Jacqui Just Chatters

Unraveling Halloween's Quirky Histories & Recipes

• Jacqui • Season 3 • Episode 103

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In this episode of Jacqui Just Chatters, hostess Jacqui Lents is joined by Sonia and Tiffany to discuss historic and cozy Halloween traditions. They dive into the mischievous pranks of the early 20th century, peculiar customs for predicting future spouses, and vintage Halloween recipes like 'Owl Salad' and jack-o-lantern cupcakes. Tiffany shares her Amish upbringing and passion for cozy mysteries found on her booktube channel. Share your thoughts on the debate over sifters in baking. The episode wraps up with holiday book recommendations and an invitation to try the shared cupcake recipes on social media.

 

Info/links from guests

Sonia

https://www.youtube.com/@Soniawithani

https://www.instagram.com/sonia.with.an.i

 

 

Tiffany

https://www.youtube.com/@theBeachbumbookworm

https://www.instagram.com/the_beachbum_bookworm

https://www.facebook.com/groups/329691697186568/user/100072896285942/ 

 

Do you have a story idea or thoughts about the episode? Connect with Jacqui at the following.

www.JacquiLents.com

FB: Jacqui Lents Author https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069970208082

IG: @JacquiLents

YouTube: @JacquiLents

 

Recipe for Jack O’Lantern Cupcakes:

Two-thirds cup butter, one cup sugar, two oranges, juice and rind (zest); four eggs well beaten, four and one-half cups pastry flour (I used cake flour), one-half teaspoon salt, four teaspoons baking powder, one and one-half cups broken walnut meats, one and one-half cups honey (8oz Honey Bear is perfect). Cream the butter and add the sugar gradually. Beat in the orange juice and rind and the eggs. Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in the broken walnut meats and mix well. Add alternately to the cake mixture (the wet ingredients) with the honey and bake in cup tins 15 to 25 minutes (ours took closer to 25 minutes at 350, 375 would be better) at 350 degrees to 400 degrees F Make about 24 cakes (gonna make more than that, very dense batter). Frost with orange frosting. Making Jack-o’-Lantern faces on each cup cake with melted chocolate.

 

Music used for this episode includes –

Ratatouille's Kitchen - Carmen María and Edu Espinalfound

Always – Nesrality

Final Halloween News Stories

[00:00:00] Hey YouTubers, this is Jacqui, and thanks for checking out my channel. I know you come to YouTube for video entertainment, and as a podcast I don't provide any visuals, but wait! Before you go, I want to remind you that there are times when listening to something is exactly what you need. I find podcasts are perfect when I'm going for a walk, doing dishes, folding laundry, or cleaning my toilet.

Yes, even though I'm an award winning podcaster, I still have to clean my own toilet. However, it goes faster with an escape. So when you are in the need for an audio distraction, my episodes will be here for you. Now on with the show.

Jacqui: Hello, friends, whether you are new here or longtime listeners, I'm glad to have you along for this week's episode. My guests this week are booktubers and delightful ladies. Sonia and Tiffany. They join me for some historic Halloween fun. Most of it [00:01:00] is more like a don't do this at home message. Except for the cupcakes.

That you should do. Okay, let's get to it. Welcome to Jacqui Just Chatters. Thank you for joining me. I'm your hostess, Jacqui Lents, and I'm trying to make the world a little better one story at a time. Whimsical episodes come out every other Tuesday. What's your story? If you've got one, reach out via my website.

Now let's get chatting.

Today, I have two dynamic guests. The first is my dear friend, who has been on many episodes. Sonia, I am pleased to have you join me again. Thanks, Jacqui. My other guest is new to the show. Tiffany hosts an amazing booktube channel about cozy mysteries and romance books. She has an enthusiasm for her books that comes through in [00:02:00] every episode.

I am thrilled, Tiffany, that you are making your debut today. 

Tiffany: Oh, Jacqui, thanks so much for having me. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. 

Jacqui: Since this is your first appearance on my podcast, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? 

Tiffany: I'm originally from Illinois. I was raised in like a small town Amish community.

And when I went to college, I was in the Southern part of Illinois, very close to St. Louis. And then we moved to Florida in 2019 and I needed a place to talk about books and hints became booktube at the very two days before 2021. And I like Cocoa Puffs. 

Jacqui: I don't know that I've ever had. No, wait, no, I have.

I've had Cocoa Puffs and they are good. Yes, I had to think about that 1. It's been, I think it was like in college. I probably had, we're not going to talk about how long ago that was. 

Tiffany: They're very much the serial for kids and young [00:03:00] adults who have not became adults yet. 

Jacqui: That would be me listeners. You can't see me raising my hand.

Okay, here's an extra get to know question. For both of you, what is your stance on candy corn? Sonia, you go first. 

Sonia: I like it, but I love it when you add peanuts with it. If you put it in a mix, it tastes a lot like paydays and, oh, I love me a payday. So. 

Jacqui: I love payday. I've never heard about putting peanuts.

With candy corn. And I have to try that now. 

Sonia: Salted roasted peanuts. 

Jacqui: Okay, alright. 

Sonia: The saltier the better. 

Jacqui: Alright people, you can go out and try that. That's not a hard one. Tiffany, had you ever heard of peanuts and candy corn? 

