I wanted to give you all a healthy recipe to start off Halloween, since I think we can all agree that it is a holiday that is (most likely) going to spiral down into an excess of sugar, chocolate and other treats by the time the night is over. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that we need the healthy recipe after Halloween is over, to balance out our sugar intake a little and get our eating habits back on track - as well as to put something else in our stomachs to take the edge off the sugar buzz. Something like a plate full of these Buckwheat Pumpkin Butter Pancakes.

Oh, who am I kidding? I drenched mine in maple syrup before digging in and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

Syrup aside, the pancakes themselves are pretty healthy and hearty. The batter uses both all purpose flour and buckwheat flour. Buckwheat flour is made from ground buckwheat and has a nutty, but slightly bitter, earthy flavor. Don’t let that description put you off of using it, however. It blends amazingly well with lots of flavors (soba noodles, anyone?) and, as far as baking goes, is a great addition to lots of spiced up cookies and cakes for the depth of flavor it adds. On top of that, it is very high in protein and fiber. Unlike all purpose flour, buckwheat flour is gluten free, so its inclusion here creates a very tender and fluffy pancake without having to add a lot of fat to the recipe.

Perhaps more unusual than the buckwheat flour is the fact that I opted for pumpkin butter, instead of plain mashed pumpkin. The pumpkin butter is made with cooked, pureed pumpkin and has spices and sweeteners already added to it. This makes it almost like a jam, and is a great way to get lots of flavor in addition to the flavor of pumpkin into the pancakes. That said, I never shy away from adding a little more spice, and added in some of my pumpkin pie spice mix anyway. The cranberries were a last minute add-in, but definitely added a lot of interest to the pancakes, with a sweet-tart taste that brightened up the plate. I’d opt for raisins, mini chocolate chips or dried cherries if you’re looking for an alternative mix-in.

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If you’re looking for some last minute Halloween ideas, you might want to check out this postabout Halloween cupcakes, or some of the holiday links currently in my sidebar. If you’re just looking for some non-holiday specific recipe ideas from the past week or so on the blogs, look no further:

• Creampuffs in Venice relived a childhood favorite with a batch of Italian Crumiri. Relatively plain cookies, with cornmeal mixed into a shortbread-like dough, crumiri are piped out into a distinctive and delicate shape before baking. Although it’s probably not quite traditional, they seem like a goof candidate for chocolate-dipping. 
• The Amarula Chocolate and Mascarpone cheesecake with a Hazelnut and flapjack crust that Applemintrecently made has a few ingredients that most readers - especially if you’re in the US, might not be familiar with. First is Amarula, a South African liquor in the vein of Irish Cream. Flapjacks are popular UK cookies heavy in rolled oats (or muesli) that are usually baked until crispy. Finally, fromage fraisis a fresh cheese similar to yoghurt, and it is often available at specialty supermarkets even here in the US.
• If you’re interested in adding a quick apple dessert to your repertoire, look no further than Tirami-mela. The dish is a layered dessert made with poached boozy apples, sugar and mascarpone. Kind of like apple pie a la mode for grownups, and without the pie.
• A classic childhood favorite for many is Banana Cream Pudding and Homesick Texan’s version fits the bill for anyone looking for its flavor. Made with a simply banana pudding, banana slices and chocolate wafers - which are a little twist on the slightly more conventional vanilla - the gooey dish improves with age, but is sure to go quickly once served..
• With October on the way out, we’re just coming in to the main holiday season of the year. Pinch My Salt is already in the spirit with Spiked Egg Nog French Toast. Indulgently delicious, a batch of this is perfect for a cold wintry morning - especially if you have some cinnamon bread around to use as the base.
• Urban Vegan’s Cranberry Upside Down Cake is another recipe that is worth filing away for the holidays. It looks oh-so-festive, with a gorgeous red topping from fresh cranberries, and is a snap to make. Of course, it is also completely vegan and has no eggs or dairy in the recipe, which makes it a good option for dessert if any of your holiday guests are a bit sensitive to those products.
• Finally, I have to admit that I absolutely adore the Doggie Cookies at Taste Goblet. Almost like little Snoopy look-a-likes, the cookies have shortbread heads that are dressed up with chocolate sprinkle eyes, chocolate chip noses and chocolate cereal ears. They’re so cute I don’t know if I could bring myself to eat one - although knowing how good they’d taste, I’d certainly try. Plus they’re a fantastic thing to make with/serve to kids.

 While I liked all of my Halloween creations this year, my vampire cupcakes were the things that really got me excited. I know I’m not the only one who goes all out decorating (baked goods, in this case) for Halloween, either. If you’re still looking for a few good cupcake ideas, there are plenty of amazing things out there to choose from.

