Jolene's Recipe Journal

We took a trip to New York back in August and we got to try so many iconic foods.   The black and white cookies were one of our favorites.  While this isn't exactly the same as the original, it's a fun spin on it, perfect for Halloween! I made no changes to the recipe.  Be sure to spray the sheets with nonstick spray or grease them or they will stick.  If you aren't feeling artistic enough to pipe the webs and spiders, festively colored sprinkles are great too.  Thank you so much to the Taste of Home Styling Team for this fun recipe! Do you have an amazing recipe you'd like to submit to Taste of Home? Follow this link and learn how! Want to apply to be a Volunteer Field Editor?  Check out the requirements and apply here ! Black & White Spider Cookies Print With Image Without Image ingredients: 1 package yellow cake mix (regular size) 2 large eggs 1/2 cup water ICING: 2/3 cup water 1/3 cup light corn syrup 8 cups confectioner

It's always an awesome day when my Taste of Home Special Delivery box arrives! The Fall box has been one of my favorites so far, celebrating the 25th anniversary of Taste of Home.  I've been a fan since the 90s, and I was honored to be chosen as a Community Cook in 2015. I won't spoil all the contents of the box, but it includes Spicy Chocolate Cinnamon Cane Sugar. This is a collaboration between Gustus Vitae and Taste of Home, and it is amazing! I got a chance to try it before it's release, and have used in some fun ways, the first being these Sweet & Spicy Churros. I made the traditional choux pastry, and then piped it through a bag with a star tip into the hot oil.  You definitely want to use a thermometer to keep the temperature steady, if the oil isn't hot enough they'll be greasy, and if it's too hot the outsides will burn the insides will stay raw. The key to it going smoothly is to have it set up assembly line style.  A paper towel lined

I hope you are enjoying #Choctoberfest so far, I know I am! Forte Chocolates sent me a selection of bars to use in creating my recipes for this event, and one of the varieties included was Balsamic Vinegar in White Chocolate.    I started thinking about all the things that I would pair with balsamic, and figs seemed like the perfect way to go. Unfortunately, I couldn't find fresh figs, but I did find some beautiful fig jam at the farmer's market. I went with a chocolate base for the cookie, but you could also use a classic thumbprint dough.   I simply substituted 1/4c cocoa powder for the flour in my family favorite recipe.   If you don't care for fig, these would be amazing with strawberry preserves too.    I melted the white chocolate with a little bit of vegetable oil in a glass bowl in the microwave.  Make sure to do it in short increments, and stir.  I may have gone a little overboard with my drizzling, but it's so good!  Thank you so much to Forte

My guys are pretty die-hard boxed brownie mix fans, but every once in a while, I see a recipe that I know they will love.  I found these fun Mummy Brownies in a Taste of Home Halloween round up, and I knew they'd be a big hit here. They're both allergic to tree nuts, so I left those out.  I used a 13x9 pan and they baked in just over 35 minutes.  I don't have a particular knack for piping, but that's the great thing about mummies, they're not meant to be neat and tidy. I used some great candy eyeballs I found in the cake decorating section, but you can use mini M&Ms too. The trick was almost on me, these treats were disappearing so fast I had to hide them so I could get a few pictures!  Be sure to go and check out what Halloween ideas the other #FestiveFoodies are sharing today using the links down below.  Thank you so much to Ellen from Family Around the Table for hosting! Other Halloween Treats you may like: Taco Pumpkins Creamy Caramels  Ultimate O

My husband has been asking me to make caramels for quite a long time.  I'll admit, I was intimidated by the candy-making process, and kept putting them off. I looked at recipe after recipe,  finally settling on these Creamy Caramels from Taste of Home. I made a mistake right off the top, which was to buy light corn syrup instead of dark.  I was assured that the color may be off, but they'll still be delicious.  I used a brand new candy thermometer, but since it was my first try, I also used the water test . The guys taste-tested while I started wrapping.  They told me to not waste my time wrapping, they were going to eat them right out of the pan.  After the intial frenzy, I took some of the caramel and spread it on shortbread cookies, sandwiched it between pretzels, and then coated them with melted chocolate.  Both were big hits. Thank you so much to Marcie W. for sharing her recipe!  For even more awesome #Halloween recipes, check out what the rest of the #FestiveFoodi

“I see recipes calling for one clove of garlic. One clove of garlic is not enough for any recipe unless it’s a recipe for ‘How to cook one clove of garlic’ – even in this case, use two.”   Unknown Amen! To me, a recipe can never call for enough garlic, so when it was chosen for the theme for this month's Baking Bloggers, I was in.  We are all big garlic fans, we love it in everything from garlic bread to chicken to corn on the cob .  But there's just something even more amazing about it when you bake or roast it in the oven! I'm still hitting the local farms as much as I can, and right now one of my favorite things to pick up are sweet potatoes.  I love them done in the oven, so I was excited to run across this recipe from Taste of Home.  I couldn't get fresh rosemary, so I used dried. If you're hesitant about the whole cloves of garlic, you can definitely mince it. Delicious, and guaranteed to keep away the vampires :)  Thank you so much to Michelle B. fo