Monster Eyes

One of our favorite parts of the Halloween Candy Cottage the boys and I decorated the other day were the Monster Eyes!  They were easy, yummy, and the boys' absolutely loved them.  The eyes added a great bit of fun and spooky all at the same time.

Monster Eyes

-White chocolate bark (melted according to instructions)

-Mini Chocolate Morsels

-Chocolate sandwich cookies

-Gummy Lifesavers

Melt your chocolate according to instructions.  Dip your cookie until coated and lay on a wax paper covered surface to set.  Immediately add your gummy life to the middle of the cookie, and then drop a mini morsel in the center of the gummy.  After about 20-30 minutes your cookies will be set.  You can always speed up the process in the refrigerator.  The eyes will be a hit on any Candy Cottage, and the leftovers make a great party dish.

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Halloween Shopping

Cartload of goodies for our Halloween Candy Cottage! Have you decorated yours? Let us know on our Facebook page or Instagram page! You can find all of our links on our new website!

Halloween Nutter Butter Fun-Part 2

Since I had a package of Nutter Butters after making the Mummies, I decided to give brooms a try.   The Witch's broom would look cute propped at the door of any Halloween Candy Cottage.

Nutter Butter Brooms
Pretzel Sticks
Nutter Butter cookies
Chocolate Almond Bark



Melt your chocolate according to directions.  Meanwhile, cut the ends off of your Nutter Butters.  Dip your pretzel sticks in the melted chocolate and press into the end of the cookie.  Set aside on a wax papered surface.  Once set, the broom handle (i.e. pretzel stick) should adhere.  If not, you can always add a dab of chocolate to the end and re affix.  Next, up Witches' Hats, to go with our brooms!

Halloween Nutter Butter Fun Part 1

 Apparently the Nutter Butter is one of the most versatile cookies for creating edible Halloween characters...perusing the Internet turned up bats, ghosts, mummies, brooms, and acorns, amongst other things.  The mummies caught my eye on Five Heart Home.  I used their picture as inspiration for my mummy cookie, but experimented with my own method.  The cookie only took a few ingredients, and was fun and easy to make.  Your cute mummies will look adorably spooky on your Candy Cottage as well as making a great addition to any Halloween party.

Nutter Butter Mummies

White Chocolate Almond Bark

Chocolate Almond Bark\

Nutter Butter Cookies

Candy Eyes (Mini M&M's could be substituted)

Melt both of your almond bark candies in separate containers according to package instructions.  Once smooth and melted, dunk and cover your Nutter Butter cookies in the chocolate. Set on a wax paper covered surface to harden.  In the meantime, spoon your melted white chocolate into a Ziploc bag.  Snip a corner, and squeeze the white chocolate in lines back and forth across your chocolate Nutter Butters. 

Keep going to achieve a wrapping effect on your cookie; it shouldn't take long for your cookie to become mummified. Make sure to leave a small space for your eyes.  Attach the eyes with a drop of white chocolate on the back.  Voile', an adorably, spooky, oh so cute mummy!

Boo! Making Edible Ghosts the Easy Way

I was inspired to try make a Twinkies ghost after seeing one on CrazyLittleProjects .  Was it really as easy as it was made out to be? The answer was a resounding yes.  Aside from easy, the little ghosts turned out to be quite cute.  The ingredient list is short, and the actual construction is quick.


Twinkies Ghosts
-Twinkies cut in half
-white chocolate candy bark
-mini chocolate chips


Begin by melting your white chocolate bark candy according to package instructions until smooth.  While the chocolate is melting, cut your Twinkies in half.

Set the Twinkies upright on a wax paper covered surface and spoon melted chocolate over the top.  The chocolate will ooze down the sides, puddling at the bottom, and creating a "ghost shape."  

Finally add your mini morsels for eyes and a mouth and wait for your ghosts to set.  After the candy has hardened, your spooky, yet adorable friends are ready to adorn a Halloween Candy Cottage, and/or be eaten.  Have fun!

Monster Mash

Every Christmas, I make peppermint bark to pass out to friends and neighbors.  Why not Halloween inspired bark?  Hence, Monster Mash was born.  The bark is truly very easy, and makes a great "cobblestone" effect when decorating your Candy Cottage. 

Monster Mash

1 package of chocolate candy bark

Assortment of candy and snack foods

That's It!!!!

Simply melt your chocolate bark in the microwave or on the stove top according to the directions.  In the meantime, line a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Spread the melted chocolate on the cookie sheet.  Immediately add your candy, and let set until hardened.  I used kettle corn, candy corn, marshmallows, sprinkles, M&M's, and candy bones.  Other cute ideas might include gummy worms, candy eyes, pretzels, nuts, mini chocolate bars, and/or oreos.  Really, your creativity is the limit.  I have found the Monster Mash sets more quickly if placed in the refrigerator.  After hardened, break into smaller pieces.  I used small chunks to decorate the walls of a candy cottage.  Any leftovers are great treats for friends and family! So easy!

