Cartoons

The Reluctant Dragon

Posted on by cartooncravings


Upside-Down Cake

When I was little, I loved so many cartoon characters so much that I truly believed they were real. I wanted them to be real and I shied away from anything that could prove otherwise. I find that really silly because the characters are real (They just exist a little differently than I do.) and I love them twice as much now that I know how much work was done to bring them to life. If I had seen The Reluctant Dragon when I was younger, then I would’ve come to realize that years ago. It’s fun and (Dare I say it.) educational watching Robert Benchley lead the viewers on a tour of Walt Disney Studios, and taking them through each part of the animation process from drawing, score and voice acting, foley, cameras, ink-and-paint, maquette-making, storyboarding, and ultimately animating. (Whew! That’s a lot.)

The cartoon that this movie all boils down to is The Reluctant Dragon. The Dragon would rather recite poetry than fight and is so peace loving, he has trouble breathing fire. (The Boy has to call him a Punk Poet to make him angry enough to do it.) He invites The Boy and Sir Giles, the Dragon Killer, to his picnic full of cakes and muffins and tea and jam sandwiches. Sir Giles, also being a lover of verse, is most interested in the Dragon’s poetic abilities and they recite poetry. My favorite poem in the short (And one of my favorite ever.) is “To an upside-down cake.” The entire thing is about how an upside down cake has problems because its top is on its bottom and its bottom is on its top. It’s truly beautiful. And “Radish so red” by Sir Giles is also lovely, but I’m more into cake.

Upside-down cakes can be just about any flavor, but I like pineapple the best. The Dragon doesn’t have any fruit on his cake, so it’s okay to just leave off the pineapple slices. I baked my cakes in 6-ounce ramekins, but jumbo muffin tins work too. (It’s just stickier getting the cakes out.)

Recipe makes 8 mini upside-down cakes.

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup milk

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 ¼ cups flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons pineapple juice (Optional)

8 pineapple slices (Optional)

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Divide the butter amongst the ramekins, so each one has 1 tablespoon. Add two tablespoons of brown sugar to each one and mix. Place a pineapple slice in each ramekin.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Then whisk in the sugar. Add the oil, milk, vanilla, and pineapple juice and whisk well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined. Divide the batter amongst the ramekins and bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the outside of the cakes to loosen them. Invert each ramekin onto a plate. Once the little cakes are free, they’re ready to serve!

reluctantdragonReluctant Dragon Cake

A sweet, little upside-down cake may have cares and woes about its top and bottom being mixed up, but it should be more worried about me. You know, The Dragon and all the people get a happy ending, but I’m not so sure about that upside-down cake. Just like how I’m not so sure about Robert Benchley’s ending. He did get to meet Walt Disney, though. And I know that the animation process has changed a ton since The Reluctant Dragon, but it’s not any less magical getting an idea out of someone’s head and putting it on a large screen for the whole world to see.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

Ewoks

Posted on by cartooncravings

Episode: The Curse of the Jindas
Taffy

I’m one of those lucky individuals who had been introduced to Star Wars at a very early age. I can’t even remember the first time I actually watched the movies, but I’ve seen them a ton. My parents loved them, so the tapes were always close at hand. After spending most of my life with Star Wars, I could mention like 6 million things I love about the franchise. But, I’m going to try to narrow all that down. Here’s a fun fact: When I was little, I wanted an Ewok. (I also wanted a droid, and Yoda, and to be a Jedi, and have Darth Vader be my friend.) But asking for an Ewok seemed to be the most reasonable thing for me to do. I thought I could take care of one. To me, they were cute, little teddy bears with attitude and I couldn’t get enough of them. I guess I wasn’t the only one because there’s a cartoon dedicated to the Ewoks. I found that out when I saw a tape at one of my local video stores. (Well, it was labeled as a film, so I called it the Ewok movie for years.) Animated Ewoks! It just can’t get any better! I rented that tape multiple times and always enjoyed it. Years later, I finally got to watch the series and I still gave it a thumbs-up. (I can overlook Season 2’s issues.)

I love getting a closer look at the forest moon of Endor and the daily lives of the Ewoks. Wicket W. Warrick will always be my favorite, but I’ve found that I identify most with his slower, klutzy brother, Willy. When the village is attacked by Master Logray’s Stranglethorn Plant, Willy runs to the bakery and tries to eat all the baked goods before the plant does. He also has a thing for taffy. (Actually, he has a thing for any kind of food.) When Wicket and the gang go to Mooth’s store to trade their surplus goods, Willy eats from a large vat of taffy and begins to make a sticky mess. Yeah, Ewoks and taffy seem like an odd pair, but that’s nothing compared to some things that’ve come out of the Star Wars universe.

