Say Goodbye, "Twilight: The Final Installment" Gumdrops (★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆)

Sooooo, yaaaaaa.   

I'm about to dork out on you.

No, not geek out -- dork out.

There's a difference.

The word "nerd" or "geek" pertains to a person who possesses a particular and valuable skill albeit to an off-putting degree.

A "dork," however, is just someone who has an unhealthy obsession with an otherwise pointless object or idea.  Say the classic Trekkies, fanatical Belieber's, and, yes, the lowly Twihards.  

So, I'm the latter.

Or, was, I should say.  The last few movies have managed to suck what little devotion I had left.  Which is too bad, because I was hardcore.

We're talking midnight showings.  

Handmade t-shirts (Team Jacob!!).
Roadtrips to Forks.

Just some of the Twilighty things I did in 2009.  Oh, that blonde hair.  

K, I was crazy legit.  

I've been to the prom site, the alley site, and the Cullen mansion. (Insert Twihard green, envious, drooling here).  But not just the "so-deemed" landmarks in Forks, WA.  Oh no, to the actual movie sets.

We're talking RPattz and KStew were once breathing the same St. Helens, OR air. 

Now that is legit.

And crazy.
....pretty. crazy.

But sometimes loosing your mind can be, oh, so fun.

So to celebrate the closure of Hollywood's butchering a pretty decent book series this week, I themed out some gumdrops.

Oh, and I'm flying to Portland for the premiere.  

Because, frankly, you can never suppress the crazy for long.

When Twilight is the catalysis for renewing a friendship that was withered by distance, you want to celebrate the end of an era, as it were (oh, go throw your hissy fit you Twihaters...yes, I said "era"), in the place where it all started.

That's called closure.

Coming full circle.

And veggie vampire lover or not, it's beautiful.

Easy Homemade Gumdrops
adapted from Kitchen Meets Girl

2 - 3oz (or 1 - 6oz) Box of Jello [I used raspberry for red, and cherry lemonade which I dyed black.]
2 - envelopes of unsweetened gelatin (i.e. Knox)
1 1/3 Cups - Applesauce (Unsweetened is best, but either works)
2 Cups - Sugar, extra for coating (about 1/2 cup)

Requires Chill time of at least 3 hours.  

I love, LOVE chewy candy.  So when I saw these a few weeks ago, I knew I wanted to make them.

For Twilight week, I needed something that was going to be quick, as my week was shortened due to my being out of town and something that was easily customizable (color-wise, flavor-wise).  This fit the bill.

It was super simple.  But still takes a little time for chilling (3 hours) and cutting into small pieces to coat with sugar.  Nothing too complicated here, but definitely not as quick as I had originally anticipated.

1) Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam or Cooking Oil.
2) In a medium saucepan, combine jello, gelatin, applesauce, and sugar.  Stir until well blended.  Allow
    mixture to sit for 1 minute before putting on the stove.  This allows the ingredients time to
    saturate. Over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil. (You want this to come to a slow boil so the
    sugar has time to thoroughly dissolve.  Otherwise the gumdrops will be grainy - trust me, I know).
    Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
3) Immediately pour mixture into 9x13 pan and chill until firm.  About 3 hours.  *Tip: immediately
    rinse out the saucepan with hot water.  The sugar begins to harden very quickly and is increasingly
    difficult to get off the longer it sits.


 4) To cut the candies, you'll want a good knife.  Like the best one you have.  Because when these are
     done right they are extremely firm and sticky.  (Above Picture: Correct firmness.  I was pressing
     down with a decent amount of pressure).

*Tip:  These are a little temperamental.  My "black" batch did not turn out well at all.  I can only think
            of two differences between this one and my perfectly done "red" batch.  1) I added dye.  To get
            it as black as I wanted...er, as I could...I had to add a good amount of black food gel.  This
            might have altered the texture.  2) I brought this batch to a fast boil on high heat.  Which means
            the sugar didn't have time to sit and simmer.  This might account for the soft, gumminess as
            well.

 5) After the pieces are cut out (you can use a cookie cutter, etc. to get different shapes), place on a
     paper towel to remove as much dampness as possible.  The side that sat in the pan will be the most
     moist.

 6) For basic coating, pour about a 1/2 cup of sugar into a small Ziploc bag.  Put a good amount of the
     gumdrops in there and shake it up!  Make sure all sides of each piece get coated.  Once coated, they
     will be easily manageable and not sticky. [Side Note: This only works for the firm ones.  If for some
     reason your batch turns out a little soft you'll have to coat only a few at a time as they stick together
     and hang on for dear life.]

