31 Days of Halloween!(+1!) Nov 1 - Day of the Dead

Make: Skulls!
Recipe: Krispy Treat Skulls!
Made:Skulls!



Make: Day of the Dead Skulls

Recipe: Rice Krispy Treat Skulls and Skull Cake

Made: Leather Day of the Dead Masks

~> The first recipe I'm posting for Day of the Dead is crispy rice treat skulls! Information about the skull cake will be posted second.



~~> Recipe: Rice Krispy Treat Skulls

Most of this recipe follows a regular rice krispy treat recipe!
Basically, the differences are that you smash up the rice krispies before you start and you mash them in to skull molds instead of a pan! (you can do this with any firm mold and they are great used as cake toppers or individual treats)
ONE batch would fit a 13x9x2 inch pan.


Ingredients:
Rice Crispy Treat 
3 Tsp butter OR margarine
1 package (10 oz., ~40) regular marshmallows OR 4 cups miniature marshmallows
5 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal (a bit less makes for a denser cast of the skull, can decrease to 5 cups)
Decoration (optional)
fondant/sugar paste or marzipan
melting chocolate
sanding sugar
sprinkles


Crush the rice cereal a bit in a heavy food bag (a freezer bag works fine); you can use a rolling pin or the back of a wooden spoon). Smaller pieces make for more detail in your castings of your food molds! (and make the treat much more dense!)
Use a light baking spray on your mold pan (I used the Wilton  3-D mini skull baking pan as a press mold).
Use a large saucepan (a paella pan or wok also works great ; ) to melt butter on low heat, add the marshmallows, and stir until melted in.
Add your crispy rice cereal and stir until evenly mixed and well coated.
Use wax paper or a buttered spoon/spatula to press mixture into molds (or you could lay it out on aluminum foil and cut it with cookie cutters).
Allow to cool.
These are best if served the same or the next day. If you need to hold them you can freeze them between layers of wax paper for up to 6 weeks.


~~> Recipe: Skull Cake

There are (at least) two good 3-D baking molds for "full sized" skulls available: Wilton and NordicWare. The Nordic Ware pan has a more complete skull shape, with the back of the skull being more rounded, but may be harder to find. Wilton also has a 3-D mini skull baking pan with molds for 4 complete smaller skulls which are great for baking or using as a press mold.
Prep baking mold (grease / lightly flour).
Fill with any standard cake recipe or mix (The recipes and mixes we have used are given here).
Allow to cool and remove from mold pan, breaking the edge of the cake/pan border with a butter knife.
After the cake has cooled, cut the un-molded edges flat and spread some frosting thinly across both facing edges to "glue" together.
Gently frost the cake. Using the Wilton mold I tend to frost the base differently than the skull.
Then pipe decoration. You can use a small plastic food bag with a tiny corner snipped off for piping.


~~~> Made:

  

           

  

Enjoy! 
 
DeWyk