Just a little Hocus Pocus for this month's Food n Flix

How long has it been since you watched the Disney movie, Hocus Pocus?  I had not seen this movie since my kids were young.  It came out in 1993 and I remember watching it with the younger kids a couple of times.  If you haven't seen it in a while or if you are much younger than I or my kids and haven't seen it at all, do yourself a favor and pick it up.  Pop some popcorn, sit down with your little goblins and ghosts and have a fun, family evening.

I had forgotten all about Hocus Pocus but then it was chosen by Elizabeth of The Law Student's Cookbook for Food n Flix this month.  You still have time join in the fun if you would like.  All you need to do is watch the film, create a dish inspired by the film and share your blog post.  You can learn all about it in Elizabeth's Invitation Post.  I had lunch with our youngest daughter the other day and told her I had to watch this movie again for this club.  She said "oh, that is such a great movie I still love it after all of these years". You know what?  I still love it after all of these years too.  Thanks, Elizabeth, for choosing this movie that brought back such happy memories.

Before watching the movie again, I couldn't remember any food being in it, but this time I was looking for food inspiration and found plenty.  Right at the beginning of the movie, three centuries ago, Thackery and his sister, Emily, lived on a farm. It was Fall and we saw chickens, geese, sheep an Indian corn.  Fall, in and of itself, inspires all kinds of foods.  Emily is kidnapped by the Sanderson sisters, played by Bette Middler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, witches who steal the life from children in order to stay young.  Thackery tries to rescue his sister and is turned into a black cat and cursed to never die so that he will always live with the guilt of not having saved her.  The witches are carted off and destroyed.

Fast forward to modern day when Max, his sister, Dani and his new friend, Allison, go to the old Sanderson mansion on Halloween night.  Max, trying to impress Allison and scare Dani, lights a candle that is said to bring the witches back to life....and much to his surprise, it does.  Now the three of them must find a way to get rid of the witches before they start sucking the lives out of all the little trick and treaters that are out and about.

But back to the food inspiration, I saw BBQ, Candy, Drumsticks (Max was playing the drums), Pumpkins, Cookies, Cider all before the kids went to the mansion.  Once at the mansion, there was mention of Shish ka Baby and  a green spider was eaten and enjoyed by one of the witches.  After escaping the witches the children return to the party where their parents are and we saw wine, cocktails, Clark bars, cheese curls and bread.  While pursuing the witches we come across a fresh fish market with lobsters.  We also see jello, tuna fish, milk and salt.

I didn't make any of these things.  Nope, you see when Dani and Max walk into Allison's house where a party is being held, Dani finds a chocolate witch sucker that she opens up and starts eating.

When the kids were little, we used to make candy in candy molds all the time.  We would melt white chocolate, color it and the kids would get to "paint" the molds.  We made Easter Eggs, Valentine's hearts, Santa Claus's and....you got it....the exact same witch that Dani was eating in the movie.  I was sure that I still had the mold around somewhere and sure enough I found it tucked away with all the others in one of my baking boxes.

I pulled out the molds, melted and colored my chocolate.

Placed them in a hot water bath so they wouldn't harden.

And got to work painting.

The painting was always the kids job.

This is because they found it fun and I just find it tedious.

This was much more fun with them than by myself.

When you are done painting and the colored chocolate is set you add the milk chocolate.

It only takes moments for the painted chocolate to set.

Once the milk chocolate is added you can put them in the refrigerator for a few minutes to set them.

And there you have it.

The perfect Hocus Pocus Sucker.

I can't wait until my Little Miss is old enough to make these with me.

She is in charge of the painting.

I made these two and then made two plain milk chocolate and two plain white chocolate because I didn't want to spend the time painting and needed to use up the remaining melted chocolate.  This is definitely a better family project than a solitary project.

When the kids were young and we would do this we would have one carving their pumpkin with Dad while the other made their suckers with me and then vice versa.  The third and fourth were older and if they were around would be making the pumpkin seeds or donuts.  It is a fun project and left lots of happy memories.

Happy Halloween everyone.  I hope you get all treats and no tricks.  I can't wait to see what this movie inspired in others.

Chocolate Painted Witch Suckers

1 witch on a broomstick candy mold (2 witches)

1/2 lb white chocolate pieces

1/3 lb milk chocolate pieces

blue, red and yellow gel paste food coloring

paint brushes used only for food

6 sucker sticks

Melt white chocolate pieces in a 2 cup glass measuring cup by placing in the microwave for 30 seconds on high, stirring.  Microwave 30 seconds more on high and stir until smooth.  Pour a third of the white chocolate into 2 small bowls (1/3 in each bowl) and place the bowls and measuring cup in a hot water bath.  Add some blue and red food coloring with a toothpick into one of the bowls of white chocolate until you get the color purple that you desire.  Add some yellow food coloring to the second bowl of white chocolate.

Using paintbrushes bought and use only for cooking, paint the molds with the chocolate as desired. Feel free to use whatever colors float your boat.   When you are done painting the first mold should be ready for the milk chocolate to be added.  Melt the milk chocolate in the same manner as the white chocolate.  When completely smooth, pour into painted mold.  Add the sucker stick, rolling to cover completely.  Place in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, until set.  Remove from molds and start process again, remelting chocolate as needed.  Print Recipe

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