Peanut Butter Bumpkins

Stage one

We make them together, although she has the impression of independence.

Her creation would fail most nutritional examinations but it a triumph of visual delight.

Stage two

She reveals her handiwork to the boys for their approval.

We have already discussed her presentation in advance. On no account should the ‘trigger word,’ peanut butter be mentioned.

“Ta dah!” she beams!
“Dey are being pumpkins?”
“No they’re candy. I made em for ya! All by myself!”
“You are being dah awesome chef.”
“You’re gonna love em. They’re made of….....….food colouring, frosting, butter and…........confectioner’s sugar. Mostly sugar really. A whole tonne of sugar.”
“Sugar! I am love the affectionate sugars.”

Stages three and up

Touch, smell, lick…….. well, you know the drill.

Addendum - Recipe and book review

The recipe comes from this book which I would wholeheartedly recommend as it has lots of fun ideas, especially if you’re a foreigner and not very good at Halloween. The Book is called “The Big Book of Halloween – Creative & Creepy Projects for Revellers of all Ages by Laura Dover Doran. It is thoroughly suitable for children as there are ‘easy’ projects too. I think I could have done with this book a few years ago. I think we will be able to use it again next year.

I love all hobbies and crafts but I’m in the minority around here. It is attractively illustrated without too many surplus words, or rather there are lots of surplus words but they’re arranged in such a manner that you can tune out the full page of text and concentrate on the insert box, the main event. The instructions are simple and numbered. There are several unusual, home made and cheap costumes too. The models are ordinary, friendly, pleasant people rather than intimidating super models. It is well organized into easily recognizable chapters.

Peanut butter Pumpkins

Combine 115 grammes / four ounces or 1 stick of melted butter with 340 grammes / 12 ounces of peanut butter and 454 grammes / 16 ounces of icing sugar / powdered sugar / confectioners sugar. [see how tricky it is to translate these things!] Smoosh everything together. I would add the sugar gradually as it’s a stiff work out for the muscle challenged. Add the orange food colouring early and it will lighten the more sugar you add. It’s really hard to add the food colouring at the end as the dough is like cement. You do have to add all the sugar or otherwise your pumpkins won’t hold their form [too soft]. Roll the mixture into little balls. You can mark the sides to make them look like pumpkins but leave that step out if cocktail sticks are lethal weapons. Add a trail or stalk of livid green icing / frosting to complete. They taste better after chilling for an hour. The recipe says that the yield is 15 to 20 pumpkins but we had 34! So ours must have been considerably smaller. My daughter ate two and said that was more than enough to last her the next 24 hours as they’re very rich.