By now, you guys probably know that Jenny and Ron and their family LOVE Halloween—the themed costumes, themed food, Halloween quilts and wall hangings, and the fun of getting together. This year, although Jenny and Ron are in Africa, the family kept the tradition alive and got together for another fun-filled evening.
This year’s theme was “Movies,” and let’s just say the Doans understood the assignment….from costumes all the way to themed food.
And we just love that although they don’t celebrate Halloween in Africa, Jenny and Ron couldn’t help but continue the costume tradition! Don’t they look great!
We hope you had a safe and fun holiday. Next up are Thanksgiving and Christmas, and we can hardly wait!
Family time is the best time, and it’s only better when delicious food and snacks are added! The Doans love family get togethers and there’s nothing more special than dusting off those old family recipe cards and sharing a taste of generations past. If you’re looking for some holiday inspiration this year, try out one our own family recipes and start your own traditions today!
Pumpkin Rolls
Perfect for the fall season, Pumpkin Rolls are a delicious treat that can be served anytime between Halloween and Thanksgiving (really any time of the year is fine, they’re just that good).
Beat 3 eggs for 5 minutes. Gradually add 1 cup sugar. Stir in ⅔ cup pumpkin and 1 tsp lemon juice.
Sift together:
¾ C Flour
2 Tsp Cinnamon
½ Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Ginger
½ Tsp Salt
Fold into pumpkin mixture. Spread into a greased and floured jelly roll pan. Top with 1 cup chopped walnuts and bake at 375 for 15 minutes only. Turn out onto a towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Roll together and cool. Then unroll spread with 1 cup powdered sugar and 6 oz of cream cheese, 4 tsp of butter or margarine, 1 tsp vanilla. Beat together and spread over the roll. Roll and chill.
Caramel Popcorn Balls
Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this INCREDIBLY simple treat! If you’ve never had a popcorn ball before you absolutely have to try this recipe, they’re just so good!
1 Package Brown Sugar
1 Cup White Karo Syrup
1 Stick of Butter
1 Can Evaporated Milk
3 Gallons of Popped Corn
Combine brown sugar and syrup and cook stirring constantly until boiling. Add butter and stir until melted. Add evaporated milk and bring to a boil again over medium heat, cooking until it forms a softball (between 235 and 245 degrees Fahrenheit). Pour over popcorn to form balls and let cool.
Chocolate Pecan Pie
How do you make a pecan pie even better? Add a little chocolate of course! This fall classic with just a little twist is perfect for any family gathering you’ve got coming this year – or just make it for yourself, we won’t judge!
½ Cup Sugar
1 Cup light corn syrup
½ to ¼ cup butter – marg ok
4 eggs – beaten
1 tsp vanilla
⅛ tsp salt
1 cup broken pecans
8-9” pie shell unbaked
Combine sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a pan – cook on low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat, pour VERY slowly into beaten eggs. Add vanilla, salt, and nuts. Add chocolate chips into the bottom of the pie shell. Pour mixture into pie shell, bake at 350 for 50 mins. Pecan Pie Recipe but sprinkle some chocolate chips on the crust before adding the rest of the filling.
Pepparkakor
Here’s one you may have never heard of! Pepparkakor is a traditional Swedish cookie that’s very similar to a gingerbread cookie and is a traditional favorite of the Doans. You won’t believe how delicious these thin, crispy cookies are!
¾ Cup Shortening
1 Cup Sugar
1 tbsp Molasses
1 Egg Beaten
2 Cups Flour
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp each of Cloves, Cinnamon, and Ginger
Cream sugar and shortening together, add egg and molasses, blend well. Add the spices to the flour and sift, then add it to the creamed mixture. Let cool for 1 hour in the refrigerator covered with saran wrap. Then roll into balls the size of walnuts, put onto a cookie sheet, then with glass covered with saran wrap, roll each ball in sugar then flatten with the glass. Put nuts or raisins on them in the middle and bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown.
Pumpkin Joy
Who doesn’t love a little pumpkin? This super simple recipe is so easy, you might just have everything you need in your pantry today!
Every year for Halloween, we have big, themed parties. We love any reason to get together, but Halloween is one of our favorites! As many of you know, and for those of you who didn’t know, Jenny started her sewing journey as a costume sewist for the theater. She’s always been a whiz at whipping up costumes! Besides being passionate about dressing up, she loves a reason to decorate the house and always goes all out during the holidays!
Leading up to Halloween, we pick a family theme (last year was Harry Potter and this year is Disney) and then often search Pinterest to find wacky and spooky food inspiration to bring to our party. We keep it easy, but fun!
Besides bowls of candy, here are a few Doan family Halloween snacks that have shown up in recent years.
Past Halloween snack spreads:
“Feet” Loaf:
One year, Sarah was inspired to shape some meatloaf into . . . you guessed it, a foot. To make this, take your family favorite meatloaf recipe and get to cooking! All you need to do is shape up your meatloaf into a foot shape, add an onion ankle bone and some onion toe nails, and you’ve got yourself a spooky but tasty treat!
Mummy and Monster Cookies:
For these easy treats, just take some white melting chocolate, melt it, and for the Nutter Butter Mummies, drape and drizzle it over the cookies. For the Oreo Monsters, add some green food coloring and dip the cookies into it! Add some eyeball sprinkles before the chocolate sets and you’re good to go!
Happy Halloween! Do you have any family Halloween traditions? What are some of your favorite Halloween candies or treats?
There once was a mischievous fellow named Stingy Jack, or so says the old Irish myth.
The Devil – who had been tricked by Jack one too many times – didn’t want him, and heaven wouldn’t take him. So when he died, Jack was consigned to roam the earth forever with a lantern carved out of a turnip. Over time, he became known as Jack of the Lantern or, Jack O’Lantern.
For hundreds of years, Irish folk carved spooky faces on turnips and potatoes to repel the ghost of Stingy Jack. Later, when Irish immigrants arrived in America, they discovered that pumpkins made the best jack-o-lanterns of all!
This week Jenny whipped up a pixelated pumpkin quilt that is sure to spook all your neighborhood ghouls and goblins. She used a custom layer cake that Riley Blake made especially for this project, and it was long-arm quilted with a spider-web pattern. Peek-A-Boo Pumpkin is the perfect size for a Halloween porch quilt, and it’s such fun to make!
Halloween is just around the corner and this year when you’re doing your shopping, keep more than just the Trick-or-Treaters in mind! Thanks to Jenny’s creativity, you can take all of those old candy wrappers and bags and create a one-of-a-kind gift (or fun little project for yourself!) using no more than the wrappers, a little scrap fabric and batting, a zipper and some Heat N Bond Iron-on Vinyl!
Supplies Needed
One Empty Candy Wrapper (A Fat Quarter also works great!)
This project is truly Sew Fast & Fun! We love making use of leftover materials from our fabric stash and there truly is no limit to what you can create with this method (potato chip purse, anyone?). With the addition of a Missouri Star Fancy Zips Zipper, which comes in a variety of colors to match your project, you can create sweet new memories from candy season!
Needing a little more inspiration? Pick up the pattern for this project today for full instructions on how to create this creative keepsake and check out the full video tutorial below from Jenny herself as she demonstrates how this quick and easy project comes together!