Boneyard Cake

Boneyard Cake

Boneyard Cake

This Boneyard Cake is fun to make and by using a cake mix and ready made frosting is quick too. I made Sugar Cookies this weekend and saved two coffins, tombstones and a black cat for this cake.

Ingredients
1 Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix

3 Extra Large Eggs

1 cup Water

1/3 cup Vegetable or Canola oil

1 Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Dark Chocolate Fudge

1 bag Skulls and Bones Fruit Hard Candy

1 bag Grave Gummies

1 bag Mellocream Pumpkins

1 bag Oreo Cookies

Black Cat in the Boneyard

Directions
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

Grease a 13 x 9-inch glass or metal pan (I used a Pyrex glass pan)

In the bowl of a mixer add the cake  mix, eggs, water and vegetable and canola oil and mix on low for about 1 minute. Turn mixer to medium and blend ingredients for another 2 minutes.

Tombstones and Coffins, oh my!

Pour cake batter into pan and spread evenly with a spatula or knife.

Bake for 26-31 minutes.

Note - If you use a metal pan, preheat the oven at 325 degrees and add 3-5 minutes to baking time.

While cake is baking remove the creamy center from the Oreos, and place them in a large Ziploc bag. Put the bag on a cutting board and with a rolling pin go back and forth until the Oreos look like dirt. Put aside for now.

Boneyard Cake

Let cake cool completely, about 1 hour.

Add Dark Chocolate Fudge frosting to cake and spread evenly.

Add your Oreo dirt and over the frosting.

Take your Cookies, Skull candy, Grave Gummies, Mellocream Pumpkins and decorate as you wish.

Let set for at least an hour in the fridge.

Enjoy!

-Sophia/Two Frys

Halloween Cookies

Halloween Cookies

Halloween Cookies

Skull Cookie

I took a vacation day Friday so I could bake in celebration of Halloween, so I made cookies and a Boneyard Cake. It took two days since I wanted my Royal Icing to dry completely before I continued decorating the cookies. I used various cookie cutters: tombstone, coffin, cat, bat, skull, witch hat, pumpkin, ghost and round cutter. I also used various Wilton sprinkles and some stencils to decorate.

Halloween Cookies

Coffin Cookie

Sugar Cookie Ingredients
2 packages Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix

2 Extra Large Eggs

4 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour

2/3 cup Butter, softened

2 teaspoons Whole Milk

2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract (You can substitute with Almond Extract if you wish)

Halloween Cookies

Black Cat Cookie

Instructions
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together Cookie Mix, Flour, Eggs, Butter, Milk and Vanilla until a stiff Dough forms.

Halloween Cookies

Witch Hat Cookie

On a floured surface, take Dough and form into a ball. Cover in plastic wrap and place in freezer for about 30 minutes so it can harden and be easy to roll out..

Take a rolling pin and rub Flour all around it.

Halloween Cookies

Ghost Cookie

Take a quarter of the Dough and keep the rest in plastic wrap in the fridge until you need to use it. Roll Dough with rolling pin and use cookie cutters to make shapes. Repeat until you run out of Dough.

Place Cookies in sheets lined with parchment paper and space far enough so they do not spread together.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

Wait 2 minutes before you remove Cookies to wire rack to cool completely before you decorate.

Halloween Cookies

Orange Cat Cookie

Royal Icing Ingredients and Instructions

I used Wilton Orange Gel Color and made a lot of White Royal Icing. I used Wilton Cookie Icing Black and just had to microwave for a few minutes before using.

Use a funnel to pour Royal Icing in Squeeze Bottle

Go to Joy Of Baking, http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html for Royal Icing ingredients and instructions.

Squeeze Bottles filled with Royal Icing, have small tips to make great borders

Witch Hat Cookie

I made 2 consistencies of Royal Icing for borders and to fill the cookies. Joy of Baking has great information about Royal Icing and this is a great recipe. I made the Royal Icing with Egg Whites, Lemon Juice and Powdered Sugar and poured into Squeeze Bottles. I loved using the Squeeze Bottles and recommend you try them if you haven't yet.

Outlined Cookie with Royal Icing

Pumpkin Cookies with Orange Royal Icing 

My Bat Cookies were inspired by jennysteffens.com: http://jennysteffens.blogspot.com/2013/10/spooky-bat-sugar-cookies-halloween.html.

Bat Cookie, Royal Icing needs to dry!