Recipe makes at least 50 pieces of taffy. It depends on how big you cut them.

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup corn syrup

1 tablespoon butter, plus more for greasing hands and pan

1/2 cup water

1/2-1 teaspoon extract/flavoring

Food Coloring

 

Directions

Butter a shallow pan or cookie sheet. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add corn syrup, butter, and water and place over medium heat. Stir to combine ingredients until the mixture begins to boil. Attach a candy thermometer and cook until the mixture reaches 255 degrees F. Remove from heat and add flavor and color. Pour taffy onto pan/sheet.

Let the taffy sit until it’s cool enough to handle. Butter your hands and begin pulling. Pull the taffy until the color lightens and takes on a sheen. It should be difficult to pull by then. (This is when placed it in a small loaf pan for the picture.) For actual taffy pieces, roll the taffy into a long, thin rope and cut into pieces with kitchen shears. Wrap each piece in wax paper and they’re ready to devour!

Ewoks Taffy WillyEwoks Taffy

I did try leaving my taffy in the small loaf pan and just pulling some out when I want it, so I’ve gotten pretty sticky like Willy does. It’s a mess and gets tough after a while (Willy must be playing with hot taffy.) but I find it fun. I also love the versatility of taffy. I have no idea what flavor Willy’s taffy is and Sugarleaf Taffy could be anything, so I made some fruity and left some unflavored. And they both taste delicious. It’s too bad my parents never got me an Ewok. I could’ve shared my taffy with him. Oh well. More for me.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan: The Movie

Posted on by cartooncravings

 


Lemon Pie and Iced Coffee

I’ve been watching cartoons from all over the world my entire life, but for some strange reason, I had trouble wrapping my head around that fact. I just assumed that all cartoons were made in America, even though I knew that many of them had ties to other countries. When I was 12, I was introduced to Adult Swim’s anime library and finally everything clicked into place. I realized the differences between animation from country to country and truly began to not just watch cartoons, but respect them. Two of the shows that left a lasting impression on me were Lupin the 3rd (I started off with Part II, but I love them all.) and Case Closed/Detective Conan. Thieves and detectives were already in my wheelhouse, so there was no way that I’d not like them. Many years and hundreds of episodes later, I’m still hopelessly in love with these series. And just when I thought it’d be impossible for me to love them anymore than I already did, they made a crossover. And then they did it again! I was so excited, I screamed. It’s a good thing that the movie has subtitles because I giggle so much when I watch it that people have trouble hearing what’s being said.

The giggles get even worse when it’s just Conan and Jigen together. “Papa’s sorry.” is my favorite line in the entire movie. I’d love a special with just the two of them. During the course of their little one-on-one at the hotel, Jigen orders Conan an iced coffee and he’s given a piece of lemon pie. After all, he looks like a nice little kid who’s just picking up his Papa. Conan/Shinichi loves lemon pie and iced coffee, so it’s tough for him to pass up. There’s a large percentage of myself that’s made up of pie and iced coffee, so I totally get it.

Recipe makes one 9-inch pie.

Ingredients

Crust:

1 ¾ cups cake flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter, cold and cut into chunks

1 large egg

 

Filling:

2 (14 ounce) cans of sweetened condensed milk

3 egg yolks

¾ cup fresh lemon juice, from 3-4 lemons (You can use either Meyer lemons or regular ones.)

1/8 teaspoon salt

 

Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Iced Coffee:

Coffee-beans or ground (I know it’s vague, but people have their own preferences when it comes to amount and flavor.)

Ice

 

Directions

Iced Coffee:

Use a scale to measure out enough ice to equal half of the total liquid volume. My iced coffee was 8 ounces, so that means I measured out 4 ounces of ice. Measure out and grind the amount of coffee you want. Brew your coffee directly over ice. I’m a cheater and I filled a heat-safe glass with the 4 ounces of ice, added a little sweetener, and brewed straight into it using my Keurig. I added more ice afterwards.

Crust:

In a food processor, pulse cake flour, powdered sugar, and salt until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg and pulse until dough just comes together when pressed. If the dough is too dry, add ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and pulse again. Form dough into a disk and cover in plastic wrap. Let dough chill until firm, 30 minutes to an hour.

