Halloween Fun with Choc-O-Lantern Pop-Tarts

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts.

When Pop-Tarts and BlogHer asked me to create a recipe using Limited Edition Choc-o-Lantern Pop-Tarts, they had no idea what kind of monster they were unleashing. Halloween happens to be my thing, and every year I enjoy cooking up a fun Halloween showpiece for our annual Halloween party. To get started, I thought about which Halloween icon Pop-Tarts most resembled, and the answer was easy: a tombstone! However, Pop-Tarts is one step ahead of me; when my sample Choc-o-Lantern Pop-Tarts arrived, they already had a recipe for a Pop-Tarts Graveyard on the back of the box. Back to square one. What else comes to mind when I munch on Pop-Tarts and think of Halloween? How about pirate's treasure chest? Or a coffin? Eureka! I had the most spine-tingling, bone-chilling, spectacular Halloween recipe ever! MWAHAHAHAHA! Behold, my Halloween Surprise Box. 

Okay, it's not a coffin; I didn't want to deal with cutting up the Pop-Tarts into coffin shapes. It's not even a treasure chest, because Jammy insisted treasure chests have curved lids, and wouldn't let me call it a treasure chest. So it's a Surprise Box -- but whatever it's called, it's fun, spooky, and 100% Halloween. Here's how to make it: Ingredients 6 Kellogg's Choc-o-Lantern Pop-Tarts 1/4 cup orange or brown colored candy melts (We used light brown, peanut-butter flavored candy melts. You can also use royal icing; here's a good recipe) 1 box brownie mix 1 box instant chocolate pudding 2 gummy fingers 2 bamboo skewers assorted Halloween-themed candies to decorate

 

	Step 1: Place the candy melts in a ziploc bag and microwave on 50% power for 45 seconds, or until melted. Snip a corner of the ziploc bag. Stand one of the Pop-Tarts on one edge, then carefully pipe some candy melt icing on the edge of the Pop-Tarts. "Glue" it onto a second of the Pop-Tarts to make a corner.
	Step 2: Repeat for the other corner. I used the Pop-Tarts box to prop both corners up until the candy melts dried.
	Step 3: Pulse one of the Pop-Tarts in a food processor until crumbly, then set aside
	Step 4: Prepare the brownies according to package directions and cool completely. When cool, cut into chunks and fill the box about 2/3 full (you'll have plenty of leftover brownies to nibble on!)
	Step 5: Carefully thread the gummy fingers onto the bamboo skewers.
	Step 6: Prepare the chocolate pudding according to package directions. When the pudding is set, spoon about half of the pudding on top of the brownies, or until the box is full. (Sorry, I don't have a photo of the pudding, but you get the idea)
	Step 7: Stick the skewered gummy fingers into the front corner of the box, then carefully prop the last of the Pop-Tarts on top of the fingers. Let the other end of the Pop-Tarts rest on one of the box edges, like a lid. Pipe more candy melt or royal icing on the edge of the box and on top of the gummy fingers to "glue" the lid in place.
	Step 8: This is the fun part: decorate the box with Halloween-themed candies. Get some gummy worms oozing out of the pudding or drape them over the lid. Stick some gummy eyeballs or bones or skulls in there. Sprinkle the crumbled Pop-Tarts over the pudding and around the to resemble dirt. Go wild!

To serve, pick out all the candies and lift off the lid. Then scoop up the brownies and pudding into individual dishes. Then divide up the Pop-Tarts and candies (there should be extra brownies and pudding) and enjoy. I know, it looks too pretty, I mean spooky, to eat, but it's gotta be done. This recipe is so much fun to make, and so much fun to eat, it's positively scary!

  Win a $100 Visa Gift Card One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $100 Visa Gift card courtesy of BlogHer. To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite Halloween treat. You can get extra entries by tweeting and blogging about this giveaway, making sure to include a link to this giveaway in your tweet or blog post. Just leave a comment on this post and share the link to your tweet or blog post. Entries will be accepted until October 31, 2010. For full giveaway rules, click here. You can also gain 9 other chances to win $100 by visiting the BlogHer.com Halloween Pop-Tarts exclusive offers page. Good luck!

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Delicious Ways to get more Tropicana Juice (and more Juicy Rewards Points) into your life!

Jill's Light and Luscious Coffee Cake

Combine the following dry ingredients: 

2 cups flour 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 cup sugar 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

In a separate bowl, whisk together: 

1 egg 

1/2 cup vegetable oil (Jill uses canola oil and so do I) 

1 cup milk (Jill uses nonfat, I use 2% milk because it's what we have on hand) 

1/3 cup Tropicana orange juice, no pulp (I'm pretty generous with measuring this out!) 

