

1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans

Powdered sugar for serving

1. I mixed first 7 ingredients by hand with sturdy spatula, mixture will be very thick.
2. Fold in the pears.
3. Pour into sprayed or buttered 8x8 baking dish. Even mixture out.
4. Top with nuts.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool, top with powdered sugar for serving.

Enjoy a piece of cake and

Have a Happy Day:@)

Bread Machine Pumpkin Cake

I broke my own rule, yep. Normally I don't jump into pumpkin season until after Labor Day, but I wanted something sweet, and had a can of pumpkin, so... This Bread Machine Pumpkin Cake hit the spot, and as a nod to the two seasons, I decorated the top with some edible butterfly decorations Ma gave me:@) I found the recipe on the Betty Crocker site, but used pumpkin spice instead of the individual spices. 

I liked that the bread maker didn't heat up the house as the cake baked:@)

📌Bread Machine Pinterest Board Here.

Bread Machine Pumpkin Cake-from here

3/4-1 C sugar

1 C pumpkin puree

1/3 C oil-I used half oil, half applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 C A/P flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda-added from comments 

pinch salt

2 tsp pumpkin spice

Nuts-optional

1. Grease bread vessel with shortening.
2. Add everything to bread maker.
3. Choose cake setting, scrape down sides with spatula as it mixes.
4. Add nuts at beep if desired.
5. Turn cake out onto rack to cool.
6. I chose to add a little powder sugar glaze once cool.

Enjoy a snack and 

Have a Happy Day:@)

National Zucchini Day! Zucchini Brownies

Did you know that tomorrow, August 8th, is National Zucchini Day? Gotta love it:@) If a neighbor happened to leave a bag of big beautiful zukes on your doorstep, don't fret, let's put them to good use and whip up some Zucchini Brownies. Super simple, start with your favorite brownie mix, use the ingredients called for on the label, and add some grated zucchini. That's it folks... The zucchini adds moisture, and you may find these a tad more cake like. But I have to say, as someone that has a tendency to over-bake brownies, I thought these were great, and they freeze very well.

Notes: Don't sweat the zucchini measurement, just grate a small one or help use up a monster club, anywhere from 3/4-1 C will work without a problem. I made an 8x8 mix and used about 3/4C, 9x13 would be about a cup. Peel the zucchini if desired, but I'm always tickled by the green specs in sweets:@)

📌My Zucchini Pinterest Board here.

Zucchini Brownies

Your favorite mix + ingredients called for

3/4-1 C grated zucchini

1. Mix up the brownies, fold in the zucchini.
2. Pour into pan with greased bottom.
3. Bake per instructions on package, or until toothpick comes out barely wet.
4. Cool and frost if desired.

🌻Enjoy a snack and 

Have a Happy Day:@)

Easy Cake Mix Bars -a.k.a. Last Minute Any Occasion Bars...

This idea was too simple to pass by without trying... These Easy Cake Mix Bars are a tasty treat that starts with a boxed cake mix. The original idea was to mix sprinkles into the batter mimicking a funfetti cake, I like adding them to the top of the batter for a more colorful presentation:@) I will suggest that you take a minute to press the sprinkles down gently into the batter before baking though. The recipe calls for a jelly roll pan, I used a 9x13 (a lot of other commenters used that size), I will try the 15x10 next time and update this post. This is the kind of treat that comes together quickly but will appeal to most people because it tastes like birthday cake, and let's say it, sprinkles are just fun! Don't hesitate to give it a try folks, I think you'll be pleased. And they are perfect not just for birthdays or sleepovers...

Change up the color of the sprinkles for holidays...

🏈And of course game day:@) 

While sprinkles or jimmies are best, I only had nonpareils in red, white, and blue so that's what I used. They worked fine too:@)

Try different cake and chip flavors, 

you know your crowd:@)

Easy Cake Mix Bars-from here

Yellow boxed cake mix

1 egg

1/2 C milk

1/3 C oil

1 C white baking chips

1/3 C sprinkles/jimmies or enough to cover top

1. Combine cake mix, egg, milk and oil. Mixture will be think.
2. Stir in chips and sprinkles if not saving them for the top.
3. Spread into greased 15 x 10 x 1" pan. Some comments have used a 9 x 13.
4. If adding sprinkles to the top, add them now.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool completely on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Enjoy a snack and Have a Happy Day:@)

Fresh Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake

Did you know today is National Chocolate Chip Day? In honor of that I thought I'd re-post a pretty darn good cake...

I like chocolate covered strawberries and figured not only would this Fresh Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake be a little easier, the extra sugar would help sweeten up the first strawberries of the year. We really enjoyed this cake and thought it was the perfect little dessert for a casual Sunday dinner. Truthfully, I think it would be perfect any time of day and suggest tucking this recipe away for a special brunch or occasion.