52 Cupcakes has assembled a massive cupcake graveyard of spooky cakes, mostly decorated with gummy candies and spooky plastic toys, like eyeballs and skeletons. Cupcake Project made some chocolate witch cupcakes, which are not only adorable, but perfectly accessorized with cookie brooms. Not Martha put together some deliciously filled spider cupcakes. Flickr also has a bunch of great suggestions, from monster brain cupcakes and zombie cupcakes to garbage heap cupcakes (reminiscent of a childhood fav: dirt cups). Don’t forget the Jack Skellington Cupcakes, if you’re a Nightmare Before Christmas fan, like me!

If starting your decorations from scratch is just a little too time intensive, you can always go for pre-made stencils to dress up a frosted cake (or cookie) or simply stick some edible sugar decorations on top.

For years, I used to make Halloween-shaped pancakes every Halloween morning. When I didn’t have a mold to work with, I would make vaguely ghost-shaped pancakes, sometimes adding chocolate chips or raisins for eyes and mouth. If I did have a mold, pumpkins would be the order of the day (I also had a Mickey Mouse mold, but that’s a different story). As time went on, I lost my pancake-shaping tool and without it to remind me, my pancake tradition turned into just plain pancakes. If I had thought about it sooner, I would have picked up a set of Tricks and Treats pancake molds. Much fancier than the one I used to use, the set includes a jack o’lantern, a bat (my favorite) and a broom-mounted witch. The molds are nonstick, but with complex pancake designs, I wouldn’t want to take any chances with disfiguring my breakfast and would grease them lightly before use.

Not only do I like the molds, I love the pumpkin shaped spatula that matches them. Seasonal or not, that is something I would probably use year round.

Since the stores are probably anxious to put out their Christmas stuff already, I think I might just have to head to the store and see if I can pick of some Halloween baking tools on sale

 Most of the foods we buy at the grocery store can be made at home, some easily and some with a fair amount of difficulty, but just about everything will transfer over. Foods like bread and cookies are easy targets for home bakers, candies and foods that seem like “specialty” items tend to be labeled as items we’re better off just buying. Candy corn - a fall/Halloween favorite of mine - is one of the items in the latter category. I should have suspected that it can be made at home, since marshmallows can be. Nosh with Me decided to include homemade candy corn in her Halloween celebrations this year. The recipe, which happens to be vegan, was first made by The Urban Housewife and picked up in popularity from there. You’ll need a candy thermometer, but the recipe is actually quite easy. Whether homemade corns are tastier than storebought (or than cookie candy corns) is for you to decide.

And while we’re on the subject of candy, if you have a sweet tooth, you might want to head over at CandyBlog because Cybele is having a Limited Edition Giveway. The prize package includes: Dark Chocolate Flavored Sixlets, Elvis Reese’s Peanut Butter & Banana Creme Miniatures, 3 Musketeers Fall Mix (Strawberry, Cappuccino & French Vanilla), Tropical Tootsie Pops, Twix Java, Candy Corn Kisses, Nestle 100 Grand versions (Coconut, Peanuts & Dark Chocolate), Peppermint Peeps, Limited Edition & Seasonal Pop Rocks and more! All you have to do is leave a comment to enter. The deadline is November 15, 2007.

The other day I realized that it had been a long time since I had some freshly baked oatmeal cookies. And even longer since I had oatmeal raisin cookies. I couldn’t let it go on any longer, so I pulled out my mixing bowls and got to work.

I was inspired by some of the spice blends that I made last week and decided to use them as the focal point of the cookie, rather than simply cinnamon, which is often the primary spice/flavoring in an oatmeal raisin cookie. The warm spices also give a seasonal feel to the cookies, since spicier cakes and cookies are typical of fall and winter fare. I used pumpkin pie spice for this batch and absolutely loved the accent that the small amount of cardamom in the blend gave to the finished cookies. If you’re going to use a store-bought spice mixture here, be sure to add in a pinch of cardamom to give your batch an extra flair and set them apart from other recipes.

The cookies came out of the oven smelling amazing: buttery, sweet and with just the right amount of spice. I made them so that they were on the large side, but not so big you have to feel guilty about eating two. When fresh from the oven, they were deliciously crisp on the edges and chewy in the center, and cooled to be slightly chewy, but not soft. I like my cookies this way, but if you prefer to keep yours on the very soft side of the spectrum, just keep the baking time on the low end of the time noted and shoot for a cookie that is just golden at the edges and still soft (yet set) in the center. Either way, this is a cookie recipe that you really can’t go wrong with. And I suspect it will be making another appearance at my house when we get into Christmas cookie season.

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