Tiffany: Yes, yes, we eat it here that way as well. And I do like candy corn. It's pretty much the only way I like it with, um, mixed [00:04:00] with salted peanuts, not the honey roast.

I don't do the honey roast stuff, but I do the salted peanuts. It does taste exactly like a payday. I also like peanuts mixed with red hots. If you can find those, don't know exactly what to prepare it to taste like, but it is delicious. 

Sonia: We are here to celebrate Halloween with a historic twist. I will be reading from news articles from the early 1900s and my fabulous guests will be sharing their thoughts as we go along.

Jacqui: Are you two ready? Ready. Okay, we'll begin. And remember, feel free to interrupt me at any given moment. Our first story comes from the Los Angeles Herald from 1910. There was a columnist called Aunt Lori, and she was syndicated like all over the place. She had requested students to send in a letter about what they had done the previous Halloween.

So that would have been [00:05:00] 1909. We have some interesting ones. Our first one, dear aunt Laurie, last Halloween, three girls, Helen, Carol, and Mary, and I plan to go out together. So the night before, the girls all came over to my house to make jack o lanterns. After we were all through, Mama let us have a taffy pull.

When was the last time somebody did a taffy pull? Wow. And we had lots of fun. We decided that they would gather at my house. At 7 o'clock the next evening, they all came, and each wore a big sheet and a false face. They each had a big jack o lantern made out of a pumpkin. The end. As soon as I got dressed, we all started out first.

We Tic Tac'd a window and somebody came out on the porch and we had to run. I had to look this up because I didn't know what Tic Tac'd was. What do you guys think it is? 

Sonia: Myth that you eat after you've had a [00:06:00] cigarette or something, something that gave you bad breath. That's a Tic Tac in my world. I'm sure that doesn't mean the same thing.

Jacqui: What about you, Tiffany? What do you think of Tic Tac'd? 

Tiffany: I don't know in this context what it would be a candy or something because I'm not sure about the context what it 

Jacqui: is. Okay, Sonia, describe your hand motions. The, I'm tipping, like tapping. That's exactly what it is. I had to look it up. Tic tac means tapping on the window or door, and you might use a pebble or sometimes people would have like a device that they would use.

So I don't know, a long stick or something and then run. So it reminded me of the ding dong dash. It's the same idea. We happened to meet some girls who were out too. So we all went together. We tic tacked windows and frightened people. I couldn't tell you how much fun we had. That's from Lena Couch, age 12.[00:07:00] 

This is our second letter to Aunt Lori. This is what I did last Halloween. I got a sheet and a pillowcase, wrapped the sheet around me with the pillowcase over my head. It was an old pillowcase and I cut three holes in it which were to be my eyes and mouth. Let me cut another one for my nose, because, you know, 

I need to breathe.

Jacqui: It's important to breathe. There was an old pumpkin in the yard. I took it and cleaned it out. I made pumpkin eyes, nose, and mouth. I did not know what to do next. So I looked around and found another pillowcase. And made a bonnet so no one could see my pumpkin head. I cut four holes in it. Two for the eyes, nose, mouth.

I placed this over the pumpkin. Then I went outdoors and walked up and down the sidewalk. [00:08:00] There were some little children out playing. I walked up by them. They got frightened and ran away. I went after them, but could not catch them. They told their parents, and that ended my Halloween. Your friend, Neva Woodson, age 12.

Scaring the little kids. 

Tiffany: That's right around my Meemaw's time. I was glad you didn't say Betty, age 8. No, I'm kidding. That's funny. 

Jacqui: I wonder how her mom felt about the pillowcases. Because she's older. Did her mother feel that way? She's really two pillowcases. I 

Tiffany: seriously doubt it because in that time period, think about like they used everything repetitively.

And when it wasn't good for a pillowcase, then you cut it up and you use it as napkins. And then when it wasn't good for napkins anymore, you use it as rags. You know what I mean? There was like a process. 

Jacqui: That's true. They [00:09:00] really did. I hope they were ready for that process. Now, how would your parents have reacted?

If they found out that you were scaring little children in the neighborhood and doing all this stuff, what? Parents? spider. You don't care. You're free flowing. What about you, Tiffany? Your Amish community? That's 

really scaring kids. 

Tiffany: My mom was definitely the disciplinarian, so I would have been very much in trouble with her, especially because everybody knew everybody, like you were saying, in my town.

So it had been not only in trouble, but embarrassment to her. So I definitely would have been in trouble there. My dad would have laughed and went with me. 

Sonia: I was going to say your dad would have done it with 

Tiffany: you. No, no questions. 

Jacqui: Okay. Here's our next one. This is from Lester Johnson. He's also 12. Dear Aunt Lori, last Halloween, some of us boys thought we would have some fun.

About half [00:10:00] past eight, we were all on the corner of 26th Street. Each of us had a jack o lantern. Apparently, all the kids carried jack o lanterns around back then. We went to a lady's house and put our lanterns in the window. 

Sonia: The lady came out with a broom in her hand and started to chase us. She chased us a block or two.

