Tag Archives: Halloween

Dead Man’s Fingers

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What’s Halloween without a little treat from the Other World, huh? These delightfully dreadful cookies are a wonderful treat to have lying around at any festively freakish gathering. A spin on traditional sugar cookies, they really do look more than the sum of their parts. They’re also easy enough that you can rope in some ghoulish little helpers for the fun.

A point to note that like all sugar cookies, you want to avoid baking them to the usual cookie state of “golden brown”- this will result in them being a tad too hard for enjoyment. Bake them for the time required below, or until hte edges are just starting to turn a light golden brown. The cookies may look under-baked but trust me here- they will taste so much better!

Makes apx 24 (depending on size)

Ingredients

Graveyard Dirt

  • ¼ cup butter; melted
  • 1 Cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Cup cocoa powder
  • ½ pinch salt
  • slivered almonds; chopped walnut; shaved dark chocolate; shaved milk chocolate (Optional)

Fingers Cookies

  • 2 cups All Purpose Flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 28 large, flaked almonds
  • ½ cup smooth, raspberry jam
  • 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup

Method

Graveyard Dirt

  1. Melt butter in the microwave in a small glass or ceramic bowl (microwave safe) and allow to cool to room temperature
  2. In a large mixing bowl, blend the sugar, salt, and cocoa powder until thoroughly mixed
  3. While whisking, slowly add the melted butter and continue mixing gently until blended, but dry
  4. Using a fork, continue mixing until it looks like dark soil
  5. At this stage mix in the chopped nuts to give the soil texture
  6. Spoon the “dirt” on to your serving plate or tray, ready for your finger cookies

Fingers Cookies

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a cookie sheet with baking spray or line with a silicone mat, or baking parchment. Set aside until needed
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside until needed
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed, about 10 minutes
  4. Add in the egg, vanilla and mix until well combined and smooth.
  5. Gradually beat in the dry flour mixture, ¼ cup at a time until a dough forms
  6. Remove the bowl and using about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough between your palms into 5-inch-long fingers about 1/2-inch thick. Firmly press a sliced almond into the end of each finger to make fingernails
  7. Make several horizontal cuts, about 1/4 inch deep, in the center of each finger to make mimic skin folds at the knuckles. Gently press the dough on either side of the cuts to shape the knuckles
  8. Arrange the fingers on the prepared baking sheet and bake until light golden, 16 to 18 minutes
  9. Transfer the fingers to a wire rack and cool completely
  10. While the cookies cool, in a small saucepan, combine the jam, corn syrup and heat over low heat until warm, about 2 minutes, stirring gently
  11. Dip the blunt ends of the fingers in the warm jam and arrange on a plate of the graveyard dirt for serving

#Recipe #Pumpkin Patch Cookies

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Following up on my previous post with three delicious ways to use this season’s favourite, the pumpkin, here a couple of other recipes in the form of the humble “cookie”. Snickerdoodles are everyone’s favourite. The addition of pumpkin elevates them to another level of seasonal Fall goodness.  Autumn in a cookie! With the oatmeal cookies you a a much more rustic baked treat. These are a handful (literally!) and you’ll be all the better for it! The combination of soft-baked oats, pumpkin and Autumnal spices just begs for a tall glass of milk!

The recipes are ideal for baking with the little ones, however as always leave the oven work to the grown-ups. Get them rolling, scooping, drizzling and in no time at all you’ll have some very happy little tummies.

I hope you have fun baking and wish you and your families a very happy Halloween full of spooky, fun-filled goodness!

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Cookie Dough

Makes 36

  • 3 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
  • 3 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground mixed spice
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (make sure it’s 100%)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Sugar Crust Coating

  • 1/4 cup fine (caster) sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

  • In a bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and mixed spice. Mix until well combined
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer (with paddle attachment), cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until combined. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl
  • Mix in egg yolk, followed by pumpkin puree and vanilla extract.
  • On a low speed,  add in dry ingredients (I usually do it a couple of heaped tablespoons at a time) then mix until combined.
  • Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap in cling warp and chill in the refrigerator for 30- 60 minutes
  • After the chilling time, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie baking sheets with baking parchment
  • In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup granulated sugar with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
  • Scoop dough out 2 tablespoons at a time and shape into a ball
  • Roll the dough ball in cinnamon sugar mixture to evenly coat then transfer to prepared cookie sheets, spacing cookies 2-inches apart.
  • Bake in preheated oven 14-16 minutes
  • Remove and leave cool on baking sheet about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