We have lots of options here... The original recipe comes from Martha Stewart and she sprinkles an additional 1-2 Tblsp of sugar over the berries before baking, I didn't do that but think sanding sugar would be pretty. You can top it with a sprinkling of powdered sugar before serving if desired. The chocolate chips were an addition from another blogger, and I think they were a good idea:@) She also subbed half yogurt instead of all butter, I used butter.

I'd say this was absolutely perfect as soon as it cooled off fresh out of the oven. The top was crispy, the chocolate chips were still soft and the berries tender and gooey. It's written that this cake stores well, but I think it's best eaten as soon as possible-share it with the neighbors if you have any leftover!

The cake almost has the appearance of a cobbler with the way it bubbles up around the berries. I happened to have a 10" pie plate so that's what I used, or use any similar sized baking dish.

I think you'll like this if you try it folks, 

we sure did:@)

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cake-adapted from Martha Stewart
1 1/2 C A/P flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
6 Tblsp butter
1 C sugar, plus two for sprinkling over the berries before baking-optional
1 egg
1/2 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 C chocolate chips, plus more for sprinkling on top
1 quart strawberries, washed, hulled and cut in half-you may not use all of them

1. Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
2. Add egg and mix well, add milk and vanilla, mix well.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt, mix until just combined. Ideally the dry ingredients would be sifted first.
4. Stir chocolate chips into batter. 
5. Pour batter into a well greased 10" pie plate or baking dish. 
6. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, all over the top. Sprinkle with extra chocolate chips, let them fall between the berries.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes then turn the oven down to 325 and bake an additional 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
8. Cool and serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Eat well and Have a Happy Day:@)

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting -Two Ingredient Frosting

The strawberry cream cheese spread kept catching my eye at the store, and I knew I'd have to come up with at least one thing to make with it... This Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting couldn't be easier, and everyone gave it a big thumbs up:@) I happened to whip up a brownie mix, but the frosting would be good with anything, and there is enough to easily cover a 9x13 pan. It only calls for two ingredients and about two minutes of your time. Gotta love that! It's sweet and fluffy, and you will taste the strawberries. You can adjust the sweetness as desired, and I love that we save a few calories by not adding butter. Don't hesitate to give this quick frosting a try folks, I think you'll like it. 

The icing will be pinker in person:

The cream cheese spread I used:

📌My Pinterest Boards here.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz tub Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread, softened

1/4 to 1/2 C powdered sugar-I used 1/4 C

1. Using electric beater, mix cream cheese to soften, then mix in sugar until light and fluffy. Taste and adjust sweetness-you know your crowd...

Enjoy an easy snack and 

Have a Happy Day:@)

I'm Joining:

Weekend Potluck

Small Any Fruit Pie Filling Dump Cake Recipe -Jiffy Cake Mix

Every once in a while I like to make a fast dessert using minimal ingredients, and this one only calls for three things. I'd also prefer that it only be for dinner, not temp me for days:@) That's exactly what this Small Any Fruit Dump Cake is, and we all thought it was pretty darn good. Maybe not Easter buffet glamorous, but nice for Sunday dinner. Especially with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Start with any canned fruit pie filling you'd like, and it really doesn't matter what size... This will work best with 20 oz, but I think we can get away with 15 oz if that's all we have. And instead of a regular cake mix, I used the smaller Jiffy size, it worked great. 

Note: 9x13" crowd size would require two cans of pie filling, a full size cake mix, and 1/2 C butter.

Small Any Fruit Dump Cake

20 oz can pie filling

Jiffy yellow cake mix

1/4 C butter, cut into thin pats

1. Pour pie filling into pie dish.
2. Evenly sprinkle cake mix over filling.
3. Add pats of butter all over top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-45 minutes or until top is golden brown and bubbling at edges.
5. Serve with ice cream if desired.

Let's try something new, and

Have a Happy Day:@)

St. Pat's Candy, Easter Small Cheesecake & Barbie Silliness...

Happy March! For this week's review I thought I'd share a couple sweet ideas for the spring holidays:@) Irish Potatoes Candy is a staple here in the Philadelphia area for St. Patrick's Day. They aren't made with potatoes (cream cheese, powdered sugar and coconut), but rolled in cinnamon to resemble potatoes. They are sweet, tasty, and ~very rich~, so I like to vary the size, aiming for about 1" and smaller. I encourage you to try it, especially if your crowd has a hearty sweet tooth, good stuff folks! 

And this Small Cheesecake is great any time, but perfect for Easter dinner. It only calls for one 8 oz brick of cream cheese, and if you use a store bought graham cracker crust, comes together in no time. (And um, we have some unfortunate pictures from the very beginning of PIM...) But I promise you will love the cheesecake:@)

I've made a ton of these easy Holiday Headbands from a Bottle Ring for Barbie, even have a round-up of ideas here. How about a fun one for St. Patrick's Day... I like to use rings that are a little sturdier than water bottles, then start by wrapping pipe cleaners around it, cut to size, shape, and glue on items for embellishment. Anything goes, feathers, buttons, sequins, flowers, beads, stickers, etc. Just have fun with it:@)

Free dress pattern here.

