The Easiest Mock Butterbeer Recipe Ever

We still love the Harry Potter franchise over here at the Disheveled household. And every Halloween we try new recipes of the delicious and magical foods found in the books and movies. This year, I wanted to develop a simple butterbeer, that can be doubled or tripled as needed, tasted yummy, and didn't require me going to the city to get butterscotch sauce. (Which was in the former easiest recipe I had found.) I worked out one that passed the picky Potterhead taste test, (x3), and to boot- if you use diet soda, can be carb-free!

Here it is...
so easy...

Mix together:

• 2 12oz cans of cream soda (or diet cream soda)
• 1/4 tsp imitation butter flavoring (we use Watkin's)
• 2 drops of caramel flavoring
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of heavy cream

Just mix it. Pour it. Drink it.
Makes about 4 servings. Two if they're huge.

Feel free to share with a link! Here's a Pinterest image :)

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Homemade Fake Blood For Halloween

In a pinch, or if you don't want to spend money on a tiny tube of the stuff, fake blood can easily be made at home with every day ingredients. This recipe can be used safely on the face, on cloth (I've always used clothes I was going to throw away for bloody costumes...) or anywhere you can wash up.



You will need:

• 1 cup plain/light corn syrup
• red food coloring
• blue food coloring
• and if wanted for an old/not fresh blood look, green food coloring
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

In a bowl, or a jar (I use a jar so I can just toss on a lid and store), put your corn syrup and 40-50 drops of red food coloring. If using gel coloring, or wanting to adjust your color feel free to experiment.

 This step will give you a cherry-red color, not at all how blood looks.
This is where the blue comes in. Add a SINGLE drop of blue food coloring, and mix thoroughly.

Much better. Looks VERY dark in the jar, but if you get some out you will see it is still red, and not as purple as it seems.

But it looks a little too see-through, so that is where the corn starch comes in. Add one tablespoon and mix like crazy. Now you have cheap, slowly dripping, chemical-less fake blood.

Feel free to experiment, not everyone's drop are the same and you may want yours to have a different look. Also, if you want a more less fresh, old blood look, (getting brown...), simply add 3-5 drops of green food coloring.

Feel free to pin on Pinterest, and share freely on Facebook, etc.

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Shanah Tovah! Moist Honey Apple Cake

Our house LOVES this cake, not just for holidays, but pretty much all autumn and winter long. Not overly sweet, dry or spiced, this cake is a perfectly rounded honey cake with just enough apple-goodness.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and spray a NON STICK bundt pan with a release. I use an olive oil one with great results. (A non stick is very important because of all the honey in the batter.)

You will need:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of honey
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup oil (a light oil)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 3 cups of flour (I use 2 AP, and one wheat- very delicious!)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• pinch of ground ginger
• 4-6 apples of choice, pealed and grated. (I zip them through the grater on my food processor. It makes them uniform, and doesn't give them time to brown.) You can use any apples you like, this isn't a pie where you need firm pieces, so if they cook down into the batter it doesn't hurt it.

and for the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar 
• 1 tablespoon, or slightly less,  almond milk or your choice of dairy substitute. (or milk if you're not making it kosher!)
• splash of vanilla extract

In a large mixing bowl beat your eggs until they are creamy-yellow and a bit foamy. Beat in your honey until fully incorporated. Then you can easily beat in your brown sugar, oil, and vanilla extract. 

Over the top of the mixture, SIFT the remaining DRY ingredients. Stir until mixed. Fold in your apples. Depending on the size of your apples, you will have about 4-5 cups of gratings. 

Spread the thick batter into your prepared bundt pan. Bake for around 70 minutes before checking. A skewer into the middle of the ring will come out clean, and the sides of the cake should shrink slightly away from the edges of the pan. It may take up to 90 minutes, this is a very moist cake.

Let cook in the pan for about 10 minutes to help with releasing without breakage. Then turn over onto a plate, platter or rack to continue to cool thoroughly. It make take a couple hours because of the density.

To make the glaze, mix your splash of vanilla and about 1/2 of a tablespoon of your milk/substitute. Incorporate as  much as you can before adding more liquid splash-by-splash until the right consistency. You'll want it pretty thick, about like honey. Drizzle onto the cake. You can just use a fork, or pipe it on with a bag. Let dry before cutting.

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