Bat Cookie

Have a happy and safe Halloween!

-Sophia/Two Frys

SuckleBusters Texas Heat Chipotle Pepper Sauce

SuckleBusters Texas Heat Chipotle Pepper Sauce 

SuckleBusters Texas Heat Chipotle Pepper Sauce

My wife is a big fan of SuckleBusters Texas Heat Chipotle Pepper Sauce as am I. This medium heat index, award winning pepper-based sauce brings on the heat slowly, but leaves quite an impact. We used this sauce on oven baked Chicken Wings and the Chipotle was ever present. While I can handle extreme heat hot sauces, I really enjoyed the strong flavor profile of this sauce. You do not lose the robust flavor from baking, and the Chicken Wings ended up with a smoky Chipotle kick. We wiped out these Wings in record time - that's how good this sauce tasted!

The ingredients are: Chile Peppers, Water, Vinegar, Salt, Sugar, Onion, Garlic, Chipotle, Spices and Xanthum Gum. The combination of ingredients will please all hot sauce aficionados, no matter what your heat preference is. I would also recommend SuckleBusters Texas Heat Chipotle Pepper Sauce with Ribs and on Steak.

To order SuckleBusters or for further information, go to: http://www.sucklebusters.com/.

Two Frys reviewed another SuckleBusters product last year, http://twofrys.blogspot.com/2012/05/sucklebusters-fresh-salsa-fixins.html.

-Allen/Two Frys

Estrellita Poblana V Restaurant

Estrellita Poblana V Restaurant

Allen's Enchiladas Suizas

It is not easy to find a Mexican restaurant that offers authentic Mexican cuisine in New York, but Estrellita Poblana in Riverdale (Bronx, NY) lives up to its claim. Before going to the restaurant, Allen and me ordered takeout and loved the food. Allen's cousin Rob was in town so Allen thought it would be a great restaurant to go dine in. We went to Estrellita Poblana V with Rob, his lovely daughter and her Mom.

Chips, Salsa and Guacamole

Estrellita Poblana is a small but cozy and inviting restaurant. The decor is nice and the restaurant was packed. Every single table was taken and there was a line waiting to be seated by the time we left. On Fridays, they have Mariachi Aguila de Plata performing from 7:00-9:00PM, which makes it a very festive and loud place. We ate there yesterday so we got to experience Mariachi and had to talk real loud to hear ourselves, but we had a great time. The menu is big and it took awhile for some of us (ahem, Robert) to decide what to order. There are also Daily Specials offered in addition to the fine menu selections.

Milanesa De Res

I ordered the Milanesa De Res (Breaded Steak) served with Frijoles Negros (Black Beans), Arroz (Mexican Rice) and Corn Tortillas. You get a generous serving and the food was some of the best tasting Mexican I have had aside from some Northern California restaurants I love. The seasoning on the Breaded Steak had bold flavors, but was not spicy and I ate it all. The Mexican Rice was seasoned perfectly and the Black Beans were superb. The Corn Tortillas were brought out in a Tortilla Warmer Basket. I rolled up some of my food in one of the Corn Tortillas and it was a perfect combination. Each table gets condiments Green Chile and Red Chile sauces, sliced pickled Jalapenos with Red Onions, sliced Cucumber and Lime to share and add to your food.

Green and Red Chile Sauce, Pickled Jalapeno and Onions, Cucumber, Lime

Allen ordered Enchiladas Suizas, Bistec (Steak) rolled in three soft Corn Tortillas in a creamy Chile Poblano Sauce, topped with sliced Red Onions, and Frijoles Negros (Black Beans) and Arroz (Mexican Rice). Allen loved the taste of the creamy Chile Poblano Sauce and the flavor of the authentic Mexican Rice. The Steak was finely chopped and seasoned well, but not spicy and the Black Beans were great.

We ordered Guacamole and it was one of the best we have eaten. The Guacamole was fresh and you could taste all the ingredients. The in-house Salsa served with the Corn Tortilla Chips was tangy and had a tinge of spice. Everyone enjoyed their food and it was real nice to spend time with family.

We recommend Estrellita Poblana V Restaurant if you want to experience great Mexican cuisine.

Estrellita Poblana V Restaurant
240 West 231st Street
Bronx, NY 10463

For directions, reservations and further information, go to: www.estrellitapoblanaV.com.

-Sophia and Allen/Two Frys