Jacqui: This woman was, like, invested. We took a man's gate off and put it in the top of a tree. Then we went and tick tacked on his window. He came out and saw his gate was gone. He was very angry and went in the house, scolding us. Then we got a strong cord and tied it about six inches above the ground on each side of the walk.

After a while, a man came along. He wasn't looking where he was going and stumbled over it. He got up and started to go away when he saw us behind a bush. He tried to catch us, but couldn't. That's some mischief. 

Sonia: I, yes, that [00:11:00] is definitely, you took the man's gate off the hinges and put it in a tree. That's awesome.

Jacqui: I jerk cousins would have done. And that's one of the things with Halloween. It's not always been practiced like we do it now for a lot of its history, especially in the U S it was known all about pranks in Michigan. The night before Halloween is known as devil's night and in other places it's called mischief night.

It's Halloween. that I don't know if you guys have ever heard different names or something where you guys lived. 

Yeah, 

Sonia: there's a fantastic book called Mischief Nights or Murder by Libby Klein. It's a cozy mystery. Um, we talk books. I've heard of Mischief Night though. We didn't have anything like that. It was basically the trick or treat.

thing. And a big popular thing to do here, especially in the St. Louis area, is that when you knock on somebody's door to ask for candy, you say, trick or treat, you have to give them a joke. You have to tell them a joke. Oh, wow. That's a very St. Louis thing. I didn't know about that until I moved to St. [00:12:00] Louis and these kids are trick or treating and they're like, Oh, I have a joke for you.

And I was like, Oh, that's cute. They have jokes. And a friend of mine said, that's very true. expected here in this area 

Jacqui: for a long time. Halloween was like mischief night or devil's night. And then some places they just moved it to the day before, like Detroit, we are well known for devil's night that I remember as a little kid in elementary school, getting outside in the evening and running around my neighborhood.

Like I loved it because there was no adult supervision. You just have a pack of kids running around like wild animals. It was splendid. So for the most part, like we would TP a house or a tree. You might soak some windows. The worst people got, I think was like throwing raw eggs out in Detroit. It started to become known as like fires night.

There were tons, [00:13:00] hundreds of fires set throughout Detroit and it ruined it. So they like were kiboshing it. They had, I want to say it was hell's angels. on patrol in Detroit on that night to help cut down on the fires. And they did. 

Sonia: I know in our neighborhood, the TPing and the egging and the soaping the windows and the Vaseline the door car door handles and stuff.

That was what teenagers did on Halloween. We even Oh, not me, we, but other people that participated in that sort of stuff. We forked people's yards, like we got plastic forks and forked their yards. And I've never heard of that. 

Tiffany: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And we, you could do design or write something with it. Yeah, 

Jacqui: regional differences.

Sonia: Yes, the toilet paper, like we had certain teenagers that were known in the community as the value packing because they would go and buy all the toilet paper from the local grocery stores and would save for months [00:14:00] and months to do this. Now, I don't know it. I don't know who these people are because I was sworn to secrecy, but I do know.

A little about the value pack game. Do I know any of these members? You may or may not know one of them. We're 

Jacqui: going to 

Sonia: talk 

Jacqui: afterwards about 

Sonia: that. Or two, actually two. 

Jacqui: Oh, I'm stunned. I'm stunned by this. Okay. Our last, 

Sonia: can't you 

Jacqui: smell the sarcasm? 

Sonia: Can we go back to that? No parents. 

Jacqui: Last letter. Dear Aunt Lori, Last Halloween some other boys and I were out for some fun.

We went down a street where an old bachelor lived. There was a water pipe leaking in the road about 25 feet away. We each got a stick and dug a trench from the leak to the front gate. 

Tiffany: What? Yeah. Well, it's too much involvement, 

Jacqui: y'all. So many [00:15:00] questions about this, like how involved and how did they do this with no one seeing them?

Did they form a union too? That's the kind of work you're getting 

Tiffany: there. That's a lot. Like they just happen to have like shovels and. Start with sticks. 

Jacqui: They've got to have shovels for the next part because it gets more intense. Then we dug. A big round hole about 10 feet wide and about two feet deep into which the water ran.

Then we threw some tin cans on the front porch. He was very angry with us and came running out of the house. He saw us running across the road and he opened the gate and stepped into the pool of water. He slipped down and got all wet. He went into the house and got dry clothes on. Then he came out with a shovel and dug the trench off the other way.

Sonia: Every Halloween after that, he watched for the boys with a [00:16:00] shotgun loaded with salt and pepper. He never saw anything of us boys around his house on Halloween night again. 

Loaded with 

Jacqui: salt and pepper. Is that like salt rock is what I'm guessing. Okay. I was thinking like they were calling. No, like I, I knew people would take like salt rock or things like that and they would use a shotgun to, it injures you, but it doesn't kill you.

Like a BB gun type thing. Yes, exactly. 

Sonia: I don't know if in this day and age that kids could get away with this stuff without really getting hurt. Cause people. Are nuts, especially in some places where it's some of us live where you go on their yard. They can shoot you. 

Tiffany: Yeah, interesting. They like knew what he did.

They're like, he went inside and change. Like they're watching. I guess he came out different, but if they didn't see him before, it's very, 

Jacqui: and 

Tiffany: they obviously hid 

Jacqui: somewhere and they're watching him show the trench out the take for this pool to drain. [00:17:00] Kids were jerks back then. 