         

Take a Walk (or Slither) on the Wild Side

Every year at Halloween I enjoy perusing the aisles for the newest, most bizarre candy.  I have not been let down this year.  My son loves snakes, so these all too realistic gummy snakes were a huge hit.

I personally found them a little too life like, however, they certainly would be perfect for a very creepy, spooky Halloween Candy Cottage.  I did not taste them either, but they were kid approved.  Have fun shopping for your creepy, spooky Halloween candy (there is plenty to choose from!).

Not Your Mama's Candy Corn

When I was growing up, the appearance of candy corn in the grocery store signified the approach of Halloween and all things autumn.  The sweet little triangles of goodness were only to be eaten from September through the first of November, and they always were the same, yellow then orange,with a little white tip.  If you wanted to get a little wild, you might eat a orange pumpkin or get the harvest mix.  While shopping the other day, I happened upon a display of candy corn.  I reached for my usual bag, when "caramel macchiato" caught my eye. What?  Since when did candy corn come in OTHER flavors?  Where have I been the past few Septembers?  Apparently, for the brave at heart, you can now get everything from Peanut Butter Cup to Sea Salt Chocolate.  YUM!

Aside from just being a favorite fall treat, candy corn is a staple Halloween Candy Cottage decoration.  The little triangles make perfect shingles, walkways, roof lines, and accents.  Now you can go even crazier with candy corn of all colors.  The leftovers will be delicious, too!

 Trendy Tree Candy Cottage creation

Coloring Frosting with Kool-Aid

When you decorate your Candy Cottage this fall, one easy way to jazz it up is to use colored frosting. Halloween is a great time to experiment with a yellow roof or a purple cottage.  Rather than use traditional food coloring, I decided to try Kool-Aid packets.

Believe it or not, Kool-Aid works great.  The colors turned out bright, and as an added bonus, the frosting smelled pretty wonderful (and might taste pretty yummy, too!) The best part is that the whole process is so easy. Simply dump a packet of Kool-Aid into your frosting container and stir.  If you would like, you could always put the frosting in a bowl first, but that is not necessary.  My only tip is to make sure to read to the packets, as a green packet is actually red Kiwi Strawberry.  Get mixing!

Gingerbred Houses, Halloween and The Candy Cottage!

We invited some friends to have some Halloween fun decorating The Candy Cottage! The children started out making their memories by using a can of store bought frosting and added some orange food coloring. They were excited about the color that they created and they spread it on The Candy Cottage.

The candies looked so cute in the muffin tin and made it easy for the children to pick and choose what they wanted to use. Lots of candy corn, pumpkins, and gumballs made this gingerbread house their own unique creation! The Candy Cottage will be such a cute centerpiece to be used throughout the fall season. And the children were so proud of their work. My guess is there might end up being some ghosts and goblins hanging out in this adorable gingerbread house before the Halloween season is over!

...and the best part...The Candy Cottage can be rinsed off and reused for Christmas! Nothing says fun family gingerbread traditions like The Candy Cottage!

The Candy Cottage Decorating Party

A few months ago, as part of the debut of the new Candy Cottage, a few of our best friends gathered for a unique event.  It was an evening of fun, food and Candy Cottage decorating.  It was so much fun to see how creative our friends (ordinary moms) became when it came time to get down to decorating.  We witnessed The Candy Cottage transform into Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine's Day, A Beach Cottage, A Birthday Cottage, A Crab Shack, and Everyday Cottages.  Below are some of the photos of the creations from The Candy Cottage Decorating Party!  We hope you find these photos inspirational when decorating your Candy Cottage!  Don't forget The Candy Cottage can be used over and over so your creations can be endless!

Spooktakular Memories

The Goettsch Family from Cary, NC created a Ghost-of-a-Gingerbread House!

The Ashby Family from Raleigh, NC went "Bone Crazy" with their Halloween Gingerbread House.

The Dunn's from Pinetops, NC decorated this Devilish Delight of a Gingerbread House.

The England Family of Raleigh, NC made this cottage festive for Halloween with their Grandma.

We were so excited to debut our Candy Cottages at the Junior League of Raleigh's Shopping Spree.  We had no idea that they would be such a success!  These are our first customer submitted "Memories Made Sweet".  These families went to work just in time for Halloween!

A Haunted Cottage

Here are some spooky ideas on how to make your Halloween Sweet with the Candy Cottage! We have had so much fun decorating our Candy Cottages! Make your Candy Cottage spooktacular and share your photos with us.