Peppermint Maggots

First I would like to thank whatever dark gods are responsible for me getting maggot molds.  Secondly I would like to send my condolences to anyone who doesn't have these wonderful molds.  

I really am surprised with how quickly they sold out, that they haven't been reissued.  For what it's worth they were sold at Michaels as part of their "Celebrate It" line two years ago.  There are caterpillar molds being sold on Etsy by zhiqiangdiy and CraftsMouldsStore but I have not purchased these and I have no experience with these sellers or their products.  

Not that they have to be maggot molds, any candy mold will work, it's just such a fun shape.  Which is why I've used them for frozen treats, baked treats and other candy concoctions.  

I used a recipe for peppermint patties found on joyofbaking.com.  Joy of Baking is one of my favorite recipe sites.  All the recipes have been tested and I have yet to have one fail unless it was a mistake on my part.  

This recipe scared me a little, the main ingredient is powdered sugar with a little bit of butter, evaporated milk and flavoring.  It didn't seem that appetizing, but Joy of Baking hasn't let me down yet.  I would say these had a much stronger flavor than a York Peppermint Patty, but I liked it.  All I know is there's nothing quite like getting a bunch of texts from friends about how tasty your maggots are.  

I purchased the peppermint oil at Michaels and followed the recipe for the filling.  If you are using molds instead of hand dipping them, the filling doesn't have to chill as long.  I dabbed a little dark chocolate at one end of each maggot because I've seen pictures of some that look like that.  I think that might be the butt end. After that hardened I used white chocolate to coat the molds.  After the white chocolate set I pressed about 2 teaspoons into each mold and then covered them with dark chocolate and sprinkled on some crushed candy canes.  

My favorite candy canes are Bob's, which fall under Brach's now? I don't know when that happened, but Brach's has always been my favorite peppermint hard candies.  Bob's Sweet Stripes still fall under the Ferrara company, which are large soft mints that my family absolutely loves.   

Merry Creepmas!

It's the first day of Creepmas and in one little spot in the midwest, there are a lucky few believers who are visited by the Creepmas Creature on this holiest of holy days.  

This year called for a little extra flair, which is why there's a squid hat, wearing a Santa hat nestled on top of Krampus horns.  

My friends and neighbors have always had a good sense of humor about the yearly visits from Creepmas minions (wearing masks since 2012, before it was cool), but this year was extra special.  When you're pretty much bored to tears, having a weirdo friend is a perk.  Seriously, it was awesome making people laugh and spreading a little Creepmas joy.  

On this year's menu we had Krampus Balls, Peppermint Maggots, Elf Puree Bark, Festive Zombie Fingers, and Bloody Christmas Cookies. Recipes to follow, until then Merry Creepmas everyone.  And don't forget to checkout Creepmas.com

Frozen Boozie Maggots & Undead Pops

Boozie Maggots with black raspberries.

As promised, Boozie Maggots. I did try making alcoholic zombie popsicles, but because the alcohol results in a softer freeze it was difficult to unmold them. The act of peeling back the molds erased some of the finer details and they all lost their heads, which just looked like balls by the time I worked them out of the mold. Note that any simple popsicle mold would work, I just like maggots. 

I supposed I could have played around with less alcohol to find a suitable ratio that would result in perfect zombies, but it's easier this way, everyone knows the zombies are kid friendly and the maggots have rum. Also I don't get any sideways glances from friends by saying crazy things like "less rum".  [Honestly, and I could be completely talking out my rear, I do not have what one might call a sophisticated palate.  But I feel the rum enhances the other flavors and just a smidge as a flavor enhancer would ok in my book.]

This article on How To Turn Any Alcohol You Like Into Tasty Frozen Pops is what I used to figure out ratios using rum that's 40% alc/vol (ABV). You can substitute with any alcohol with a 40% ABV, but anything else and you'll have to refer to the article and do your own math. These quantities are also based on the maximum amount of alcohol you can use and still have your popsicle freeze properly. By all means use less if you like. Wherever I've rounded numbers to simplify, I've always rounded down on the amount of alcohol to ensure adequate freezage.

