Chocolate Skeleton Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 TBSP milk (or a little more to get the right consistency)

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture (this is VERY stiff, but sticky). Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until easy to handle. On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with a floured 3 inch gingerbread boy cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute before removing to cool completely. For icing, combine powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Cut a small hole in the corner of a resealable plastic bag; fill with icing. Pipe skeleton bones on cookies.

Mummy Dogs

INGREDIENTS
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

2 1/2 slices American cheese, quartered (2.5 oz)
10 large hot dogs
Cooking spray
Mustard or ketchup, if desired
DIRECTIONS
1.
Heat oven to 375°F.
2.
If using crescent rolls: Unroll dough; separate at perforations, creating 4 rectangles. Press perforations to seal. If using dough sheet: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles.
3.
With knife or kitchen scissors (pizza cutter is MUCH easier), cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough. Slice cheese slices into quarters (1/2 slice cheese, cut in half).
4.
Wrap 4 pieces of dough around each hot dog and 1/4 slice of cheese to look like "bandages," stretching dough slightly to completely cover hot dog. About 1/2 inch from one end of each hot dog, separate "bandages" so hot dog shows through for "face." On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped hot dogs (cheese side down); spray dough lightly with cooking spray.
5.
Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot. With mustard, draw features on "face."

*can also use mini hot dogs, or slice the hotdog and put the cheese in the middle and then wrap in dough and bake. Either way would be great.

* easy way to cut the dough is to use a pizza cutter instead of a knife or scissors.

Candy Corn Quesadillas

2- 10" white or wheat flour tortillas

1/2 C. shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

4 slices American cheese

1 large microwave-safe plate

pizza cutter

**ingredients for dipping sauce (optional)

Start by laying 1 tortilla onto the plate. Sprinkle 1/4 C. cheddar and 1/4 C. mozzarella all over the tortilla. Stick the tortilla into the microwave and cook for 20 seconds on high power. Immediately top this tortilla with a second tortilla. The cheese will act as "glue" to hold the two tortillas together. You are going to form 3 rings of cheese on the tortilla to create the candy corn colors. Starting in the middle of the tortilla, use the remaining mozzarella cheese to form a small circle. With the remaining cheddar cheese, create a ring around the outside of the mozzarella. Finally, tear the American cheese into strips and piece it together on the tortilla to form the outside ring. It doesn't matter if the American cheese fits perfectly onto the tortilla or not because it will be melt together when it is heated. Place the tortilla back into the microwave and heat at 30-second intervals until all of the cheese has melted. ** Be very careful when removing the plate, as it might be hot! Always use oven mitts when removing dishes from the microwave. Cool for 2 minutes before cutting. Using a pizza cutter, slice the tortilla into 8 wedges. Makes 8 "candy corn" pieces. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cake Balls

1 box white cake mix
2 container vanilla frosting
1 package of orange candy melts
1 package of green candy melts
black paste food coloring
mini pretzel sticks

Gather ingredients for the cake according to box directions
Bake cake according to package. Remove cake from oven and immediately dump into a large bowl. Use a fork to break up the cake into crumbs. Add one entire container of frosting to the bowl and stir until completely mixed. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Scoop the cake mixture into the palm of your hand - about the size of a large walnut-- roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Place cake balls into refrigerator for 1 hour to chill.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt 1/3 of the orange chocolate. Remove the cake balls from the refrigerator. Using a fork or a skewer add a ball to the melted orange chocolate and turn to completely coat. Lay on wax paper to dry. Continue melting the orange chocolate and dipping them until all of the cake balls have been coated in chocolate. If you are having difficulty with the consistency of the chocolate being too thick, thus making it hard to dip the cake balls, you can "frost" each cake ball with the chocolate using a butter knife or small cake spatula. Break some mini pretzel sticks in half. Create stems for the pumpkin balls by sticking one of the 1/2-pretzel pieces down into the top of each pumpkin.

Melt the green chocolate. Using a plastic baggie or an icing bag, decorate around the stem of the pumpkin with the green chocolate. Again, using the green chocolate, draw small leaves on waxed paper. Pop into freezer to harden quickly. Gently peel the leaves from the paper. Apply to pumpkins using more chocolate as "glue". To make jack o' lantern faces simply tint 1/4 C. of vanilla frosting with black food coloring. Again, using a plastic baggie for an icing bag, draw faces on your pumpkins. ** Note: You may choose to use black decorator gel instead of the frosting but please be aware that the gel might not dry completely, making it difficult to pack the pumpkins into storage containers. It would be best to eat immediately if choosing to use the gel.

Halloween Peanut Butter balls

2 C. peanut butter
1/2 C. butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3 C. powdered sugar, sifted
milk or dark chocolate almond bark
orange candy melts

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter, butter, vanilla and powered sugar until smooth. If mixture seems to be too sticky to roll into balls, add 2 TBSP of powered sugar at a time to the mix until it is a soft dough consistency. Shape dough into walnut-sized balls and line up on the cookie sheet. Melt chocolate almond bark in the microwave. Using a skewer or a fork to hold each ball, dip it into the chocolate, turning it to completely cover with the chocolate. Gently tap the fork on the side of the bowl to allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Lay the balls on the waxed paper to dry. Melt the orange chocolate in the microwave. Spoon the chocolate into a plastic baggie. Snip the corner off one end of the bag, then drizzle the chocolate across the tops of the chocolate peanut butter balls. Store the peanut butter balls in a sealed container in the refrigerator.