Sonia: That was the early history of Halloween, was to be hoodlums, just sack holes.

Like future convicts 

of America there or something. 

Jacqui: When you were younger, would you have wanted to know who your future husband was going to be? 

Sonia: No, I don't think so. I was convinced it was Kurt Cameron. You couldn't have told me anything different 

Tiffany: for a while. I thought Kermie and I would be together, but it didn't work out, I guess.

Miss piggy wins. So I'm not sure, 

Jacqui: but no adult me is no, because the mystery is good to know. Knowing certain things are going to come, especially years in the future. I think that would be awkward, but 18 year old me? Oh, hell yeah. 18 year old me would have wanted to know. Sonia, you could definitely have Kirk Cameron.

Like, I had some posters of him on my wall, but I don't want him now. 

Sonia: Thanks, I'll pass. [00:18:00] No, you can have him. 

Jacqui: I had a thing for the Astin brothers. 

Sonia: Me too. I love Sean. 

Jacqui: Oh God. Yes. Many posters of him. Such a cutie. He, yes he was. I still think he's cute. Yes he is. Tiffany, who was on your walls when you were a kid?

Besides Kermit. 

Tiffany: Kermit 

Jacqui: the Frog. 

Tiffany: Um, Kermit the Frog and then Kermi, same person, but in a loveable, and New Kids on the Block. Yeah, probably the new kids on the block were the first, and Neil Patrick Harris as Doogie Hauser. Great show. Yeah. Probably Kirk Cameron too. Yeah. Tiffany's 

Jacqui: a young one. Okay. So this next article is about finding your future spouse.

This comes from the Bisbee Daily Review, and I had to look where the heck Bisbee was, that was Arizona, from October 31st, so this is [00:19:00] Halloween day, 1919. My grandmother would have been a year old. 

Wow. 

Sonia: This is the night, oh Halloween, when all the witches may be seen. Some of them black, some of them green, some of them like a turkey bean.

Jacqui: I had to look up what the hell a turkey bean was. Do you guys know? I have no idea. It's actually a southern bean. Apparently it's a green bean and it comes in a tan and white pod and it's supposed to be sweet and meaty. I thought maybe it was like a vegan turkey. I'm not sure they had vegan in 1919. They did, probably not by 

Sonia: choice.

For centuries, young men and maids on the eve of All Saints Day have invoked ghostly information as to their futures. There are many methods of doing this. Let's see, such as holding a candle lighted mirror over your [00:20:00] head and walking backward down a crooked stairway as the clock strikes midnight. 

Jacqui: What?

Tiffany: Holding a candle lighted mirror above your head and walking backwards on a staircase. I, I would be out. I can't walk forward with a mirror. No. 

Sonia: That just sounds like hospital 

Tiffany: visit. That's what I'm saying. I'm so uncoordinated. That would be a disaster. 

Jacqui: House is going to be set on fire. I'm going to break my neck.

I was going to say my neck's going to be broken. This would be perfect for a cozy murder, that somebody convinced somebody to try this technique, and they died, and that's how they killed them. Mmm. It was idiocy. 

Sonia: I'm still trying to walk backwards down a crooked step, holding a candle. Forget the mirror. I can't even hold the candle and walk down a crooked, I can't walk forward on a crooked step.

Tiffany: That's what I'm saying. That's, I couldn't do it forward, [00:21:00] let alone, I would break my neck. And set the house on fire 

Jacqui: because I can't set everything on fire. Yeah, I'm probably going to say 

Sonia: a bunch of words on the way down that I shouldn't say and be dead at the end of the stairwell. That's wild. Yeah. So I had to 

Jacqui: include this one.

Sonia: I don't think 

Jacqui: I want to know my future that badly. Just let it happen. That's method one. 

Sonia: If you are a girl, the apparition of your future husband will cloud the mirror surface. If you are a man, vice versa. 

Jacqui: We're now getting into method two. I'm not sure if it's safer or not, maybe? But the oldest as well as most mirth provoking mode of procedure is the ghost fire.

The goat's fire is made as follow. A big dish pan is placed in the center of the floor of a dark room. The pan contains some four or five pounds of [00:22:00] salt, which has been fairly well saturated with wood alcohol. Oh, 

Sonia: so put some lighter fluid on some salt in a pan in the middle of a room, 

Jacqui: and hope you don't have sprinklers.

Party gathers around the pan, chanting the incantation quoted beforehand. That little poem thing with the turkey bean. This sounds very witchcrafty to me. 

Sonia: It does sound like a seance or something. Like this didn't happen in Salem. 

Jacqui: Oh no. Each has been given a chestnut, and each chestnut has been marked in some distinguished way.

A lighted match is thrown on the salt. Oh, sorry. Okay. Which breaks into a blaze that gives off an uncanny green light. 

Sonia: The chestnuts are then thrown in and the girl whose chestnut pops first will be the first bride. Of course, she must immediately eat the chestnut, but that is not all she's [00:23:00] supposed to see the face of her future husband arising from the flames.

Jacqui: And this is how the Great Chicago fire really happened. Ladies 

Tiffany: and gentlemen. 

