Burt Reynolds once asked in his 1977 classic Smokey and the Bandit, "What do you think they do for excitement in this town?"

The answer, my friends, is the Burt Reynolds Eclair.

That artful chocolate-glazed and creme-filled piece of heaven is created by UK's Lou Lou P's Delight for the month-long Movember celebration (and what better icon than the moustachio'd Reynolds?) And yes, ladies, you may remember the pose from Reynold's 1972 Cosmopolitan nude centerfold (on a bear skin rug, no less):

Someone in my family bought a bag of some new super-spicy potato chips, and they've sat almost full for a couple of weeks. No one wants them, even though my daughters normally love spicy food. Apparently, some kids go for them -too much. Popular new snacks covered with flavor powder described as "Flamin' Hot" or "Super-Spicy" are sending children to the emergency room with gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach lining.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency room physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, said he believes that the flavoring coating the chips and snacks is what might be causing the stomach pH to change, rather than just the spiciness of the snacks. For example, he said he hasn't had a lot of people coming in doubled over from eating too much spicy salsa.

"In the past, I had not seen any problems with snack food until spicy flavoring became more popular," said Glatter.

Glatter said it wasn't just the high fat or high salt content that the kids or adolescents crave but the actual burn of the spicy flavoring.

"It's almost like a food addiction. They seek out the burn," said Glatter. "It's a little thrill-seeking. 'It's like how much can I tolerate?' and I've seen a number of children who eat four or five bags and come in screaming in pain."

More and more schools are banning the ultra-hot snacks. Glatter advises parents to keep an eye on kids to make sure they don't become addicted to the spicy snacks. (warning: auto play video) -via Arbroath

Dinner made in a coffeemaker? Why would anyone ever want to do that? If you are a student in a dorm, a soldier deployed in the field, or stuck in a hotel room for some reason, a drip coffeemaker might be the only appliance available for food preparation, And it can be done. NPR outlines three basic techniques:

1.   Steam: The basket at the top is a great place to steam vegetables. You can throw in broccoli, cauliflower or any vegetable that cooks in about the same time as those.
 2.   Poach: The carafe at the bottom serves as a simple vessel for poaching fish and chicken. You can also use it to hard-boil eggs or make couscous and oatmeal.
 3.   Grill: This technique is a bit more advanced — and time-consuming. But if you're really itching for a grilled cheese sandwich or a cinnamon bun in a motel room, the coffee maker's burner can serve as a miniature grill.

Jody Anderson developed coffeemaker recipes for her nephew and other soldiers in Afghanistan, and posts them on Facebook. NPR's The Salt tried out a dinner of poached salmon with steamed broccoli and couscous. See how that turned out, and you might want to send some of the recipes to someone you know who could use them. -via Uproxx

(Image credit: Morgan Walker/NPR)

Cut a circle out of the center of a slice of bread. Then fry it in a pan with an egg inside. When I was growing up in the South, we called this a “toad-in-a-hole.” Other people refer to it as an “egg-in-a-basket.” Either way, it’s the basic design concept for Nick Chipman’s pancake-stuffed French toast.

Here’s how the Dude of DudeFoods does it: first, cut holes into bread, dip them in eggs beaten with milk and place them in the plan. The French toast component takes longer to cook than the pancake batter, so let them fry for a while. Then add the pancake batter, fry, flip and fry some more.

Love donuts and barbecue? How about both at the same time? Thanks to Gourdough's Donuts in Texas you now can. While the image above might look like some sort of strange Buffalo chicken and blue cheese concoction, it's actually the Boss Hogg donut -a cake one covered in potato salad, pulled pork and BBQ sauce. 

If that doesn't suit your fancy, maybe the Mother Clucker will. This monstrosity is a cake donut topped with two fried chicken strips and honey butter. 

Of course, if you like boring old non-meaty donuts, maybe you'd enjoy the Funky Monkey that is topped with cream cheese icing, bananas and brown sugar -essentially a banana foster donut. Bourbon and Boots has descriptions and photos of these delights and more.

Sometimes you want to wake up in the morning, but you just can't stand the idea of drinking coffee, tea or soda. While there have been plenty of caffeinated foods released over the last few years, up until now your eggs, bagels and waffles have remained disappointingly unpeppy. Fortunately, all that's about to change thanks to a new product known as CaffeinAll. Put this stuff next to your salt and pepper on your table so you can spice up your food and then pep it up. Just be careful you don't sprinkle on a little too much energy or you could, you know, die.

Look, I love roast turkey as much as any other patriotic American on Thanksgiving. But it has one major flaw: it’s too healthy. Beth Klosterboer has a better approach. Her turkey is packed with delicious sugar, inside and out.

You can find her full recipe here. It takes about 9 hours of prep time, of which you’ll actually work 2 and a half hours. It serves 1 person. Beth writes “30,” but I’ll just assume that’s a typo.

You’ll need 3 yellow cake mixes. One will be the base. Then you’ll cut another cake into the shape of a toilet seat and place it on the base. Now fill the interior with candy corn like so:

Now place the third cake on top, shape the assembly into a turkey and cut out a hole for the giblets.

