Freakish, Fright Night



What do brownies cupcakes and haunted house have in common?  In this case, they both are freakishly good~ I took, my daughter and her boyfriend, Brendan to Fright Night, last night.  It is a haunted house that is for charity.  It was their first date; I drove downtown to see how long the line was.  Cornstalks were aligned by the fence, creatures walking around taunting the crowd. Once we are in line, Brendan begins to tell us, what last year.s house was like. This haunted house, usually is the weekend of Busch Gardens; Angela n' I hadn't been, we usually to go to Howl-O-Scream.  He tells us there might be a car wreck,a  jail and scary clowns, besides the usually. I am thinking perhaps, I should just let them go in,but I had already bought my ticket and I do love Halloween. This event is run by the Police, so for safety we have to walk through a scanner...make sure, no one has a knife, gun, etc.  As we approach the entrance, I hear the Gatekeeper say if you feel anything, to sweep it off, that you shouldn't have worn shorts and don't hit anyone, if they accidental touch us.Yikes..We are paired up in a group of 6.  The kids insist I go first, then Brendan says he can hang onto my hand and Angela's. Sweet kid, first date, hanging on to his girlfriend and her Mom's hand. The other three with us is a cop n' his family. We start in, I'm the leader; I open a coffin door and walk through, it is so dark, you can't see, the walls start to close in on us and then the ceiling, finally we find an opening and proceed. You weave through a maze in darkness, something different in every room.  Weird effects, you see a clown dressed in  black n' white approach you, then closer then disappears.  In another room,  a cop is at a table reading the newspaper, asking if we had heard about this criminal. Next thing we know we are in a jail cell, with the creature. A room with a huge spider and webs and lots of feel good effects.  The night ended with chainsaws buzzing and the smell of gasoline. You physical run out of the building, which has the legend of already being haunted.  As we exit the building, we are jumped by bat like men, zombies and this 8' mothman.  Impressive....They really out did themselves, all the proceeds go to good causes.

It is the perfect Trick or Treat; you are tricked and your money will treat others to Christmas.  Fear makes you hungry, so after pizza, then I made these weird brownie cupcakes. When you read the ingredients,  you will fear this isn't worth your time or you will be grossed out, but trust me.

It is a gorry batter, but the results are so worth it; I followed the recipe, but only cooked 1/2 the batter.  Then I added 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips, mini ones to the rest of the batter.   I'd have to say, they are truly   good.  If you are brave enough to make them.  This recipe if from the "HungryGirl" Cookbook.


 Yum Yum Brownie Muffins:
per serving 1 muffin=181 cals, 3.5g fat, 357mg sodium, 37g carbs, 2 g fiber, 20g sugar, 2g protein.
Ingredients:
1 box of regular(not pudding added) devil's food cake mix(about 18 oz)
one 16 oz can of pure pumpkin(not the one with sugar and spices)plain, pure, pumpkin puree

Directions:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the 2 ingredients together. Do not add anything else, just these 2 ingredients only.  The mixture will be thick and it will work your bicep mixing the batter.    Place batter in a 12 cup muffin tin.  I use sprayed oil.  Bake in the oven 15-20 min.   I made the mini muffins, I baked them for 7 min.   I think you should check around 12min.   I have a hard time, following recipes.  I usually add something else.  I followed this one, but only used 1/2 the batter.  I added 1/2 a bag of mini morsel chocolate chips.  Real chocolate added a lot more flavor, yes some more fat, but if you want a real chocolate taste, you will prefer the morsels.  I found them moist, rich, and fudgey. My family liked the ones with real chocolate, better.   Either way, it is a win, win...no eggs, no oil, moist and satisfies the chocoholic.  And the beta-carotene from the pumpkin  adds a lot of health benefits. They are freakishly good~enJOY!

Comments

Sherry Blue Sky said…
Well, I never would have survived the spider and cobweb room! Brave girl! And pretty cool kids, to be okay with hanging out with you on their first date (just tell him you plan on going on the honeymoon, too, hee hee!)(Just kidding!But it would keep the boys away a little longer maybe:) )
Spiders and I don't see eye to eye, I don't mind tiny ones but the big black hairy legged ones sends shivers up my spine. I think I would give that place a miss.