Sonia: I'm guessing this dish pan isn't plastic. 

Jacqui: No, it's 1919. It would have been metal. Okay. In your house, you're going to put a metal plant pan on the floor. Keep this sucker up. I'm like the minute they threw that match, I'm like, how do you not singe everybody's eyebrows off 

Sonia: or circled around it?

Did people in that time not have eyebrows and hair? And all I can think of is like how flammable everything was then. Like if you had paint on your wall, that was flammable. If you had wood walls, that's flammable. Like, Curtain every this is awesome. 

Tiffany: Yeah. Not to mention that houses probably weren't that ventilated like they are 

Sonia: now.

Toxic fumes from breathing in the wood. 

Jacqui: No, I [00:24:00] would, the homes were much better ventilated because they didn't have air conditioning. So you had windows that lined up so that you could get the breeze through the house and things like that. But that also means it's just more oxygen for the 

Sonia: family. Again, that would flame a fire.

Yeah. Oh my. Did they at least bring marshmallows? Wait, make it worth your time. It's your husband, Sonia. Over 

Jacqui: marshmallows and what alcohol could you imagine what that marshmallow would taste like? 

Sonia: I don't think I would get to find out because I would probably burn. Yes, 

Tiffany: and okay, so I reframe and I definitely don't want to know who my spouse was if I had to go through these things.

No, no, ma'am. No, ma'am. Oh, I was not worth it. 

Sonia: I was such a follower back then. I would've done it. I'd have been stupid. I'd have done it. I probably wouldn't have lived whatever. So glad I know you now. Sonia . Yeah, because I was a follower back then. I wouldn't know saying I wouldn't have known you . Not in 1917.

I wasn't a [00:25:00] follower. I wasn't born yet, but 

Jacqui: when I was a teenager, 

Sonia: I was quite the 

Jacqui: follower. I, 

Sonia: I wonder if the story was sponsored by the local lumber company, . Because after everybody burnt their house, 

the local fire department. 

Jacqui: Wow. Okay. The last item I have is a collection of recipes for a Halloween party.

And this came from the Washington Times, October 24th, 1930. 

Tiffany: I'm gonna guess Jell O is involved. 

Jacqui: Just putting it out. Okay, I have a few recipes for you. The first one is owl salad. Each of you, I'm going to ask you to tell me what you think is in owl salad. Black olives, 

Tiffany: cottage cheese. 

Sonia: Aspic. 

Tiffany: I don't know. I don't know what else is in it.

I just think that there would be black olives and I think somehow [00:26:00] cottage cheese would be 

Sonia: involved. I'm just going to hope there wasn't like real owls involved. Makes me a little, I don't think owl is like the second white meat. Let's not do that. I'm guessing like aspic, but that was more, I don't know if that was more of 50 things or in olives and tuna and all that gross stuff or I will sell like oranges, watermelon, lemon.

I don't know. Cause OWL. 

Jacqui: Okay, here we go. It starts with, you have two tablespoons of granulated gelatin, one half cup water, one and a half cups, ginger ale, two tablespoons, lemon juice, Two tablespoons sugar, one cup diced canned pineapple, one cup orange juice and pulp, one cup seeded white grapes. Why would you want the seeds?

Sonia: Because the dentist had that party and he wants you to come visit. [00:27:00] 

Jacqui: Soak gelatin in water five minutes, then dissolve over hot water. Okay, they just said some water earlier. They didn't mention nothing about hot or cold. I'm assuming they're using gelatin, they would have to use hot. When cool, add remaining ingredients with a light sprinkling of salt and paprika.

Ooh. This is where they lost me. 

Sonia: With all the fruit? Yes. All right. People put tagine on their fruit. It's red like paprika. It has a spicy 

Jacqui: taste. Turn into individual molds and chill. 

Sonia: Serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise. Bleh. Nope. Bleh. Nope. Out. Out. No. Stub part. Last sentence. This is what really burns my bacon.

Jacqui: Oh no. Decorate each serving with owl cutout. So you're [00:28:00] just supposed to cut out a picture of an owl, stick it on the jello, and that's what makes it owl salad. They totally bunked out 

Tiffany: cut out like it's like from the newspaper you're just like sticking like a picture on there. Not like a edible. They're not having edible paper.

It's not that 

Sonia: you lost me at mayonnaise and fruit. I know. And like, just go throw some nasty old Worcestershire sauce on it while you're at it. Throw it in the trash. 

Jacqui: Yeah, they lost me at the paprika. What about you Tiffany? I was already gone before then. I was like halfway through. I'm done. What about you, Tiffany?

Would, would you eat this? 

Tiffany: No, just because of the combination. I like everything in it, but not together. I have no problem with any one of the ingredients, but I don't have a, I love chocolate pizza. I don't want it together. Right? That's the thing. The whole combination is wild. Yeah, but there was gelatin [00:29:00] first ingredient.

I knew it. 

Jacqui: She gets a gold star. You do. Our next recipe is for Halloween sandwiches. Cut white bread in very thin slices in circles with round cutter. So you're going to cut them in thin slices and then take a circle cutter and then cut them out. Cream two tablespoons butter with one half snappy cheese.