The short answer is if you are using 40% ABV, it comes out to 4 parts cucumber mix to 1 part alcohol.

You can use my Cucumber, Mint & Lime Mix, either as is, because the alcohol will cut the sweetness or with added extras, plus alcohol. The following blend is our current family favorite. The coconut milk adds a nice flavor and the avocado really gives the popsicles a smooth, creamy texture. Here I'm using part of the recipe for non-alcoholic zombies and part with rum to make frozen maggots. You could make as much as you want with rum just stick to the 4 to 1 ratio.

 

Refreshingly Undead Pops
Makes 24 oz

One batch (18 oz) Cucumber, Mint and Lime Mix (for more details see previous post):
2 cups peeled, diced and seeded cucumber
1/2 cup lime juice with zest
1/2 cup mint infused simple syrup

4 oz (1/2 cup) coconut milk (Note 1)
2 oz (1/4 cup) avocado (Note 2)

frozen raspberries (garnish)

It works best to use room temperature ingredients or the coconut fat solidifies. Blend all ingredients except raspberries. 16 oz of this delicious nectar will fill two sets of zombie molds. Poke a few pieces of frozen raspberry into the molds, not only for a touch of color, but it tastes awesome too. Reserve the remaining 8 oz for Boozie Maggots.


Note 1: If you're making frozen treats because it's hot out and you have the air conditioning on, the coconut milk fats are probably solid. If you are starting with an unopened can of coconut milk I suggest putting it in a bowl of hot tap water for a few minutes. Otherwise gently heat the coconut milk in the microwave just until it becomes completely liquid. Slowly pouring the coconut milk in while the blender is running will help it evenly incorporate too. Worse case scenario if it does solidify, you wind up with a slightly grainy texture to your popsicle.

Extra coconut milk can be frozen by the tablespoon in an ice cube tray to easily measure out for recipes or smoothies.

Note 2: This is for my daughter's friends after hearing about their avocado woes. California Avocado has lots of good info. Avocado's won't ripen in the fridge, but once they are ripe pop them in the fridge and they'll keep longer.

If you really aren't going to use them anytime soon, freeze them. I will finely dice or puree them with a little lime juice and freeze in single serving sized mounds on freezer paper before transferring to a freezer bag.

You don't have to use an avocado up all at once. Cut it in half lengthwise and give a twist. Whichever half the pit remains attached to cover in plastic and store in the fridge. The pit doesn't have any magical qualities, but air isn't going to get to the surface it's covering. When you finally get to cutting pieces off that half try to keep the pit in place for as long as possible.

Cut whatever you want off the remaining half, skin and all and again plastic wrap and refrigerate the remaining part. Peel the skin off the piece you want and slice, dice or puree and enjoy. Notice I didn't tell you to rub lemon or lime on anything that's being stored. In my experience citrus only delays the inevitable. Even the plastic wrap doesn't create an air tight seal. After a day all cut surfaces brown, no matter what. Just accept that, scrape the brown off and eat the creamy greenness underneath.

In summary a perfectly ripe avocado can last a long time around here, though it might pray for a quick and merciful death.

Finally getting to Boozie Maggots. Remember my Thanksgiving Maggots and Creepmas Maggots? I love the molds I got at Michaels last year and I'm glad I had the foresight to buy four of them. I am hopeful they will bring them back this fall. The maggot shape makes them super easy to fill and unmold, no matter what food stuffs you are using and who doesn't like maggots? The only downside is they need some sort of support when moving the filled molds prior to baking/freezing. They also smell faintly like mint now. Scrubbing with a paste of baking soda and dish soap seems to work the best, but I guess silicone really absorbs odors.

Boozie Maggots with red raspberries.

Boozie Maggots

8 oz Refreshingly Undead Concoction
2 oz of 40% rum
frozen raspberries

Combine and fill molds. The maggots hold one tablespoon each, but you need to allot for expansion as they freeze. 10 oz should be enough to fill 24 maggots. Garnish with frozen raspberries.

