Touchstone Pictures | CARTOON CRAVINGS

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Posted on June 10, 2017 by cartooncravings

Cookies

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a “story of greed, sex, and murder” and cartoons! That sounds like one entertaining movie, huh? “You’d better believe it, buster.” Here’s the scenario: a cartoon rabbit named Roger, whose whole purpose in life is to make people laugh, has been accused of murder and the only guy who can clear Roger Rabbit’s name and save him from a vat of Judge Doom’s Dip is a booze-drinking, toon-hating, private investigator named Eddie Valiant. Think film noir but with cartoons. And boy, does this have cartoons! This movie is jammed-packed with animated stars. There’s Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny (Sharing the screen!), Donald Duck and Daffy Duck (Also together.), Betty Boop, Droopy, Woody Woodpecker, and many more familiar faces. But as much as I adore all the cameos, my favorite Toon in this film is Roger. I was crazy about the guy before the opening cartoon even had a chance to end.

This film jumps straight into a Maroon Cartoon starring Roger Rabbit and Baby Herman called Somethin’s Cookin’. When Baby Herman’s mother goes out, she leaves her son in Roger’s care. (And threatens to send Roger back to the science lab if he doesn’t take good care of Baby Herman.) Now this wouldn’t be much of a cartoon if Roger was a perfect babysitter and Baby Herman didn’t get in any trouble, so of course Baby Herman escapes from his playpen as soon as Mrs. Herman is gone. He sees a full cookie jar sitting atop the refrigerator and heads straight for it. Baby Herman makes his way through the dangerous kitchen unscathed and gets himself a golden, crinkly cookie, but Roger doesn’t fare as well and ends up with the refrigerator on his head.

Recipe makes about 20 peanut butter crinkle cookies

Ingredients

½ cup shortening

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup sugar, plus more for rolling cookies

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ¼ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

In a stand mixer on medium speed, beat the shortening, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and the vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Shape the dough into rounded tablespoon sized balls. Roll the dough balls in sugar and place on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are golden, 10-12 minutes.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. Now you can fill up that cookie jar!

WhoFramedRogerCookie WhoFramedRRCookie (2)

Baby Herman looks awfully happy to get that cookie. Sure he’s just acting, but he’s believable. I remember how shocked I was to see his true self when I watched this movie for the first time. He’s not really a sweet baby, so I wasn’t much of a fan. But my love for Roger only grew as the movie went on. He and all of the other cartoon characters were brought to life so perfectly in a live-action film, I really believed that the Toons and humans acted together. (It was tough for me to accept that Roger didn’t exist in “real life.”) But even if Roger isn’t “real,” the laughs he’s given me are. And “a laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it’s the only weapon we have.”

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Posted on October 15, 2015 by cartooncravings

Soup

For a brief point in my childhood, this movie was almost taboo in my house. It wasn’t that the movie was Satanic or anything. My mom just didn’t care much for it and told us not to watch it. You know, so we wouldn’t waste our time. However, we took it to mean that the movie was evil and if we watched it, we’d be punished. Stop motion animation was so new to me, I was completely captivated each time I saw a commercial. It didn’t take long for us to ignore my mom and watch the movie. Before “This is Halloween” was even over, I was hooked and we’ve loved the movie ever since. My sister’s room is practically a shrine dedicated to Jack Skellington and there’ve been some years where we’ve watched Nightmare every night from October through December.

Out of all the characters, Sally is actually one of my least favorites. I know she’s just trying to be reasonable, but why does she have to be such a party pooper? She does have some good qualities, though, like how she’s not afraid to slip Deadly Nightshade into Dr. Finkelstein’s food and drink every chance she gets. And keeping a slotted spoon in her sock is absolute genius. I’m not too sure about eating something with ingredients like Worm’s Wort and Frog’s Breath, but I would like to give that soup a try.

Recipe makes about 6 one-cup servings.

Ingredients

1 pound dried split peas

4 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped celery

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or parsley

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon lemon juice

8 cups chicken broth

1 cup half-and-half (optional)

Directions

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 2 minutes. Add celery and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until onions and celery are soft. Add garlic and cook for 20 seconds. Pour in chicken broth. Add peas, salt, pepper, thyme or parsley, bay leaf, and lemon juice. Cover and cook for 1 hour or until peas are tender, stirring occasionally

Remove bay leaf. Puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender. If the soup is too thick, add some water. If you want a creamier soup, stir in half-and-half. Adjust the seasoning, if needed. Serve and enjoy.

Variations: You can soak split peas for 8 hours or overnight and they’ll cook a bit quicker (about 40 minutes). You can also use 5 cups of fresh or frozen peas. You’ll only need to cook these for about 10 minutes before pureeing.

I don’t know how popular this soup would be in Halloween Town, but the ghosts and witches here like it. It’s good, and green, and won’t knock you out and give you a heck of a headache. I can understand how The Nightmare Before Christmas has become the phenomenon it is. Just like mashing Halloween and Christmas, it’s magical, spooky, and a little weird. That’s why it’s always near the top of our “must watch” list for the holidays.

Tune in next week for more Cartoon Cravings!