[1] Stuffed Puffs S’mores Kit: chocolate-stuffed marshmallows plus graham crackers (all photos © Stuffed Puffs).

[2] A bag of Stuffed Puffs, individually wrapped with Halloween packaging (year-round bags, not individually wrapped, are also available).

[3] The chocolate inside.

How do you make a big, fluffy marshmallow even better? Stuff it with chocolate.

S’mores around the campfire is been a yummy tradition: a stick, a fire, two toasted marshmallows, a square of chocolate and two graham crackers turn into a delicious chocolate marshmallow sandwich.

While there have been numerous creative uses of s’mores (see our recipe list), as well as flavored marshmallows and chocolate-covered marshmallows, there’s now a true innovation:

Stuffed Puffs.

These marshmallows filled with soft chocolate (photo #3) are a game-changer, both in the marshmallow category and for making S’mores.

Stuffed Puffs were created by Michael Tierney. What seems like an obvious idea, he says, was actually born around a campfire.

While it may seem like a simple idea, it’s very hard to execute—which is why it hasn’t been done before. It took Tierney seven years to work out the details.

Now that chocolate-filled marshmallows are a reality, S’mores lovers no longer have to juggle marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers over the heat—be it a campfire, fireplace, grill or gas stove.

Stuffed Puffs also solve the problem that marshmallows often do not get hot enough to melt the chocolate.

With the chocolate inside the marshmallow, Stuffed Puffs has ingeniously solved the problem: The chocolate melts while the marshmallow toasts. It’s fail-safe.

Stuffed Puffs are a great gift for Halloween and Christmas…but they’re also a treat that requires no holiday.

Whether toasted or out of the bag, just enjoy them!
 
 
BUY STUFFED PUFFS:

 
 
>>>FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT STUFFEDPUFFS.COM<<<

October 23rd is National Boston Cream Pie Day.

Boston Cream Pie is actually a layer cake, not a pie. Two yellow cake layers are filled with vanilla cream and iced with chocolate ganache.

Here’s more about it, and how it got its name—plus a recipe to bake your own from scratch.

But let’s skip the “pie” for a moment, in favor of Boston Cream Cupcakes (photo #1).

Inspired by the original Boston Cream Pie—created at Boston’s Parker House Hotel over 150 years ago—a kit created by King Arthur Flour enables even novice bakers to achieve beautiful results.

The recipe makes moist, golden cupcakes with a rich cream filling and a swirl of fluffy chocolate frosting on top.

With the “surprise” cream filling, they’re a fun, easy homemade dessert or snack.

 
We like this kit as a gift for young bakers or prospective bakers, and have put it on our holiday gift list.

But you don’t need to wait until then to enjoy Boston Cream Cupcakes.
 
 
GET YOUR KIT AT KINGARTHURFLOUR.COM

[1] Adapting Boston Cream Pie to cupcakes (both photos © King Arthur Flour).

[2] The kit: Ready, set, bake!

[1] Autumn mac and cheese, with whole wheat pasta, sweet potatoes and kale (photos #1 and #2 © North Carolina Sweet Potatoes).

[2] Beautiful sweet potatoes, grown in North Carolina.

[3] This variety of kale is variously called black Tuscan, dinosaur or lacinato (photo © Good Eggs).

Macaroni and cheese is a favorite in many households: comfort food that sticks to your ribs.

For an autumn touch, this macaroni and cheese recipe incorporates sweet potatoes and kale—not just as seasonal accents, but for added nutrition, too.

It also uses whole wheat pasta, and changes things up by using rotini instead of elbow macaroni.

Originating in northern Italy, rotini are spirals or twists like fusilli, but shorter—about 1-½ inches long, with a tighter spiral that helps retain the sauce better.

They are popularly used in pasta salads as well. For other substitutes, try fusilli, gemelli, penne, rotelle or torchio.

This recipe was developed by the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, which has many recipes for sweet potatoes (including a sweet potato ice pop!).
 
 
RECIPE: AUTUMN MAC & CHEESE

Prep time is 10 minutes, cook time is 30 minutes. Be sure not to cook the pasta beyond al dente, because it will get softer when baked.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°. Coat the inside of a large casserole dish with olive oil or butter.

2. PREPARE the pasta according to package directions, cooking to al dente. While the pasta is cooking…

3. Sauté the kale and spices in olive oil for 2-3 minutes, or until slightly wilted. Set aside.

4. DRAIN the cooked pasta and let cool for 5 minutes. Once cooled, add the pasta, mashed sweet potatoes, spices, and kale to medium bowl and stir to combine.

5. WHISK together in a small bowl the eggs, milk and cheese, and add to the pasta and sweet potato mixture. Mix well and and pour into a large casserole dish. Top with the extra mozzarella.

6. BAKE for 30-35 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the top begins to brown.

________________

*Italian Seasoning Recipe: Combine 2 tablespoons dried basil, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 2 tablespoons dried parsley, 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon dried thyme. Store in a tightly-capped container.

Our favorite Halloween candies were mini Almond Joys, Mounds, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Skor bars.