2 teaspoons grated orange rind 

Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour the batter into a 9 x 13 pan that has been greased and floured. 

Prepare the topping: 

1 cup brown sugar 

1/2 stick of softened butter 

1 cup chopped nuts (Jill used toasted pecans, I used regular pecans) 

Squeeze the butter and blend with the other two ingredients by hand. (If you want to use a mixer, add the nuts afterward.) When thoroughly combined, sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake batter. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. (Test the center to make sure it's done.)

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Tropicana.

You could win a $50 Visa giftcard, keep reading to find out how to enter!

My family and I have been enjoying Tropicana's Juicy Rewards for over a month now, and I've shared some of the fun things we've been doing with our points. You might be wondering how we get all those points. Tropicana has been giving each of the Juicy Insiders 12 Juicy Rewards points per month for the duration of this review program, and I'm very grateful to them for ensuring we always have enough point to redeem rewards. But honestly, it's so easy to redeem points that I've never even gotten close to running out. I get enough points from the amount of Tropicana orange juice that I buy for my family to get discounts for practically anything I want -- I even get enough left over to donate to their Save the Rainforest Program, or enter one of their special sweepstakes! Just one 89-oz. container of Tropicana juice is worth 5 points, and one 59-oz. carton of Trop50 juice is worth 6 points. We easily accumulate 5 points a week! Admittedly, we adore orange juice and we drink a lot of it, but that's not the only thing you can do with orange juice. From orangle smoothies to orange popsicles to orange cake to orange glazed chicken, there are so many ways to incorporate the tangy sweetness of orange juice into the foods we eat! One of my favorite orange juice recipes doesn't even taste like oranges at all. It's a recipe for coffee cake given to me by my friend Jill. The orange juice makes it wonderfully moist and indulgent, but Jill says that it's actually quite a low-fat cake. Now, Jill is a lady who has lost over 100 lbs. through diet and exercise alone, and she watches everything she eats like a hawk, so when she told me this cake was worth spending calories on, I believed her. And so will you, after you try it. See recipe above!

This is truly what a coffeecake should taste like -- cinnamonny and sweet (but not too sickly-sweet), with a crunchy topping and, thanks to the orange juice, an amazingly moist center. You can eat it all by itself, and it goes perfectly with a cup of coffee. If you want to get really indulgent, slice some bananas over it, squirt on some whipped cream, and pour some caramel sauce on top.

Yeah, I don't think Jill would approve. But if you've got some Tropicana orange juice in your fridge, this is a great way to use it so you can buy another carton (and get more Juicy Rewards points). Better yet, send that Tropicana OJ over to our house! Register with and Tropicana Juicy Rewards and get one additional Juicy Rewards Point for free! To get you started, BlogHer and Tropicana have teamed up to offer new Juicy Rewards members a bonus Juicy Rewards point! How great is that: you get one step closer to redeeming a Juicy Reward, at no cost to you. To get your bonus point: 1. Go to http://www.tropicana.com/ 2. Set-up your Tropicana Juicy Rewards account (just take a minute!) 3. Visit the "Enter Codes" page within the site and get started with BLOGG-HER11 * *Note* This one-time use code is valid for new accounts ONLY. Must be entered within 6 hours of creating your account. Win a $50 Visa Gift card! One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $50 Visa gift card courtesy of BlogHer. To enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite dish or drink made with orange juice. Extra Entries For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following, (you can only do each extra entry once; please leave a separate comment for each extra entry): 1) Write this on the Bonggamom Finds Facebook Fan Page (leave a comment on this post with your FB id): I joined the 5th $50 Visa giveaway on Bonggamom Finds! http://ow.ly/1SLF7 2) Write this on the Tropicana Facebook Fan Page (leave a comment on this post with your FB id): Hey Juicy Rewards fans -- see what Bonggamom is cooking up with Tropicana orange juice and enter to win a $50 Visa giftcard! Anyone can enter at http://ow.ly/1SLF7, ends 6/14. 3) Tweet this (leave a comment on this post with a link to your tweet): See what @bonggafinds is cooking up w/ Tropicana OJ & enter to Win a $50 Visa giftcard fr @blogherdeals! http://ow.ly/1SLF7 #giveaway Maximum of 4 entries per person. This giveaway ends at midnight PST on June 14, 2010; I will draw a winner at random on June 15 and post the winner's name in the comments section after the winner confirms acceptance. Click here for complete giveaway rules. For more information, check out the Juicy Rewards official site. And don't forget to visit the rest of the BlogHer Juicy Insiders' posts (links are on the BlogHer.com special offers page )-- you'll have 7 more chances to win! Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in the BlogHer Juicy Insiders program. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

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