Halloween...Not as Planned, Part 1

"L" had his first Halloween party at preschool.  Of course, I was so eager to sign up to bring in a treat for his class.  But alas, things don't always go as planned.  The Saturday before Halloween, there was a huge snowstorm that caught everyone by surprise!  It started while we were celebrating a friend's birthday and it was still coming down when we left 3 hours later, only to keep on all through the night.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get royal icing when I previously went shopping and thought I'd just pick it up after the party.  Alas, the roads were miserable and I wasn't willing to jeopardize my family's safety all in name of making the "perfect" cookie I had in mind. 

I had grand plans for my pumpkin cookies...to pipe a border around the pumpkin with orange royal icing and flood it with more icing and to top it with shiny orange sanding sugar.  And then maybe a little green stem.  But alas, I settled for regular, freehand icing and some fun sprinkles that I thought the kids would like.  No perfect borders here...

Then for FAIL #2, I was going to make cute jack-o-lantern cake pops that I saw on Bakerella.  But it seems my edible ink marker was either drying out or just not working on the candy coating of the cakepop.  So, the kids just got a plain ol' pumpkin.  But "L's" teacher tells me, the kids loved it just the same.  Sure, sugar on a stick, who wouldn't love it?

"P" testing out the first one

My hubby told me these were the best cake pops he's ever had (I guess that includes the ones I made before too : ).  But, it's true.  A good cake pop needs the right texture and requires the right proportion of cake and frosting.  Too much frosting and it's too gooey, akin to eating raw cookie dough, which I guess is okay if you like that texture.  But this cake pop was pretty good, I must admit.  It was like eating a really moist cake.

In the end, you gotta roll with the punches and it's about the process.  I got to make the cookies with my lil "P", her first time donning the white apron with me in the kitchen.  And all the kids in "L's" class thanked him for the treats.  I'm sure he was beaming proud : )

"P's" first time making cookies in the kitchen

After delivering the goodies to my son's class, hubby and I stayed to watch the school parade and got a glimpse of my son interacting with his buddies, too cute!