We got “Boo’d” last night. I’ve always heard of “Boo’ing”, but we’ve never been “Boo’d” before, and, I have to admit, I always felt a little left out. For those of you that don’t know, this is a Halloween tradition that is popular in the suburbs. It entails delivering a little bag of candy and treats to the house of a neighbor, after dark so that you won’t be seen and a poetic request that you “Boo” two other neighbors. There is a little ghost decoration attached that is meant to be hung in one of your front windows so that everyone knows that you’ve already been “Boo’d” and they shouldn’t target you again.
Here’s the thing, though: I’ve always wanted to be “Boo’d” and knew almost instantly what was happening when someone rang our doorbell last night and no one was there when we went to the door. Hubby, on the other hand, was his usual curmudgeonly, cynical former police officer self and was convinced that we were about to be the targets of some horrible vandalism. He went around the house, turning on all of our exterior security lights and looking for teenagers with eggs or shaving cream. It was really hard for me not to laugh. I might have actually laughed, just a little bit, really really quietly. In his defense, in the three years that we’ve lived here, our cars have been shot up with paintballs and broken into three separate times. Sigh. I digress.
Anyway, this recipe is adapted from a really old Halloween party book – so old that the cereal that it called for isn’t even made anymore, so I had to make a substitution. I thought it would be great to put in the “Boo” treat bags, along with some candy.
Here’s my version:
Peanutty Candy Corn Brownie Bars
1 (1 lb. 4 oz.) package fudge brownie mix
(I used Ghirardelli triple chocolate – it comes in a 6-batch multipack from Costco)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups Frosted Cheerios cereal
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts
1 cup candy corn
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a 13 X 9 inch baking pan. In a medium bowl, combine the brownie mix, eggs, oil and water; stir until well blended. Spread in bottom of greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 28 minutes, or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from the side of the pan comes out almost clean.
Remove pan from oven. Immediately sprinkle marshmallows evenly over warm brownies. Return to oven and bake an additional 1 or 2 minutes or until marshmallows just begin to puff up. Remove from oven and set aside to cool while preparing peanut butter topping.
In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar and corn syrup; blend well. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. Add cereal, peanuts and candy corn; mix well. Immediately spoon warm topping over marshmallows and spread to cover (work FAST because this stuff hardens quickly). Cool for at least 1 1/2 hours or until completely cool. Cut into squares. Makes 36 bars.
Addendum: I tasted one of these as I was packing them up into the boxes and they were definitely festive and interesting and will definitely be kid-friendly (we’re not sure which house we’re “Boo’ing” yet – we had plans last night and weren’t home to pick a “victim”, so we’ll do it tonight), but they were a tad salty. All in all, I think there’s nothing wrong with just plain-old brownies. I hope that the neighbors will think these are fun, though.