Part Two of the Mud Pie Bakery Party (Dessert Table Time!)

Making a mud-themed dessert table presents a particular kind of problem:  how do you stay on theme and make the food look appetizing?  

The fact that chocolate is both delicious and brown helps.  But it was still a challenge.  I have no clue what I would have done if the girls didn't love chocolate.

Miniature mud pies (peanut butter cream pie with a chocolate graham cracker crust) simply had to be on the menu, of course.  

Our family favorite, dark and rich chocolate brownie recipe was perfect to whip up some delectable topsoil brownies.  Hmm, if I'd added some icing with a grass tip, they would have made adorable squares of sod.  Ah, hindsight.

Dirt parfaits were amazingly easy to make, and were the first thing to be grabbed from the dessert table.  

Definitely a hit!  If a bit messy.  But aren't Mud Pie Bakeries all about getting dirty?  That's half the fun.

Chocolate and coconut fudge "roasted rocks," (the name taken from a recipe in Mud Pies and Other Recipes) taste like Mounds candy and were easy to make with the girls.  There's really no artistic ability required to shape the fudge into rockish lumps, so it's the perfect project on which the kids can meaningfully help.

I adapted my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe to make these Nutella Mud Puddles.  My husband kept hovering, generously offering to eat any mistakes I might have made.  

The only non-chocolate items on the dessert table:  the calico fabric inspired cookies.  I worked from the fabrics I'd used in various elements of the party decor, and created these charming cookies.  They featured a mix of piping and hand-painting techniques to get the dimension and look I wanted.  

Small party, small dessert table.   But full of absolutely delicious treats that the kids and adults loved.

On Monday I'll start the tutorials that go along with this party.  Any special requests for what you'd like to see first?