Unwrap dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough anywhere from 10 to 14 inches across and place in a pie tin. Gently press dough into place. Trim excess dough or fold it back on itself. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place parchment paper over the crust and fill the crust with pie weights, dried beans, or something similar. Bake the crust until set and beginning to brown, 10 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights and let cool.

Filling:

In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and salt until well combined. Gradually whisk in lemon juice.

Whipped Cream:

Chill a metal bowl and whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes. I just used the ones from my stand mixer. Pour the heavy cream into the bowl and add the sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk until the cream just forms stiff peaks.

Putting It All Together:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Pour filling into crust. Bake until the filling is just set, 15-20 minutes. There should still be some jiggle in the middle. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Chill the pie for at least 3 hours.

Top pie with whipped cream. You can chill the pie again for up to an hour or go ahead and serve with a glass of iced coffee!

DSC_1061 (4)Lupin Conan Pie

I’ve never made a lemon cream pie before, but after tasting it, I’ll never be able to live without it. I feel the same way about this movie and the individual franchises. If only detecting and thieving were as easy and fun as Conan and Lupin make them look. I’d stop what I’m doing right now and go pursue one of those careers. Or both. I can’t decide which I like better, even though one of them is against the law. Maybe I’ll just meet them somewhere in the middle and become like Inspector Zenigata. (On second thought, maybe not.)

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

Johnny Bravo

Posted on by cartooncravings


Episode: Johnny Bravo
Deep Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

More often than I’d like to admit, I’ve released my inner Johnny Bravo on the unsuspecting world. I’ll say or do something Johnny-ish and my sister will immediately turn to me and say, “No more Johnny Bravo for you.” I can’t help it. It left quite the impression on me since I saw it on What A Cartoon! I felt like all of those shorts that went on to become Cartoon Cartoons were made just for me. (Forget all the popularity and demographic mumbo jumbo. They were made for ME and only ME.) There were so many things that went right over my head, but I didn’t care. That’s why now I appreciate quality shows with multiple levels. I hardly got any of Johnny Bravo‘s pop culture references, but I still enjoyed them. I wouldn’t love Donny Osmond as much as I do if I hadn’t seen him on the show. Sad but true.

And how can I not want to be Johnny Bravo? (Or Jenny Brava in my case.) In his own way, Johnny is kind of a good role model. Not the vain, meat-headed, pig side of him. That’s bad. (There’s something up with those sunglasses.) What I’m talking about is Johnny’s self-confidence. I want to get up every morning, look in the mirror, and have to call emergency personnel because I look that good. And he can deliver the goofiest pickup lines with ease because he truly believes in himself. Then when he’s crushed (literally) his confidence only wavers for a moment, if at all. He’s good. I mean, he’s the kind of guy that can break into song, pull a pot of hot oil out of nowhere, make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and deep fry that bad boy in seconds. Sure, that’s probably because he’s a cartoon character, but I’d like to believe that that’s just one of Johnny’s superpowers. I can make a deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwich too, but it’s going to take me a couple minutes. And I can’t fry a thing with that kind of finesse. I better get practicing.

So, Johnny just plops a sandwich into the hot oil. That’s fine and dandy, but if I do that, all I end up with is soggy bread without a trace of peanut butter left inside. To protect the sandwich, it’s getting a nice coating of batter first.

Recipe makes 2 sandwiches.

Ingredients

Sandwiches:

4 slices of bread

4 tablespoons peanut butter (You can add more if you want but beware of leakage.)

1-2 large bananas (Depends on how much banana you like.)

Vegetable Oil for Frying

Batter:

½ cup milk

1 egg, beaten

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup flour

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

 

Directions

Sandwich:

I know everyone has their own way of making sandwiches, so do what you need to make peanut butter and banana sandwiches. You can spread 1 tablespoon of peanut butter onto each slice of bread. Slice the banana in half, lengthwise, or into about ¼ inch slices. Lay either both banana halves or about half of the slices on one piece of bread. Top that with the second slice of bread.

Batter:

In a small bowl, combine the milk, egg, and vanilla extract. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the wet ingredients and whisk until a smooth batter of dippable consistency forms. If you want it thinner, add more milk.

Putting It All Together:

Heat oil in a large pot/deep skillet or in a deep fryer to 350 degrees F.