Wait, snappy? I, I had to look that up. Have you guys ever heard of snappy cheese? Is it like a sharp cheese? Is it pimento? Comes originally from Kentucky and 

Sonia: snappy cheese is typically made with sharp cheddar cheese, beer, garlic powder, red pepper, and hot pepper sauce. It is snappy. 

That sounds delightful, except I couldn't do the hot pepper sauce, but I like the red pepper and the beer and the, cause I [00:30:00] like beer cheese.

Jacqui: It's just a form of beer cheese. So you cream butter together with our snappy beer cheese, add salt and paprika. A theme. I'm wondering if paprika in the 1930s was like Worcestershire sauce in the 1960s.

You guys can't see Sonja, she's gagging. Throw it in the trash. Okay, so spread the mixture on one round. Of the bread over this spread jelly. 

Sonia: Oh, see the spread sounded so good. And then my Dan would eat it in a heartbeat. He loves it. It 

Jacqui: just says put jelly on it. 

Sonia: Strawberry jelly might not be bad on that cheese.

Cause I like cheese and grapes. I'm 

Jacqui: still with you and the jelly. And I'm pretty much out. I'll tell you, they, they had me gone at hot pepper sauce. I'm going to have problems with that. I was 

Tiffany: good up until the jelly. 

Sonia: I try it with the jelly just [00:31:00] because I like grapes and cheese and 

Tiffany: I like grapes and cheese too, but this is I feel like a big 

Jacqui: extra.

Yeah, the other circle should be cut out to resemble features a triangle for the nose, the half moon for the mouth and small circles for the eyes place on the round spread with cheese and jelly and firmly pressed together. Our next one is Halloween salad. What do you guys think in Halloween salad?

Worcestershire sauce, bleh. 

Tiffany: Paprika. Halloween salad. I think that there will be raisins. 

Jacqui: Okay, 

Tiffany: I think there's going to be raisins. I think there's going to be mandarin oranges. I'm thinking like orange and black. So, at least that's where my head is going. Olives. At this point, I've, I've, I'm, I'm not. Yeah, I'm not sure.

Jacqui: Give it up. You're warm. You're not hot, but you're warm. Okay. Halloween salad [00:32:00] starts with scraping carrots. Cut strips about one inch long and one fourth inch thick. Marinate in French dressing for 30 or 40 minutes. Dice three apples. Pour enough lemon juice over to keep them from turning dark. 

Sonia: Any listeners, if you don't know the lemon juice trick, it is real when you're slicing up apples and you want to keep them fresh.

If you're making a pie, you put them in bowl of like water with lemon juice and that keeps them from going brown. 

Jacqui: Mix carrots, apples, and a cup of seedless raisins. Ding ding. It sounds like a carrot raisin salad. I'm in, I eat this. Drain, serve on crisp lettuce. I'm not sure how I'd feel about the French dressing.

With everything else, 

Tiffany: I am with you. I would have ate the apples and the carrots and the raisins, but I don't know about the French dressing marinade, 

right? [00:33:00] 

Sonia: French dressing marinade, though, is because French dressing is sweet, but it has just a little ting to it. I would try it. Yeah, I would try this one.

Yeah, I'm shocked there's no paprika. Where's the paprika? I'm sure you could add it. 

Jacqui: The last recipe is jack o lantern cupcakes and this has butter, sugar, oranges using the juice and rind, um, four eggs, And they call for four and one half cups of pastry flour. And I had to freaking look that up. 

Sonia: Pastry flour is apparently even lighter than cake flour, but you can use cake flour as a substitute.

You can use cake flour and sift it. It's more like pastry flour. 

Jacqui: I haven't used a sifter since I was a kid. I've seen them in stores as like. Retro things to have, what calls for sifting any, you have three sifters, [00:34:00] that's Sonia by the way, she's guiltily holding up three fingers. Then you need to come over and help me.

Sonia: I have an old vintage one with the hand crank and then I have one with the, 

Jacqui: that's fancy. 

Sonia: And then I have another one that you just shake. Okay. I've never seen a shake one. 

Tiffany: I love that the stuff that we used to use and still use is now considered retro and it's just like an everyday like household item for us younger generations.

Look at the retro. This was used in 1981. 

Sonia: Oh, my gosh. That's so vintage. 

Jacqui: Um, then it asks for walnut. I love it says walnut meats. So they're just assuming you're going to have walnut shells and you got to crack them and do that all yourself. It also asks for one and a half cups of honey. That's a lot of honey.

That is a lot. I've never done anything that required so much honey. 

Tiffany: Yeah, that's a lot of honey. 

Jacqui: I will [00:35:00] have to let you guys know. I'm going to come back at the end of the show and I'm going to put a piece in. I am making these tonight. My sister and my friend Amy are coming over and we are going to bake these tonight and taste test them and I will make some recordings.

And then everyone can find out how it tastes. I'm going to put the recipe either on Facebook, Instagram, and I'll have links for that on the episode notes. And I will put links to Sonia and Tiffany's booktubes on YouTube, their channels. So you guys can go and check out their stuff because it's pretty awesome.

Tiffany: Oh, thank you. And you guys are so brave. 

Jacqui: You're going to have a butt ton of 

Sonia: cupcakes. 