 7) For alternative coating options, use sugar crystals, colored sprinkles, etc.  For this method, where
     you don't have as much sugar for the coating, pour into a small dish and coat one piece at a time.

I was kind of excited about these, but they weren't all that delicious.  They were like a really cool, fun craft.

If you have kids, I would totally recommend making this with them.  It's easy, relatively fast, and totally customizable - colors, flavors, shapes, you name it.  ...But that's about it.

I didn't think these tasted good enough to warrant a re-bake.  Although, after I was through with coating them, I had to admit they did look pretty good.

Happy Final Twilight Day!  

Now that's something everyone can get behind.  

* Addendum:  (You can tell I wrote this one early) If your jello comes out mushy like my dark batch,
  make them, then freeze them.  Frankly, I like those better now than the red ones.

Vampires! And Werewolves! Oh, ya! (★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆)

I can't believe it's only been a little over a year since my obsession with Twilight began. I don't even like vampires. I'm a princess-loving, dress twirling kinda girl. But there was just something about the trailer that one fateful day, that spoke to me and made me feel like, "this is different. this is big. see this."

Obviously, it wasn't a huge feeling because I totally forgot all about it. I only ended up renting it because no one else was home one night and I had a spare dollar for the Redbox. Even then I wasn't really affected. It wasn't until my sister convinced me to read the books that the infection began to germinate and take hold. And I can honestly say, I've never been the same.

I work at a church and people generally like me, so I have access to a whole mess of cool stuff that normal people have to rent. Last summer I had my heart set on setting up a projector and screen in my backyard to watch movies...and once the vision is cast in my mind it's hard to stop me from trying everything I can to make it happen. I intended to use it for a week, but ended up planning all kinds of movie nights and facebook inviting everyone I knew...all summer long.

Well with this type of movie-watchege going on, it was inevitable that I would have a Twilight movie night. But it had to be different than the others. I couldn't just throw some chairs on the lawn and wait for it to get dark enough--at exactly 8:49pm--to start the movie. No. This was special. And I wanted to give it the attention it deserved.

At the suggestion of my best friend Marina (who at the time was just a girl who liked Twilight), I endeavored to find out how to make "Vampire Cupcakes." Being as I was uneducated in the workings of the "undead", let alone making treats worthy of them, I relied on Marina's emotional support alot. I guess you could say it was Twilight that first brought us together. :)

I found all kinds of different recipes: some with toy vampire teeth, some with cherry pie filling... But all these seemed too gruesome. I mean, it's a movie about so-called "vegetarian" vampires who are against violence. Plus, I generally like my cupcakes to taste good (I understand not everyone feels the same way). But I'm not really down with a cupcake that oozes gross, syrupy, fake cherry glop.

Soooooo, I decided to stick with simple chocolate cupcakes (made from a box of course) and cream cheese frosting (it's the only kind I can stand from a can...it's not super sweet). For the decoration we decided to go with the classic and eerie "bite."


After making the cupcakes, I was still a little apprehensive about how to get the bite marks to look real without destroying the cupcake with an over-zealous poke or red smear. We decided to put a drop of gel into each hole...but it was Marina's genius to have just one, spine-tingling blood-red drip falling from the bite mark.
We bought red decorating gel from the supermarket. It's pretty easy to use and doesn't run. With Marina manning the blood, I took charge of the bites. I found that the perfect sized holes came from using a meat thermometer. It was easy to handle...no, accidentally losing it in the cupcake (i.e. the curse of the toothpick). An added plus--it was just the perfect size for the red gel.

I was really impressed with how they turned out and they were delicious...I ate at least 3. This was one of my first attempts at cupcakes in general so I was a little worried, but they were super easy. It was actually these cupcakes that helped reinvigorate my love for baking. I'll take any excuse to try something different and challenging now.
Recap:

• 1 Chocolate Cake Box Mix (make according to instructions)
• 1 Container of Cream Cheese frosting
• 1 Tube of Red Decorating Gel
• 1 Meat Thermometer (or a kebab stick would've worked just as well)

P.S. I ALWAYS use cupcake liners...it saves so much time and it's less messy.
If you'd like to try the blood-filled cupcakes, here is where I got my inspiration: Vampire Cupcakes