Dip the sandwich into the batter and coat thoroughly. Allow the excess batter to drip off and use tongs to move it to the hot oil.
Fry the sandwich until golden brown on each side, 2-2 ½ minutes. Drain the sandwich on paper towels and repeat with the second sandwich. Serve warm!

Johnny Bravo SandwichJohnny Bravo Peanut Butter Banana

I understand that the zookeeper had a lot on her mind since a 900-pound gorilla escaped, but if I’m offered a deep fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, I’ll happily take it. Well, you probably shouldn’t take food from strangers, but I’d take one from Johnny. He was only trying to impress a pretty girl, but he went searching for the gorilla even though he had no idea what one looks like. His heart’s in the right place. It’s the Bravo brain that needs help.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

Posted on by cartooncravings


Short: Hyper-Corn
Creamed Corn

I never got the chance to see Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius in theaters. My parents just didn’t understand the greatness that is Jimmy. I, on the other hand, knew and loved him and his family and friends for months. Before I ever started to get hyped for the movie, I was content just watching the shorts over and over. Which I did because Nickelodeon played them a lot! (Smart move.) I love the shorts even more now because I can see how they progressed into the movie and then the show.

My favorite one of the bunch has always been “Hyper-Corn”. I couldn’t understand why Jimmy’s mom would make nothing but creamed corn for dinner. Or why it jiggles. But I sure didn’t want to eat it. Although, I did change my tune after the Hypercube spewed corn everywhere. I begged my mom to make heaping blobs of creamed corn, but for all the wrong reasons. It didn’t amuse her. Now here’s my chance to make my own. (I still want to throw it on everything, but I can’t bring myself to waste food or clean my walls.)

Recipe makes 1 insanely large serving or about 6 smaller servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds fresh, frozen, or canned corn

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

3/4 cup heavy cream, room temperature

4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 egg, room temperature

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoons white pepper

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

 

Directions

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk constantly. As the mixture starts bubbling, whisk in the heavy cream. When the mixture begins to thicken, reduce the heat to low. Add the cream cheese and cook until the sauce is thick, still whisking. In a small bowl, begin whisking the egg. Add a small amount of the cream cheese mixture to the egg, while still whisking. Continue whisking in small amounts until the volume of the egg has almost doubled. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and stir to combine. Return the heat to medium and add the corn and sugar. Cook for a couple minutes to allow the liquid from the corn to thicken. Add the salt, white pepper, and onion powder. Stir and cook until the corn is warm and soft, about 5 minutes. The corn will set more as it cools, but if it’s too thick for you, just add more cream. Scoop out a heaping portion and enjoy!

Jimmy Neutron Creamed CornJimmy Corn

“Oh, that is good.” I totally agree with Jimmy even if I did deviate a bit from the standard creamed corn method in order to make it blobbier. It’s good for the digestion, right? We weren’t smart enough to build a Hypercube or move our house underwater, but we did start acting like Jimmy in our own way. In Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius fashion, we kind of ended up getting back at our parents for not taking us to see it. We didn’t sneak out or wish them to go away, but my little sister did buy the movie on Pay-Per-View without permission and we stayed up late watching it. (What stinkers!)

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

 

The Phantom Tollbooth

Posted on by cartooncravings


Punctuation Mark Cookies

The first time I watched The Phantom Tollbooth was when I was in 6th Grade. We just covered the book (Or was it just excerpts?) by Norton Juster and were being treated to the movie. I can’t really remember much about the readings or watching the movie. (We also covered Where the Red Fern Grows, so I suppressed a lot of memories from that time.) I do know that I enjoyed them, but I don’t think I truly appreciated them. When I caught the movie floating around on my television years later, I thought I’d give it another go. Within seconds of the opening credits, I freaked out. “What? This is a Chuck Jones film! Look at who’s in this! They’re legends! How did I not notice any of this before?” And then I finished the film and freaked out again. “It’s so cleverly done! It’s beautiful! I can’t get these songs out of my head!” I was very ashamed of my younger self for not caring as much back then, but I guess I was in the school lull like Milo. I also had to discover a love of learning. (I never did learn to love school, though.) If I treated words and numbers like they are in The Phantom Tollbooth, maybe my education would’ve been a tad more enjoyable.