Tiffany: Yeah, it makes 24. 

Jacqui: Really? That's also why I'm having two people come over to help me make it. Yeah, 

Sonia: they don't know it yet, but they're going to take cupcakes [00:36:00] home with them. 

How much fat for your flour? Is it oil? Is it butter?

What kind of fat are you using? Butter. How much butter? Two thirds cup. That's and four eggs. Okay. That's where you're getting your bind in your flowers. Yes. Uh, a lot of eggs. Is there any rising agent? 

Jacqui: Yes. It asks for baking powder. Whoa. Four teaspoons. Yeah, I would have never seen a recipe call for four teaspoons of 

Tiffany: baking powder.

Yeah, you're making much larger though than 24. I 

Jacqui: agree. 

Sonia: It says 24, but usually when you have that because you have such a massive amount of flour you have to use a massive amount of a baking agent or you're not gonna get any rise in your cupcakes. 

Jacqui: If either of you at some point want to make these and let me know how they turn out for you by all means, I am happy to.

Find out how you guys [00:37:00] did you have orange sprinkles? The sprinkles I had were like this monster pack, but my sister says she's got sprinkles that are autumn themed. So I told her to bring them over. Cause I'm sure we'll like those better. 

Sonia: Yeah. Or orange, just like sugar, put a little orange and some sugar.

Put it in a baggie and mix it and we'll color the sugar orange and then you could put that on there too. You can make your. Yeah, you 

Jacqui: assume I have color dye for food. I know you do, clearly with your 

Sonia: five sifters. I said three, not five. One of them is an antique. You don't use it. 

Jacqui: You still have two more than most households.

Honestly, she probably has three more than most households. If you listening, if you have a sifter or don't have a sister. Let us know. We have, we're curious to know where you come out on the Sifter Debate. 

Sonia: To sift or not to sift, that is the question. You can comment. 

Jacqui: I can tell 

Tiffany: you that, um, I just came [00:38:00] back from the Ashland Mystery Festival and I went to a cooking class with Ellie and my husband's, Oh, when I told him he's, Oh, you're going to a cooking class.

And he's, what are you doing? And I was like, I'm going to a cooking class. He's, Oh, whoa. I feel like this is very pointed. I feel very offended. Oh, so that's me in a. Nutshell as far as, it was very lovely 'cause she just cooked. Cooked and we watched her . Oh. Oh my god. That's my cooking class. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So she made the first dessert ever from her book one Meet Your Baker, which was like this raspberry danish. It was fabulous and I think I could make it based upon the stuff that she did. I think I could do, and she did use a sifter. 

Jacqui: Then we know Ellie Alexander is pro sifter. That's right. That's one down.

30 million left to go. Sonia and Tiffany, I want to thank both of you so much for joining me. This has been an absolute blast and [00:39:00] I can't wait to have both of you on again. I will definitely be making a reason for you guys to come back on. 

Sonia: We're apparently we're a good time. Usually anywhere. Tiffany and I show up together.

People are like, Oh no, they're here. So it's nice to hear someone say, Oh boy, they're here. Exactly. Sonia. We have such small personalities. for 

Tiffany: creating us together as a team, Jacqui. 

Sonia: It's almost like the two of you together is like a pan. of salt and wood alcohol, and I just toss a flame on there. 

Tiffany: Sprinkle some paprika on the flame and 

Sonia: yes, there you go and some gelatin.

Oh my goodness. 

Jacqui: I'm going to have links for their booktube channels in the episode notes. I think everybody should check them out. Now Tiffany, you have a regular read along. Could you explain to people what [00:40:00] that is for those who don't know? And when do you have them? 

Tiffany: When I first started my channel, we created a discord to go along with it called Killing Time With Cozies, because I'm a cozy mystery channel, so Killing Time With Cozies.

Thought it was fun. And along with that, I do lives every week, usually on Sundays at 4 or 5 p. m. Eastern, depending on kind of what's going on. We do a live, we do reading sprints. So we'll have time to reading and then we'll come back. We'll we chat about books. We chat about food. We might talk about these recipes tonight.

We do scavenger hunts twice a month, which is where you read from your OTBR, but there's a theme. So it'll be like read cozies with lighthouses on the cover. And then we share them. Everybody talks about their different books. And so everybody's reading their own stuff and not having to start all the new series.

So it's been very fun. And Sonia always joins me again, um, we're quite the duo. 

Sonia: Yes, go. We are the dynamic duo, for those who don't know. And, no, actually, I feel like that there's, [00:41:00] one of the things that I love about Killing Time with Cozy is that I love about our live is how Tiffany, as the ringleader, encourages other, like, All kinds of new channels to come in and stuff.

She's always very welcoming and open arms about collaboration and not competition and building this community of book lovers and book readers. And you don't necessarily have to read cozy mysteries to come and collaborate when I really, I love that philosophy from her. And that's probably why I joined her group is because I do.

I believe in that too. 

Jacqui: If there was a grading scale of niceness, Tiffany would be an A plus. Oh my gosh. And again, so would Sonia. 

Tiffany: She, you're right. And oh, you guys are so sweet. Thank you so much. 

