It may look innocent, but there’s 1/4 cup bourbon in it (photo courtesy Broma Bakery).

Thanks to Sarah Fennel at Broma Bakery for this seasonal snack.

Before you dig in, check out the history of milkshakes—originally alcoholic drinks!

Sarah restores the alcohol by adding bourbon to the shake.

Prep time is 10 minutes.

RECIPE: PUMPKIN MILKSHAKE

Ingredients For 2 Milkshakes

1. RIM the glasses. Place the graham cracker crumbs on a plate. Dip the rims of the glasses 1/4 inch into a saucer of water, then dip the wet rim into the crumbs and twist to coat.

2. DRIZZLE the warm caramel sauce up and down the insides of the glasses. Set aside.

3. COMBINE the remainder of the ingredients in a blender. Blend on high until fully combined. Pour into serving glasses and serve immediately.
  

October 24th is National Good & Plenty Day, celebrating the oldest branded candy in the U.S.

It’s an American version of the licorice pastilles that have been made in Europe for hundreds of years.

Good & Plenty candies are narrow capsule shapes of sweet black licorice, coated in both bright pink and white hard candy shells (both colors taste the same).
 
GOOD & PLENTY HISTORY

The licorice candies were first produced by the Quaker City Confectionery Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1893 (the brand is now owned by Hershey Foods, after changing ownership multiple times).

The box and its contents have a percussive quality. Since there’s a lot of air space in the box (it’s perhaps half full), shaking the box creates a cadence that’s fun. It’s fun, also led to the kids’ slogan disparaging the low fill:

Good & Plenty,
Hardly Any!

Evidently, Good & Plenty executives or their advertising agency also noticed the percussive quality, which sounded like the chug-a-chug produced by the pushrods that linked the wheels on older trains.

More than 50 years after the candy was introduced, the brand developed a cartoon character, Choo Choo Charlie, an engineer on a steam locomotive.

Charlie shook the box to make the sound, with this jingle (to the tune of a popular folk song, “The Ballad of Casey Jones”):

Once upon a time there was an engineer
Choo Choo Charlie was his name, we hear.
He had an engine and he sure had fun
He used Good & Plenty candy to make his train run.
Charlie says “Love my Good & Plenty!”
Charlie says “Really rings my bell!”
Charlie says “Love my Good & Plenty!”
Don’t know any other candy that I love so well!
The brand has extended to Good & Fruity, in blue raspberry, cherry, lemon, lime and orange, with colored candy shells to match.

Try either variety as a cupcake garnish, or on top of ice cream or sorbet.

[2] The pink and white capsules may look delicate, but they pack a licorice punch (photo courtesy Hershey’s).

[3] The licorice core (photo courtesy Hershey’s).

[2] For Halloween, Andrea replaces the red “eyeball pupil” with a black one (photo courtesy Recipeland).

Just add eyeball ice cubes to a Bloody Mary in a rocks glass (photo #1).

To make the optics more Halloween-y, Andrea replaces the red pimento centers in stuffed olives (photo #2) with black olives. But if you prefer the look of the red, you can save yourself the step.

You can also take pitted black olives and add red pimento pupils—perhaps even spookier!

NOTE: A traditional rocks/Old Fashioned glass holds 6–8 ounces total, whereas a highball/Collins glass can hold 12–14 ounces.
 
 
RECIPE: MUTANT MARY, A HALLOWEEN BLOODY MARY

Ingredients Per Drink/Rocks Glass

 
Plus

 
For The Bloody Mary Mix (Per Drink)

You can, of course, use a commercial Bloody Mary mix.

1. FREEZE ice cubes in a tray. While the ice freezes, remove the green olives from the jar and replace the red pimento pieces with black olive slices. When the cubes are slushy, insert the eyeball, with the pupil face up.

2. MAKE the Bloody Mary mix; add the vodka and chill.

3. ASSEMBLE: Place the ice cubes in the glass, top with Bloody Mary mix and serve.