But our palate has since progressed beyond their childhood charms.

Thank goodness for Theo’s artisan chocolates. Theo has brought these and more into the quality-chocolate universe.

 
There are also:

 
The line is Certified USDA Organic, plus:

 
So eat all you want: It’s Halloween, and it’s socially responsible chocolate.

You can also load up on stocking stuffers.
 
 
>>>Head to TheoChocolate.com<<<
 
 
THE HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN
 
THE HISTORY OF THE JACK O’LANTERN
 
THE HISTORY OF CANDY CORN
 
THE HISTORY OF TRICK-OR-TREATING

[1] Theo’s organic Peanut Butter Cups (both photos © Theo Chocolate).

[2] Theo’s Salted Toffee Bar.

[1] Pumpkin Ricotta Cheesecake, less heavy than a cream cheese recipe (photo © Chef Marisa Churchill).

[2] No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Kenwood World).

[3] Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie. Here’s the recipe (photo © King Arthur Flour).

[4] Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream. The recipe is below (photo © Taste Of Home).

[5] Or, buy this limited-edition Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream, with a graham cracker swirl, from Ben & Jerry (photo © Ben & Jerry’s).

[6] Assorted pumpkins: Thanks for everything (photo © Starling Farm)!

October 21st is National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day. Here’s the history of cheesecake. The history of pumpkins is below.

With Halloween in 10 days and Thanksgiving and Christmas following (sooner than we’d like), it’s perfect timing.

There are different styles of pumpkin cheesecake, from the dense New York style with two pounds of cream cheese to a lighter ricotta cheesecake, to pumpkin mousse cheesecake.

Here are some recipes from our collection.

 
Plus:

 
Plus:

> The year’s 16 cheesecake holidays.

> The year’s 8 pumpkin holidays are below.
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE ICE CREAM

Don’t want cake? How about some pumpkin cheesecake ice cream?

Many pumpkin cheesecake recipes do not include cream cheese, relying simply on the cream and spices to simulate cheesecake flavors.

Ben & Jerry’s sells a perfectly charming Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream.

But this recipe, from Taste Of Home, is the real deal with cream cheese and egg yolks, just like a cheesecake.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. HEAT 1-1/2 cups cream, the cream cheese, and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a large heavy saucepan, until bubbles form around the sides of the pan. Meanwhile…

2. WHISK the egg yolks, salt, spices, and the remaining cream and brown sugar in a small bowl. Whisk a small amount of the hot mixture into the eggs. Return all to the pan, whisking constantly.

3. COOK and stir over low heat until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Quickly strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; place in ice water and stir for 2 minutes.

4. WHISK in the pumpkin and vanilla. Continue to whisk until the mixture is completely cooled.

5. FILL the cylinder of the ice cream maker two-thirds full; freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. When the ice cream is frozen, transfer it to a freezer container. Freeze for 2-4 hours or overnight.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF CHEEESECAKE
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PUMPKINS

Pumpkins and other squash types originated in the Americas. They are among America’s oldest cultivated crops.

Pumpkin seeds have been found at archaeological sites in the American southwest dating back six thousand years, as well as at sites throughout Mexico, Central and South America, and the eastern United States [source].

It is believed that the seeds of the wild pumpkin were the only part consumed, as the flesh of most varieties was too bitter to eat.

Once cultivation and breeding eliminated the bitterness, Native Americans ate not just the flesh and seeds, but the flowers, leaves, and in the case of zucchini and yellow squash, the skin.

Varieties of all sorts could be baked or roasted whole in the fire, cut up and boiled, or added to soup. Strips were also dried into a type of pumpkin jerky.

The outer shells were dried and used as water vessels, bowls, and storage containers.

European explorers to the New World found squash varieties growing in profusion from East to West, from South America to Canada.

Brought back to Europe by Spanish explorers in the 16th century*, the name was derived from the Greek word pepon, large melon.

They also turned the pumpkin into a vessel to make a type of pudding. They sliced off the top, removed the seeds and pith, and filled the cavity with milk, honey, and spices. They baked it in the hot ashes of the fire.

Pumpkins were fermented into beer and grown as fodder for livestock.

By the 19th century, however, the pumpkin had diminished into a minor crop. Now, it is largely a “fourth quarter crop,” mostly eaten during the holiday season.

But only because we have so many other seasonal foods to eat during the other seasons!
 
 
THE YEAR’S 8 PUMPKIN HOLIDAYS

 
Plus:

 
 
________________

*Along with pumpkins and other squash varieties, Spanish explorers brought back cacao beans, corn, peanuts, peppers, pineapples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and other food items.

*There appear to be two different pumpkin pie days: November 21st and December 25th. The December 25th observance has some documentation going back to the late 1990s in Chase’s Calendar, a well-known reference book for tracking special days and observances. The November 21st date is more obscure, but can be found on several calendar websites. Both are unofficial food holidays, i.e. without any formal governmental or organizational proclamation. The former can simply been “proclaimed” by anyone online and registered with different calendar websites.
 
 

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