Yvonne,
Ella said…
We had discussed it before going; We talked about it during our arrival. She is 14; He is 15. They didn't have anything real, just the threat of it, to set the mood. The jail thang was weird and so were the strobe light clowns. I am not scared of clowns, but somehow, they were right in your face.It was bizarre~

Sherry-You are funny! I wasn't allowed to date, til I was 16. This was a family involved event; He has asked her to go with him and his family out to eat, weekend prior. They act like they have known each other forever...ought oh ;-D

Yvonne-If there had been any real creepy crawlies, I would of been so gone! Furry spiders and I don't get along. You n' I agree~
Lisa said…
You had me at brownie cupcakes.

:D
Jules said…
Sounds like a fun time. I'm planning on going to this haunted sanatorium in another city. It has been on Ghost Adventures. Sorry still sick and trying to make the rounds. :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
Sounds like a lot of fun! I helped with a haunted house many years ago and it was a blast.
koralee said…
You are very brave my friend...I am such a baby when it come to things like that...but it is for a good cause!
Now those brownies/muffines look amazing!!! I am soooooo going to make them..my kinda easy.

Hugs for a great new week. xoxo
Unknown said…
You're brave Ellie, haunted houses freak me out.
Save me one of those brownie things, I'll be right over. :)
Love,
Jenny
Hart Johnson said…
I love a good haunted house, though I went to one in Niagara Falls that was SO SCARY that i've quite put myself off of them for a while--it used to be a coffin factory, and HOLY COW is it scary--like there is a part where you are in total darkness, then suddenly an engine flares and a car comes at you. I think the scaries thing though, is it is all TOTALLY dark--you are just trying to get to a tiny red light, then these things suddenly happen...
I love tasty treats you can sneak something healthy into!

Also, thanks so much for being in the tag swap and for the thoughtful gifts!

Karla
Amanda Trought said…
Love the muffins, they look delicious! Amanda
DEZMOND said…
it's lovely how you Americans have everything in cans and ready made mixes :) I was making those yum muffins here in Vojvodina, I would have to mix the batter myself, roast the pumpkin and make a pure out of it and only then bake the cake itself :) But it is the healthier way.
Lorena G. Sims said…
It was fun reading your blog. I'm not brave like you though.
Ella said…
Lorena-Looked like you had some fun! Your photos are so pretty! Wish I could visit~

Dez-You are healthier! I rarely cook this way; A friend gave me this Hungry Girl cookbook, thought I'd try it out! I'd visit you, just to see the performance ;-D

Amanda-Thank you; Happy to see you stopped by~

Karla-It was a small sentiment, but so cute, I knew who had to have it! Thank you; I enjoyed it! I wish I had felt better, mine were done in a hurry~ Sinus hell here in the south, lately~
It was a wonderful swap!

Hart-Wow, This sounds totally off the charts~
A coffin factory; YOU were brave and I can see why you are cured! Two yrs ago, this one, scared so many people they had to shut down and clean up the place to reopen. So many people peed their pants or threw up...Now, that is over the top! I guess there was a car accident that was too realistic...eeeeewwww~ You are BraveHART~

Jenny-If you came over, I'd make you a batch, for you, to take home to your family ;-D

Koralee-Thank you; I hope you like them! I swear a bit of real chocolate really makes them taste best...otherwise your taste buds are craving the real thang!

Alex-My husband did one year, he was the one with the chainsaw~ What were you?!

Jules-I want all the details; Sounds like a night to remember!~ Sending you get well wishes~

Lisa-You are cute; Yes, chocolate makes everything special~
Jennifer said…
What an incredible mom you are! Sounds like such a fun night out. And what a sweet boy he is holding onto your hand like that. So precious.
Unknown said…
i would love to have some pumpkin brownies.. fun pictures.. Love the idea... for charity
lisa
DEZMOND said…
"Dez-You are healthier! I rarely cook this way; A friend gave me this Hungry Girl cookbook, thought I'd try it out! I'd visit you, just to see the performance ;-D"

:))but it really is true :) I often read English or American recipes and it's always - use cake mix, buy caramel cream, use canned pumkins, use canned tangerines, use this cream use that cream :))) Here in my country we don't really have a habit of eating and using ready-made products, so I'd have to mix milk, eggs, flour to get cake mix :) I'd have to caramelize some sugar and mix it with cream to get caramel :) I'd have to roast or cook the pumpkin to make pure .... But as you said, it is a healthier way of living, even though it takes a half an hour more ...