Sonia: Now, if you're going to check out Sonia's channel, okay, you've got to start with the Scooby Doo read a thon video because the costume is epic.[00:42:00] 

Even if you just go for three seconds to look at her and that costume, worth the trip. 

Guaranteed. I had an amazing team for that. I could not have done the Scooby Doo read a thon without the team I had. They were incredible and I would not have had the courage. I would not have done it and be looking for more costumes to come because we're working on another one.

I have to tell on Tiffany, I just share her costume this year because I think it's absolutely brilliant. Tiffany is dressing as Belle from Beauty and the Beast this year for Halloween. And her dog, her adorable superhero dog, Kairou, is going to be Beast. And she is passing out books to children at Halloween.

I am. 

Tiffany: I'm so excited. 

Jacqui: That is fabulous. There are still a few weeks of fall left since you are both bookish gals. Can you each give one? Autumn reading recommendation. 

Tiffany: I will go. Of course. I'm going cozy mystery and I read it this [00:43:00] Halloween as well, but it is called chaos at the lazy bones. Bookshop is the 1st book in a Halloween town.

Cozy mystery series by Emmeline Duncan. And it's very. Cozy, campy Halloween, like the sweet side of Halloween and it's very like punny with Halloween and everything in the town is named like the bookshop is named the Lazy Bones and the dog has a Halloween name and the coffee shop and it's very sweet and cozy and very fun.

Sonia: I would say that if you want something that just is very cozy, I would say either the Cider Shop series by Gillian Lindsey, because it takes place at a cider shop and there's lots of that atmosphere. I would also say that I love a classic in the autumn and things like the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a fan fave for me because it's, you know, So very fall.

It's the descriptions of [00:44:00] fall. I'm currently reading a murder. She wrote book. That's the description in is. It's just lovely. And all of the fall leaves and everything, it just makes me feel like I need to be Jessica Fletcher. And my last, I would say probably is the, the Shady Hollow series by Juno Black.

Tiffany: I'm going to give just one more because I feel like if you're not looking for straight Halloween, but you're looking more for like fall, there's great maple syrup, cozy mystery series by Catherine Bruns. The first book is called A Doomful of Sugar. And it's set in the fall. It's at a maple syrup farm in Vermont, and it's just full of cozy fullness.

And you said 

Sonia: one book and I 

Jacqui: say, you're such a teacher because teachers give instructions all the time. But we are the absolute worst at following them. I said one and I think you gave four, possibly five. 

Sonia: I like choices. Thank you very much. 

Jacqui: Sonia plays by [00:45:00] her own rules. So just everyone be warned. Okay. I want to thank you again, ladies for coming on.

This has been just an absolute blast. 

Tiffany: It's been so much fun, Jacqui. Thank you so much for the invite. I've had a blast. Anytime I can with Sonia and meeting you. It was just lovely. It's perfect. 

Sonia: I get to hang out with my favorite gals. So that's a good time 

Tiffany: to ask people to write in and tell you about their Halloween, like you started the show with like, dear Jacqui, 

Sonia: Halloween.

This is when I florked my neighbor. And not, and that sounded bad, didn't it? It's like actual forks.

When you put forks in their yard, that kind of thing. Before this goes down that late, 

Jacqui: we're going to wrap it up. This is a family friendly show. 

Tiffany: Oh my goodness. 

Jacqui: I did indeed make the jack o lantern cupcakes with the help of my sister Nikki and travel [00:46:00] companion Amy. The recipe calls for the zest and juice of two oranges.

Here's a make over tip. 

Sonia: Want to give your home a refresh? Zest an orange. The whole place will smell so fantastic that no one is looking at the room. They're just using their nose. 

Jacqui: My husband Kevin joined us for the tasting portion of the evening and here are the results. We are about to taste the cupcakes.

I 

like that it's warm. 

Jacqui: All right, a toast to cupcake ness. 1930s. 1930. 1930. Smell the orange. The orange is amazing. It is good. I really like it. I love the 

orange. I love the orange too. It's pretty good. I gotta get something that's less frosting. 

Sonia: Yeah. Yeah, that's true. 

Jacqui: It's 

kind of like 

Jacqui: an orange muffin. I regret nothing.

It needs like a glaze. Like a lemon. That's orange glaze. Orange glaze. On the buns. [00:47:00] Tastes pretty good. Could use more paprika though.

No, actually this tastes really good. 

Jacqui: Yeah. 

Yeah, I can really smell the orange. I 

Jacqui: would actually make these for real people, like take them out in public and crap. We're not real people. 

I'm trying to smell it as much as I'm eating it. I 

Jacqui: know. And your final thoughts, Nikki? Yum. Amy? 

Sonia: Better than a cake mix.

Five stars would bake again. 

Yeah, especially when you weren't the one baking.

Jacqui: If you want to try the recipe, you can find it on my Facebook or Instagram. I'm also posting pictures and videos of the process. Any of you who try this, please let me know how they turned out for you. The recipe calls for frosting, but I'm about to make an orange drizzle glaze for my leftover mini bundt cakes that have not been [00:48:00] finished yet.

Thank you for joining me and sticking around until the end. I hope you have a joyful Halloween! without too much mischief or paprika. Until next time, I wish you well.