If I lived in the Kingdom of Wisdom, you’d probably find me in Dictionopolis. I just can’t help but love all the letters and words for sale. It’s so overwhelming that I’d probably try to use upholstery, flabbergast, and quagmire in the same sentence too. And I laugh when Milo starts making a speech at King Azaz’s banquet and it’s served to him as food. “I didn’t know I was going to have to eat my words.” Priceless! Now I’m serving up letters and such too, but they’re not from Milo’s plate. When Milo and Tock are thrown into the dungeon, they meet a Which. (Get it? Which? And her brother is a Whether Man! I love it!) The poor Which was wrongfully thrown in the dungeon after Princesses Rhyme and Reason left the land. Lucky for her, she’s got all the comforts of home in her cell and can pass the time by making up cookies! She offers the tastiest looking tray of punctuation marks and representations of King Azaz and the Mathemagician to Milo and Tock. It’s fun enough just seeing that, but I bet it’s even more fun eating them. I hear the the question marks are delicious!

Recipe makes about 20 chocolate shortbread cookies, depending on the size.

Ingredients

½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

½ cup powdered sugar

¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup flour

 

Directions

Sift and combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a stand mixer, cream together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture a little at a time, and mix until combined. Remove the dough from the stand mixer and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes or until firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of 1/4 an inch. Cut out shapes with any similar-looking cookie cutters or make stencils and cut out with a paring knife. Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. For the cookies that have the details like extra marks and lines, now would be the time to carve those in. I also tried creating the details by making an extra tiny batch of dough using darker cocoa powder and pressing the darker dough onto the lighter one. Once you’ve used up all your dough, chill the cookies for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake cookies until crisp and firm, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Now would be the time to eat them!

Phan Tollbooth CookiesPhantom Tollbooth Cookies

No wonder Tock snuck another one! Who knew that education could be so delicious? And making a batch of these is far from boring. Milo needed an adventure through a magical tollbooth to cure his boredom blues. All I need are some cookies!

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

 

Cartoon Planet

Posted on by cartooncravings


Episode: Toot! Toot!
Doughnut

One of my favorite shows in the entire universe is Cartoon Planet. I had been watching Space Ghost & Dino Boy for years, so I already liked the characters. Then they got the 90’s treatment (We affectionately refer to it as “being slapped with the 90’s pan.”) and I fell in love with them! The characters were taken in a direction I never imagined they would be (They became stupid, really stupid in Brak’s case.) and it’s so much fun to watch. I was immensely enjoying Space Ghost Coast to Coast and before I knew it, Cartoon Planet came out of nowhere and amped up the crazy! By that I mean they added Brak as a co-star. (Sorry, Moltar.) And they started “Zorak’s Helpful Hints”, and “The Cartoon Planet Storybook,” and songs about baloney sandwiches and other silly stuff. This reminds me, I’d like to take this moment to apologize to my parents who had to endure all those car rides with us wailing “Highway 40 Revisited” in the backseat.

Anyhoo. With my crazy love for the show, I’ve been dying to cover food from it. And Space Ghost and the guys do love food. They have several songs dedicated to foods and they talk about eating often. Brak even has his own cooking segment. (That he never really gets to do because his cooking makes people seriously ill.) The problem though, is Cartoon Planet was made on the cheap. When the guys spoke or sang about food, the same images were recycled over and over. I’d have no problem with that except that they were real foods. I very well can’t make cartoon food a reality if I don’t have cartoon food to start off with. On rare occasions, a quick drawing of a food item would show up. And lucky for me, a lone doughnut shows up during “The Cartoon Planet Storybook’s,” “What Does My Second Cousin Do?”

Recipe makes 18-24 glazed doughnuts.

Ingredients

Doughnut:

1/3 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)

4 ½ teaspoons yeast

½ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup milk, room temperature

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ½ cups flour

Vegetable Oil for Frying

 

Glaze:

¼ cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Black Food Coloring

 

Directions

Doughnut:

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar in the warm water. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes, or until foamy. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the rest of the sugar, salt, butter, milk, eggs, vanilla extract, and half of the flour. Add the yeast mixture and mix all the ingredients together using the paddle attachment. Once all the ingredients are fully combined, add the remaining flour and mix until the flour is fully incorporated. Replace the paddle with the dough hook attachment and beat on medium speed until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl, about 5 minutes. Move the dough to a large, clean bowl. Lightly coat dough with oil and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until it has doubled in size.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a ½ inch thickness. (A little less thick is fine too. I just like big doughnuts.) Cut out doughnuts with a doughnut cutter or large and small cookie cutters. Move the doughnuts to a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Let the doughnuts rise for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a large pot/deep skillet or in a deep fryer to 370 degrees F.