It's very important they be frozen. Frozen berries break down faster and give better color. The very first picture with black raspberries, I was impatient and didn't wait for them to freeze all the way. The above picture has red raspberries that were completely frozen, and have a better color spread. Below I used fresh blue berries and the skulls have fresh red raspberries and they just don't look as good.

To serve: I filled small dixie cups with a few maggots and kept them in the freezer until it was time to serve.

Boozie Maggots with fresh blueberries.

Boozie Skulls with fresh raspberries.

Melting Maggots

The Thanksgiving maggots were so much fun, and besides I did originally buy the molds with Creepmas in mind, so of course I had to make something maggoty for the holidays.  Since these silicone molds are also rated for baking, I decided to try something new and make molded cookies.

If you don't have maggot molds, I do truly feel sorry for you.  They were only in the stores at Michaels for a short time this October, so hopefully they will be back next year. This is where they used to be on their website. Alternatively you could just roll the dough into maggot shapes and tell people they are maggots.  The power of suggestion is...well, powerful.   Remember The Lost Boys?

When I looked for a molded cookie recipe, I found the one thing they all had in common was not using any leavening agents.  So I decided to use a recipe I was already familiar with, Melting Moments from joyofbaking.com.  Because of the high cornstarch context, they really do melt in your mouth.  One recipe made 40 maggots (approx. 1 tablespoon of dough for each).

I made a few slight additions to the recipe that you could do or not.  I add the zest of one small lime after creaming the butter and sugar.  I added about 1/2 tablespoon (all I had left) of green sugar to the dough towards the end of mixing. And I added one packet of True Lime (crystallized lime) to the powdered sugar.

The zest and True Lime gave the cookies a subtle lime flavor, which is what I was going for. Not everyone around here is as crazy about lime as I am. You could easily double them for more flavor or substitute lime juice for the vanilla extract if you are making them for lime lovers.  The crystallized lime doesn't add any color it's a super pale yellow almost white, but the zest and colored sugar added some nice green interest. Again you could go heavier for more color.

To bake I lightly dusted the molds with cornstarch before filling.  This dough is thick and will need to be pressed into the molds.  I found that I needed to add a couple minutes to my bake and cooling time for them to easily pop out of the molds.  Normally baking the cookies on a pan takes 10 minutes, in the molds 12 minutes was perfect. It also helped to let them cool 10 minutes in the molds instead of the usual 5 minutes.

They looked lovely right out of the molds, but the powered sugar is really an important part of these cookies.  Unfortunately the powdered sugar covered up their lovely color and some of mold details. I brushed away any excessive sugar build up with a decorating brush.

Overall they still look quite maggoty and they melt in your mouth, so mission accomplished.

To see what others are doing for Creepmas, head over to  Creepmas.com.

Creepmas Crawlies

Natural History Museum

It just doesn't feel like the holidays until you've read a lovely tale with poetic phrases like, "weaponized maggot-shooting vaginal gun."  No, I'm not trying to peddle Creepmas smut again.  It's actually rather extraordinary the biological machinery that goes into enabling the Reindeer Snot Bot to discharge larvae mid-air and you can read all about it at Wired.com. 

It's a very interesting, albeit disgusting read about a species of fly that shoots it's larvae into the nostrils of reindeer which then burrow into the sinuses and throat.  Once grown they work their way back up to be coughed or sneezed out.  Makes you wonder why there isn't already a Christmas song about reindeer and snot bots doesn't it?

It doesn't seem that they do any harm to their hosts, but I can't imagine...actually worse, I can imagine coughing up phlegm full of maggots.  Or on the other side having been sneezed on by a horse or two, which is utterly gross without maggots, I can well imagine what it would be like to get a face full of infested reindeer snot.  This is all more terrifying than any holiday horror film.

Just because this particular snot bot likes reindeer, doesn't mean that they always get the right species. Wired's article mentions a woman that received an eyeful of ejected larvae and if you click on the links there's one about some kids that were infested after visiting reindeer herding areas. That sounds like Halmark holiday gold, go for the reindeer, stay for the maggot infestation.