🍀🐰Have a Happy Weekend:@)

Easy Football Party Treats-Super Bowl! Candy, Cookies, Brownies, Marshmallows, etc...

If you've been around Pig In Mud for a while you know I love football theme'd foods and party ideas. And I'm especially fond of ~easy~ snacks for any occasion... So I thought we'd do a quick round-up of the easiest ways to bring a little fun to your Super Bowl Party. I'll start off with a no-brainer, purchased team color candy. And to help keep us on budget this year, both teams just happen to be red and yellow/gold:@)

My Dollar Tree Candy:

I like to cut these in half, 

making them bite size.

Does your store have Easter candy yet? Party City may also have some of these foil wrapped sports balls. Perfect little treats to add to charcuterie boards or serving bowls. 

These sprinkles are in the cake decorating section of Walmart. For some reason the red looks maroon and pink in this pic, they are a true red. The sprinkles can decorate baked goods, or you can dip pretzels, marshmallows, or purchased cookies, into melted chocolate, or candy melts, and then into the sprinkles.

Candy Coated Marshmallows with Sprinkles

or colored sugar.

A few more snack ideas:

Football Cupcake Decoration using store bought Icing ~ Football Spritz Cookies ~ Football Shaped Peanut Butter Dip ~ Football Shaped Large Brownie

So there we have just a few ideas to help make the party festive. I really don't have a team to root for this year, so I'll be watching for the E-Trade babies commercial and hoping I win a quarter in my office block pool:@) 

🏈Happy Super Bowl Weekend Everyone,

Have a Great Day:@)

Mother Nature's Garden Design & Cowboy Coffee Cake

I had to smile and stop in my tracks on the way to work this week... Mother Nature decided to redesign the post caps on my raised bed garden:@) Temperatures were down into the teens after about 2-3" of snow so it iced over and stuck around...

 Making perfectly rounded beautiful snow cone tops... 

Love:@)

Update after yesterday's snow...

My poor strawberry patch...

And cold days call for a little somethin-somethin with a nice hot cuppa... This Cowboy Coffee Cake is a very nice treat that comes together fairly quickly, uses pantry ingredients, and I hear can even be prepared the night before and baked in the morning. Yum:@)

⛄Stay warm and

Have a great weekend:@)

Microwave Store Bought Frosting -Cake Decorating Hack

Have you seen this technique? And why haven't I seen it until now??? This is truly the fastest and Easiest Way to Ice a Cake... I picked up both a red and green container of frosting at the holidays figuring if I didn't use them then, there would always be Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day:@). I had to test it, so I picked up a store bought angel food cake and placed it on a baking rack over wax paper. Cleared the top of the icing container of all foil, took the wrapper off the outside, then microwaved the icing for about 30 seconds (less for a strong microwave, you just want it pourable). Gave it a quick stir, then simply poured it over the cake. Drizzle it down the sides to completely cover the cake, let it set back up a bit, and serve. Perfect coverage and easy-peasy!

Now, this will be a thin layer of icing, but it did work well:@) If you want that thicker drip look at the edge, don't microwave the icing as long, just soften it for a few seconds and slowly pour it on.

Let's try something new and

Have a Happy Day:@)

Dollar Tree Holiday Ideas: Stuffed Marshmallows, Gift Basket Fillers & Barbie...

I thought I'd share some Christmas items and gift ideas from Dollar Tree... These Decorated Stuffed Marshmallows were made using store bought chocolate stuffed marshmallows, they also had cookie stuffed marshmallows. I used Christmas sprinkles, but this works for any occasion, and of course they can be made in team colors too:@) There were 12 marshmallows in my bag, I simply microwaved some candy melts, dipped the marshmallow in the chocolate, then rolled them in sprinkles.

The marshmallows I bought:

Are you putting together a gift basket, or looking for foodie stocking stuffers? I think we're all familiar with Harry & David, I love that DT has a pack of four K-Cups in their hazelnut, praline and cinnamon flavor. There are also bags of ground coffee, and espresso beans are quite the treat... These even come in a dark chocolate variety. These beans would be a nice inexpensive option for cake or cupcake decorating too. 

Speaking of cakes,

or maybe Icing Filled Spritz Cookies...

Gathering items for a charcuterie gift, or need something fun for your own tray? They have tapenades (and more here), olives, pickles, and some flavored mustards:

And I'll leave you with something for the little ones... If your girl has Barbie there's a chance she has the smaller 6" Chelsea doll too. DT has four different outfits that do fit Chelsea, and they come with shoes and accessories. That's $5 that will keep the kids busy for a while folks:@)

All four fashions:

Not Mattel quality, but still super cute!

🎄Grab it when you see it, and

Have a Happy Day:@)