Fry the doughnuts for 60-90 seconds on each side. (Whenever they turn golden.) Move the doughnuts to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Glaze:

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together butter, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Begin stirring in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Whisk until smooth. Move some of the glaze to a small bowl and tint with the food coloring. Place the black glaze in a piping bag.

Putting It All Together:

Dip the doughnuts, one at a time, in the glaze until they have a thick, even coating on top. Allow the glaze to rest a few minutes to fully set. Use the black glaze to pipe little circles onto the doughnuts. Once they set, you can eat up!

Cartoon Planet DoughnutCP Doughnut

Is this batch of doughnuts a desperate excuse to talk about Cartoon Planet? Oh you bet, but who doesn’t like tasty doughnuts? I mean aside from “My Second Cousin.” And it’s Cartoon Planet we’re talking about. Nothing has to make sense here. If you want something bad enough and throw a bunch of funky stuff together, you should end up with something great.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

 

Space Jam

Posted on by cartooncravings


Swackhammer’s Courtside Feast

Easter is just days away, so I know that poor Easter Bunny is working overtime. Although I appreciate his efforts, he’s not the only Bunny on my mind this time of year. Sorry, Mr. Cottontail, but in my house, you have to share your day with Bugs. And it’s not just because I run around yelling, “I wanna Easter Egg,” every year. The real reason is Easter Morning, 1997. I ran to see what goodies the Easter Bunny had brought and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a pristine Space Jam VHS waiting for us kids. Our Easter Baskets were full of candy, but we ignored the sugary goodness completely. We loved Space Jam so much and weren’t expecting it to be there, so we super freaked out. You would’ve thought it was Christmas.

Since that day, I’ve seen this movie hundreds of times. Looney Tunes teaming up with Michael Jordan to win a basketball game against aliens sounds like the silliest idea ever, (because it is) but it works beyond well. I’ve always found movies that pair live action and animation to be enchanting and Bugs Bunny has always been one of my heroes. Plus having the Nerdlucks steal the talent of NBA powerhouses was the coolest thing I had ever seen. The Monstars are so tough and cool, but they’ve got just the right amount of stupid sprinkled in. And there wouldn’t be any Monstars without the greedy Mr. Swackhammer. He’s such a fun villain and seeing him being pampered during the Big Game is just too funny.

His table is full of food and he’s got more bread and wine coming. (And pie, a pork chop, or sorbet, perhaps.) I assumed he’s got potatoes and green beans and I can tell that’s a jello mold from a mile away. Now what meat is he eating? Sure, it’s probably just a roasted turkey leg, but since I have absolutely no idea what it is, (and I couldn’t find any turkey legs for the life of me) I thought I’d sort of treat it like manga meat and make my own. And by that, I’m basically talking about making a meatloaf on a stick.

Recipe makes 2 large servings.

Ingredients

Meat:

1/2 cup panko

1/4 cup milk

1/4 onion, minced

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon butter

1 pound ground turkey

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon brown mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 chicken or turkey drumsticks with the meat removed

 

For Breading:

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

1 cup panko

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Oil for Deep Frying

 

Potatoes

1 pound new potatoes, sliced

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

 

Green Beans

1 pound green beans

2 tablespoons butter

Salt

Pepper

 

Gelatin

1 box strawberry or raspberry flavored Jello Or

1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin

3 tablespoon sugar

2 cups fruit juice: Raspberry or White Cran-Strawberry or something along the same color

 

Directions

Meat:

In a small bowl, combine panko and milk and set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a small pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine panko-milk mixture, turkey, egg, onion and garlic, salt, pepper, brown mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix until just combined. Divide in half and place meat mounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Shape the meat mounds into ovals so they resemble the leg-type shape. Stick the bones into the shapes. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Remove from oven and cool completely.

In a shallow bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper. In a second shallow bowl, beat the egg. Place the panko in a third shallow bowl. Dredge one “leg” in the flour. Shake off the excess and dredge in the egg. Then coat it with the panko. You may have to dredge and coat a couple of times to get an even coating. Repeat the dredging process with the other “leg.” Don’t use the bones as handles just yet or they might come apart. Save that for when you’re trying to eat it. Chill the “legs” for 15 minutes.

Heat oil in a large pot/deep skillet or in a deep fryer to 370 degrees F.