The Natural History Museum of London has a nice video hypothesizing that maybe Rudolph's nose is red due to bot flies.  The process is explained by Erica Mcalister, accompanied by some lovely pictures.  Some of them are actually lovely, the bot fly looks like a cute fuzzy little bee.  It was an interview with Erica on Science Friday that first turned me on to the reindeer snot bot.  There was such joy and adoration in her voice as she discussed that and many other disgusting but fascinating things that flies do to enable their survival.  It was quite infectious listening to her. I may have to put her book The Secret Life of Flies on my Christmas list.

Now if you hear the pawing and prancing of each little hoof, you'll also wonder if Donner and Blitzen are depositing some writhing maggot phlegm up on your rooftop as well.

icewormfestival.com

Speaking of writhing, have you heard of the iceworm? As the name implies they live in ice or glaciers to be exact, this link has more information and a short video.  And Cordova, Alaska has been home to the Iceworm Festival since 1961.  Over the years it has evolved into a week long event.  There's a lovely article about the "Mother" of theCordova Iceworm Festival.

icewormfestival.com

I love this entry for the iceworm cake competition. I could see doing something similar for a Creepmas cake.  

My first thought after reading about the Iceworm was that it would make a great X-Files episode.  Maybe because almost 30 years ago I saw that X-Files episode. Geez I'm old.

Know what else lives in the ice? "The Thing". I wonder if it's jealous it doesn't get it's own festival, although there is a movie marathon tradition that happens at the Sole Pole every year.

source: Australian Museum

And in Australia, Christmas is heralded in by Christmas Beetles. The Australian Museum held a contest to come up with common names for various species. I rather like the Furry Tailed Prince pictured above.  

Pumpkin Spice Maggots & Rabid Turkeys

This year I refused to make rice krispie turkeys for Thanksgiving.  I'm officially sick of making them and I don't even like to eat them, so I decided to try something different: Pumpkin Spice Maggots. Although if I was going to make turkeys, I saw they have red & green holiday colored rice krispies which I think would make some interesting zombies.

I bought these fantastic silicone molds at Michaels this fall. They were sold as "mini bug" molds, but I think maggot mold is more fitting.  Sorry but I can't find them available online anywhere, so if you didn't snag some you'll have to keep your eyes open next year. Although it probably sounds a bit cliché, when I purchased them I was dreaming of white maggots for Creepmas.

It turns out I couldn't wait that long and decided to make something suitable for Turkey Day. I'm really not big on the pumpkin spice thing. I mean you won't catch me with a pumpkin spice latte, candles or sex lube. I don't even really care for pumpkin pie, but I thought maybe maggot truffles might be the thing to turn me to the dark side. They didn't.  I thought they tasted good, but I guess I'm just never going to be a pumpkin spice kind of girl.  Other people had more favorable opinions, so if pumpkin spice is your thing you might want to try these recipes.

I don't like nutmeg or powdered ginger, so for pumpkin spice I mix 3 parts cinnamon to 1 part allspice and 1 part cloves.

If you were lucky enough to snag some maggot molds then you probably know each cavity holds a half tablespoon.  It took 3oz of white chocolate to coat 4 molds (24 maggots) and another 3oz to top them off after filling with a heaping teaspoon of truffle mixture. Having worked with a mold or two in my time, I really love these maggots. They are just the right size to finger paint with chocolate and fillings can be loosely rolled into a log and then pressed into the mold.  There's no awkward nooks and crannies to fill and they pop out like a dream.

The maggots picture at the top are from this recipe.  I only used half (1/8 tsp) of the pumpkin spice the recipe called for and of course used white chocolate to coat instead of semi-sweet.  I think more people preferred these, I know I did.  I'm glad I used less pumpkin spice, more would have overwhelmed the white chocolate.  The filling is very smooth and melts in your mouth. One recipe was enough to fill 24 maggots. Also I didn't do a great job tempering the chocolate, that's why you can see a white bloom on some of them. It doesn't affect the flavor, just the look.

The maggots to left used this recipe.  I like the way the darker filling contrasts with the while chocolate.  It tasted more like pumpkin pie to me and because of the graham crackers it was a much denser texture. Only half the recipe was need to fill all four molds. Some people preferred these, so I'm glad I tried them both.







