Cute Little Pumpkin-Shaped Bread Bowls

I've blogged before about how much I love family traditions. I love looking for recipes and experiences that are meaningful and that our family can look forward to each year. A couple years ago I was looking for a good traditional Halloween dinner and I came across an idea for pumpkin-shaped bread bowls. So here is my rendition. I used a basic, flexible bread dough recipe I had and made a few minor tweaks. This will yield six good-sized bread bowls.

Dough:
2 T. yeast
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. sugar (or honey)
4 t. salt
2 c. warm water
4-1/2 c. flour

Technically you can dump all the ingredients in a bowl, mix them, and let them rise for a half hour. I like to let the yeast proof in the water and honey first. But do what you want. It's pretty flexible. If your dough is too wet, add more flour.

After I mix the dough I separate out a handful and knead in a few drops of green food coloring. You'll want enough dough here to make six little pumpkin stems. Just use your best judgment. You might have to knead for a minute or two to get the color to mix thoroughly.

Then add several drops of red and yellow food coloring to the remaining dough, turn on your mixer, and let the mixer help you get it to the right color orange. Cover both bowls (the orange main dough and the small bit of green dough) and let them rise for a half hour.

Now grease a 9x13 pan and break your orange dough into six balls. Plop those little pumpkins in your pan. Divide your green dough into six pieces, and form each stem into a cone. If you make them an inch or two tall they'll hold their shape nicely while they finish rising and baking. Place each stem on a little pumpkin.

Let them rise for another half hour, and then bake them at 400 degrees for around 15 minutes.

When they're cooled pop off the stem (and some of the middle), fill them with chili and cheese (or whatever kind of soup you want) and enjoy your bowl of Halloween-dinner goodness. Yum!