Fry the “legs,” one at a time, until golden on all sides, 2-3 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Potatoes:

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan or pot over medium-high heat. Add salt and potatoes and lower the heat. Simmer the potatoes until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Drain off the potatoes and add them back to the pan. Melt butter and coat the potatoes. Season with pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder and remove from heat.

Green Beans:

Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan or pot over medium-high heat. Add salt and green beans and cook until green beans are slightly tender, 6 minutes. Drain off the green beans and add them back to the pan. Melt butter and coat green beans. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Gelatin:

Pour gelatin and ¼ cup of juice in a small bowl. While the gelatin is blooming, combine the sugar and remaining fruit juice in a medium saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium high heat and bring the juice to a boil. Remove from heat and add the bloomed gelatin. Mix until the gelatin has completely dissolved. Pour the gelatin mixture into a small mold or bowl and allow it to come to room temperature. Chill the mold for 4 hours or until the gelatin has set. Remove the gelatin from the mold and onto a small plate.

Putting It All Together:

Place some green beans on a plate. Place a “leg” on top and scoop out some potatoes. Serve alongside the gelatin, a cup of coffee, and a glass of your favorite red, fancy drink. Enjoy!

Space JamSpace Jam Food

 

I can totally see these “legs” being sold at Moron Mountain! They are pretty looney looking. Now I have something a little more fun to eat while watching Space Jam besides cereal or junk food. Hey, any excuse to watch this movie is fine with me. It still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And yes, the scene near the end where Michael Jordan steps onto the baseball field still moves me to tears.

Have a Happy Easter, Everybody!

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

 

The Secret of Kells

Posted on by cartooncravings


Bread

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’ve got a wee bit of the ol’ Irish blood in my veins, so I don’t have to completely pretend I’m Irish today. Every year, my family celebrates St. Paddy’s Day by wearing green, eating corned beef and cabbage, and watching Darby O’Gill and the Little People. You know, the typical stuff. All of this makes for a fun day, but I’m not entirely satisfied. There’s so much more to Ireland’s rich history than Leprechauns. That’s where The Secret of Kells comes in. The movie is perfect any other day of the year too, but it fits so well with today. It’s a nice peek into Ireland’s days of yore when Vikings pillaged through the country and The Book of Kells was just a work in progress. Instead of a pot of gold, we’re given an illuminated manuscript and a brief glance at how these beauties were brought to life. And just because there are no little people doesn’t mean this movie is lacking in Irish magic. I’m kind of a sucker for forest spirits and fairies, so of course I love Aisling. Now all we need is some food.

I’m kind of drawing at straws here, but I’m making it work. The only food that stands out is the humble meal of bread and cheese Abbot Cellach sends to Brendan, who’s supposed to be locked in his room. This gave me an excuse to go into super research mode to find out just what was eaten back in about 9th Century Ireland. Long before the Irish grew their first potato, they had mostly bread and water. So I pulled together my findings and made an “authentic” loaf of bread. Although tasty, it didn’t look a thing like the bread in the movie. So I changed stuff up and modernized it a bit and created my take on Irish buttermilk oat bread.

Recipe makes one 9-inch loaf of bread

Ingredients

½ cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)

1 teaspoon yeast

1 ½ tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly

¾ cup buttermilk

½ cup oat flour or ground rolled oats

2 ½ cups bread flour

1 egg plus a tablespoon of water for egg wash

 

Directions

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes, or until foamy. In a large bowl, combine bread flour, oat flour, and salt. Add the butter, buttermilk, and yeast mixture and combine. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 15 minutes. Form the dough into a ball again and place in a large, clean bowl. Lightly coat dough with oil and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. Punch down the dough and shape into a loaf. Place the dough into a greased loaf pan, cover, and let rise for another hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Beat the egg and water and brush the dough with the egg wash. Bake loaf for 40-45 minutes. Place the pan on a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes. Turn the bread out and let rest on a rack until completely cooled. Enjoy it straight away or pair it with your favorite cheese and drink!