I didn't entirely abandon the rice krispie turkeys, instead I passed the torch onto my kids. They used the 2016 recipe.  The one thing I did, was make frosting to glue the eyes and beaks on.  I thought that would be easier for them to work with than the melted chocolate I usually use.  I was wrong.  Maybe I made the frosting too thick, but it didn't stick to the cookie crumb coating very well and really needed to be pushed on.  My son thought they looked like rabid turkeys foaming at the mouth.  Seems it's just fated for us to have deformed turkeys.

I love the cyclops turkey.  I think next year they should all be cyclops.  

Or maybe we should have a zombies verses cyclops, turkey rumble.

Lastly, I don't know if anyone else is wondering what the hell you do with the rest of your pumpkin puree since the truffles only use a few tablespoons so I'm adding a recipe for  Pumpkin Spice Muffins. Despite my lackluster opinion of pumpkin spice, these muffins are fantastic and with the orange flavored frosting absolutely to die for.  I think this is the original recipe, but I've modified it beyond recognition. I've always used purchased orange juice, but if you were to squeeze your own, I would suggest also zesting it and tossing some in both the batter and the frosting.   

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup butter softened
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 cup orange juice

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat sugar, oil and butter. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to the pumpkin mixture alternately with the orange juice. Spoon batter into 24 prepared muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes or until it tests done. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack; cool completely.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter; softened
8 oz cream cheese; softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar

Beat first 4 ingredients until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until desired consistency.

Ultra Violent Radiated Maggots

Clockwork Orange Ultra Violent Radiated Maggots. According to this website “A maggot mass can reduce the body weight of a corpse by 50% in a matter of a couple of weeks.” Ultra Violent Maggots can do that in the first 24 hours, rather useful if the bodies are starting to pile up. 

The font used is Timepiece by FontMesa. I can’t remember where I copied the picture from, but here it states the artwork is from a poster for the film. The maggots are genuine glow-in-the-dark rubber, set in floral water gel. I found the maggots in the make-up aisle at a Halloween store. You can see they've become translucent in the gel, but they and the water both glow very nicely in the dark. 







I’ve provided two labels. The one that I used is curved to fit a tapered bottle of Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk Seasoning. 

You may not have a bottle of Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, so I'll give you a reason why you should. You can find the original recipe here. I've modified it below with extra veggies, less oil and extra lime juice. Even with the additions it is still very hot and spicy, depending on your palate you may want to use less seasoning or opt for their mild version, which I have not tried. Garnishing it with some plain yogurt will also take down the heat. It's also good as a bean dip with tortilla chips and for Halloween you can serve it as Zombie Flesh Puree.

Black Bean Soup

1 tablespoon Caribbean jerk seasoning blend
1 1/4 cups canned vegetable broth
2 15 ounce cans Caribbean-style or regular black beans, drained
1 cup skinned*, seeded, diced tomatoes (about 2 med sized tomatoes)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Lime wedges
Plain yogurt

Stir 1 tablespoon seasoning blend in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until fragrant and slightly darker in color.

Add broth, black beans, diced tomatoes and carrots. If you want a chunkier soup only add one can of beans for now. Bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring occasionally until the carrots are tender.

Transfer soup mixture and olive oil to a processor and purée until mixture is almost smooth, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.

Transfer purée to same saucepan. Bring to boil again, add the frozen corn and additional can of beans if you chose not to puree both cans. Stir occasionally until heated through.

Remove from heat and mix in lime juice. The original recipe says to season to taste with salt and pepper, but I’ve never found it necessary. You can serve it immediately with lime wedges and yogurt, but I always prepare soups a day ahead so the flavors have time to mingle.

*If you’ve never skinned a tomato before, it’s super easy. Get a pot of boiling water and a bowl of ice water ready. Make sure stems are removed and the tomatoes are clean. Cut an “X” into the skin on the bottom of your tomatoes. Boil the tomatoes for about 20 seconds, just until the “X” starts to widen. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them into the ice water. After they are cooled, pat them dry, pull up the skin at the “X” and just peel it back.