Beth’s stuffing consists of toasted cake cubes. Stuff them in the hole. Mash together cake and frosting into a paste and shape it into pairs of turkey legs and wings.

Cover the whole bird with frosting and airbrush some tones into the surface. You can also do as Beth did and circle the cake with fondant garnishes, assuming that you haven’t already eaten the whole thing before the guests arrive.

I've been looking through Thanksgiving recipes, mainly to find tips to ensure that my 24-pound bird will be the best it can be. Most articles and blog posts on cooking turkey also include recipes for turkey dressing, or stuffing -what you call it usually depends on what part of the US you grew up in. These recipes vary so greatly that I want to find out what other people really serve. I will stick to the recipe I learned from my grandmother, made from cornbread, bread crumbs, onions, celery, butter, sage, pepper, and chicken stock. The amounts of each are dependent on years of helping mom or grandma make it, so I know when it smells and tastes right, multiplied by how many people are coming for dinner.  

The people who try out dressing recipes found on the internet tend to be those who don't have a traditional family recipe, or who didn't particularly like the one they had. And then there are cooks who attempt to replicate recipes from in-laws, which is a hit-or-miss adventure, fraught with consequences. What is your traditional dressing like? If you have a minute to share your recipes and tips, feel free to use the comment section. And since I would feel bad for not including a link or two, here are some recipes I've run across.

Bread-based Skillet Stuffing.

Bread, walnuts, and fruit.

Mushrooms and bacon.

Turkey meat and pork.

Dressing made with White Castle sliders.

(Image credit: Flickr user Rakka)

We've previously discovered an odd array of foods you can prepare in a waffle iron, but we had no idea you could make pre-cooked stuffing into a waffle. If you're wondering why someone would squish stuffing into a waffle iron, then you probably aren't one of those who love the crispy edge bits of stuffing the most. For those that are, this is a great way to maximize your stuffing's crunchy edges. As for the topping, it's precisely what it looks like -gravy blended with maple syrup for a sweet, savory, moist topping for your crispy waffle stuffing.

She may not look like much, but she tastes great where it counts. Actually, she looks pretty great too. justJENN Recipes made this fantastic Millennium Falcon replica out of nothing but gelatin mix, condensed milk, black dye and water cooled in a great Star Wars mold. 

Best of all, you can make your own with the recipe if you happen to get one of those molds, but the most important and difficult part seems to be gently loosening the dessert from the mold so it will not rip or otherwise deform the ship.

If you want to make this a boozy Millennium Falcon, I suggest adding in some vodka and a swirl of Kaluha (that way it will look liks a bit of dirt on the ship) to make a White Russian Jell-o mold.

Here’s a sweet looking craft! Instructables member The King of Random made a swan sculpture from apple slices. The whole thing is both beautiful and edible.

You can watch an instructional video here. It looks like a fairly straightforward process, provided that you make precise cuts. All you’ll need is a sharp kitchen knife and two butter knives.

You should definitely try this. You can be certain that your swan will look just as perfect as this one.

-via Make

Most americans have only enjoyed sesame seeds on the top of their cheeseburger buns, but they have a delightfully rich, peanuty taste when eaten alone. That's why this new black sesame McFlurry from McDonald's sounds so darn delicious. Unfortunately, it's only available in Korea (my bad) Singapore, so we won't be able to do any Neatorama taste tests any time soon.

If you're looking for a new McFlurry flavor that's available stateside though, try the limited edition Pralines & Cream. I had it and it was utterly fantastic, which was really great, since I can't even eat most things at McDonald's.

Via Food Beast

Turkey is great and all, but all that chewing can just be so tiring, and there isn't nearly enough sugar in it. That's why this year, I'm ordering my Thanksgiving dinner from Portland ice cream joint Salt & Straw. 

The company offers a Thanksgiving Gift Pack for $65, which includes the following flavors: mincemeat pie; sweet potato and candied pecans;  pumpkin custard and spiced chevere; apple cranberry stuffing; and salted caramel Thanksgiving turkey. That's right, turkey ice cream and yes, it contains actual turkey juice and turkey-skin brittle -it actually makes stuffing ice cream sound tame.

Via Food Beast

Chances are you never felt hungry after looking at a pinecone, but chef Dominique Ansel, the creator of the Cronut, might just change all that. That's because he's created delicious desserts that look just like a pinecone, only they're gingerbread creations made with nutmeg cake filled with ginger caramel cream and feuilletine spiced mousse.

Aside from tasting better than a real pinecone, the texture of these cakes and fillings would presumably be a lot more enjoyble than the splintery, chewy feeling of the natural version.

Via Food Beast

Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving? If you're the one in charge with cooking, you might not be excited because of the anxiety of putting together a huge meal for a large group. If you need a good stress reliever, perhaps you should try playing around with your food while you cook like these clever cooks. 

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that all of these crazy, funny turkey photos seem like they're actually a purposeful creation. I'm pretty sure this turkey cake wasn't meant to look so terrible, but hey, at least it brought joy to those who saw it -even if it was in the form of mocking laughter.