Secret KellsKells Bread

This bread is simple and lovely, just like The Secret of Kells. Brendan’s not fighting to get beyond the walls of Kells because he’s being rebellious or reckless. He just wants to help Brother Aidan finish The Book of Iona and be artistic. And Cellach only reprimands Brendan because he wants to protect him. (We all know how this goes.) The movie has so much charm and creatively hints at the history of something that has left an impact on so many people. Without a doubt, The Secret of Kells has earned its place, along with this bread, as a part of my St. Patrick’s Day traditions.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

 

Earthworm Jim

Posted on by cartooncravings

Episode: Trout!
Nut Log

It seems I’ve caught a bad case of Cabin Fever. Now I can sit here and try to ignore it until I do something desperate or… Road Trip! Yep, I like road tripping as much as Earthworm Jim. The difference though, mine usually don’t end at a Giant Fur Bearin Trout. Although that would be pretty awesome! Road trips do run the risk of being a bit long and tiring, but they’re really the best way to experience all the wonderfully weird things out there. I’ve yet to visit the World’s Biggest Scab or the First Speed Bump in the Northern Hemisphere, but I have been to museums about vacuum cleaners and beans. And there’s nothing better about a road trip than stopping off at a tourist trap covered with signs promising clean bathrooms and grabbing yourself a nut log. Some of them do put up a bit of a fight, but I haven’t had to boil a nutty delight to soften it. Or run it over. Or shoot it.

That’s one of the things I love about Earthworm Jim, though. The show is so surreal but also super believable. Nut logs are obstinate roadside delicacies, but you just can’t resist buying them again and again and risk breaking your teeth each time. Maybe Peter Puppy is right when he says that a nut log’s true purpose is to anchor ships in a heavy storm. Still, it’s not going to stop me from trying to make and EAT one.

Recipe makes 10 nut logs

Ingredients

Divinity

1 cup sugar

½ cup corn syrup

¼ cup water

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 egg whites

Caramel

1 cup sugar

¼ cup light corn syrup

¼ cup water

½ cup heavy cream, room temperature

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature- cut into chunks

½ teaspoon salt

4 cups Pecans, most or all chopped (There are some pecan halves on Jim’s nut log, but coating them in just chopped pecans is fine.)

Melted butter, Spray butter, or butter-flavored cooking spray

 

Directions

Pecans:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F,

Spread out the pecans on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Spray the pecans with a little butter or butter-flavored cooking spray. Toast the pecans in the oven for 5 minutes. You should be able to smell them when they’re finished. Keep a close eye on the pecans while they’re in the oven since they tend to scorch easily. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Divinity:

Lightly grease an 8 X 8 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine water, corn syrup, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium high heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan and continue to cook, without stirring, until it reads 260 degrees F. When the syrup reaches about 240 degrees F, beat the egg whites in a stand mixer on medium-high speed until stiff peaks just form. When the syrup reaches 260 degrees F, immediately take the syrup off the heat. With the mixer on medium, pour the syrup into the egg whites. When all of the syrup is in the bowl, increase the mixer’s speed to high. Add the vanilla extract and whip the mixture until the texture loses its shine and becomes rough, 10-20 minutes.

Pour the divinity into the prepared pan and spread evenly with a lightly greased spatula. Chill until set, 30 minutes-1 hour. Cut the divinity into 10 pieces and roll them into 4-inch logs. Place the logs on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for at least 2 hours.

Caramel:

In a saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and water. Place over high heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and cook until the mixture reaches 230 degrees F. Reduce heat to medium and cook, without stirring, until the syrup mixture is golden. When the syrup reaches close to 300 degrees F, gently stir. Continue to cook until the syrup turns dark amber and closes in on 350 degrees F. Remove from the heat, stir, and let sit for a couple minutes. Slowly add heavy cream, butter, and salt. The mixture will bubble, so be careful. Return the saucepan to the stove and stir until the butter is completely melted. Cook over medium heat until it reaches 255 degrees F. Remove from heat.

Putting It All Together:

Remove the logs from the freezer. One log at a time, dip them in the hot caramel with tongs or a fork. Once fully coated, move them to the pecan-covered baking dish. If you want pecan halves on your nut logs, stick them in place now. Proceed to roll the logs in the chopped pecans until completely covered. Chill the finished nut logs until set, 30 minutes-1 hour. Enjoy!

Earthworm Jim NutlogEarthworm Nut Log

Good news! These nut logs aren’t like the ones at the Nutlog Palace. They are light (My noodle arms have no trouble lifting them.) and can actually be eaten. Every last one of my teeth is still safely snug in my mouth. I wouldn’t recommend throwing them around, but I’m almost confident that they can’t K.O. anyone. Earthworm Jim’s battle with the impudent nut log ended in a “draw,” but I think I won this round. Too bad I have to quit while I’m ahead because I really just can’t handle haggis.

 

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!