For the cookies:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup Quick Oats
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 sticks  unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups pumpkin purée (make sure it’s 100%)

For the glaze:

  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 2 tablespoons Ice-wine syrup (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie baking sheets with baking parchment paper
  2. In a bowl combine the flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and nutmeg and mix until well combined
  3. Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until lightened in color and fluffy, about 10 minutes. Periodically scrape down the sides of the bowl
  4. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on medium until incorporated
  5. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour/oats mixture and mix until incorporated. Add half of the pumpkin puree and mix until incorporated. Repeat with the remaining flour/oats mixture and pumpkin puree
  6. Using a 1/4 cup, drop scoops per baking sheet (approximately 6-8) spacing them 2 inches apart on the prepared sheets. Reserve the remaining dough until needed
  7. Place both sheets in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back and continue baking until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom and around the edges, about 12 minutes more
  8. When baked remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Using a flat spatula, transfer the cookies to the wire racks to cool completely.
  9. Repeat with the remaining dough (you can use the same parchment paper). Leave all the cookies to cool completely before glazing

 

For the glaze:

  1. Place all of the glaze ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth
  2. Place all of the cooled cookies on the baking parchment. Drizzle the glaze over the cookies in a pattern of your liking
  3. Let the cookies sit at room temperature until the glaze has set, about 20 minutes

Old habits and Halloween

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Time flies when you’re having fun. Well, actually time just flies. And so we celebrated our youngest child’s fifth birthday. Amid the smell of candle smoke and buttercream it was easy to loose sight of the importance of such an occasion. Now both our children had celebrated birthdays with us. With adopted children events like this can go either way- a wonderful day with a complete smorgasbord of family memories for later years, or a complete and utter trainwreck with tears, tantrums and throwing things (and that’s just the parents!) Thankfully for us it passed without negativity. Somehow I think the visit to the crocodile park helped with that one! Moral of the story? Never  underestimate the attraction of a scaly, biteybitey  creature to a small boy!

Don’t me wrong “Thinking time” was served that day, both to him and his elder sister. It was, however,  more in the name of consistency than any great wrong-doing. We have our established boundaries and rules and no matter what the situation we try to stick to them. Although both DD and DS had celebrated birthdays with us (and let’s not forget last Christmas!) they have still only been part of our lives for less than a year. It feels longer in hindsight- a lot longer. Is that how you know that things are working? When something is so much a part of your life that you can’t remember what filled that space and time before? Like some strange magpie sponge it arrives, soaks habits and ways, and bloated on your idiosyncrasies it becomes a constant. You turn one day to see that it’s expanded to fill every nook and cranny of your world and become as habitual as breathing and sleeping.

Anyway, enough navel gazing! Speaking of biteybitey creatures, Halloween is fast drawing upon us. I do have to say you’d be hard pressed to recognise this what with the ever-growing Christmas merchandise on shop shelves. I’m all for celebrating the festive season (in our house we have already discussed strategic garland placements and color-schemes) but come on retail giants! Give us a chance to draw breath and take stock before you start ramming Heston’s freakishly addictive, pine-coney fresh  mincepies down our open throats.

Paying homage to the Witching season I decided to come up with some cupcake flavour varieties drawing inspiration from  different aspects of the season. I wanted to do something a little more than just a vanilla cupcake with some red frosting and sugarpaste fangs on it. “Come look at our fabulous Halloween cupcakes, they’re so spooky”. No, they’re not. They’re vanilla cupcakes with some red frosting and sugarpaste fangs. Just no. Pardon the ennui but I like to fool around with flavours. Hence the “Wicked Chocolate”. Wasabi isn’t something you often see in sweet things but it does offer a pleasing kick to the sweetness of chocolate. What otherwise might be a cloying trip to Chocy-ville takes a turn into Quirky Peaks. It’s also a plus to see the look on people’s face when you tell them- it is Halloween after all! I’ve taken a more traditional route with my “Spiced Pumpkin”. What wouldn’t the Spook Season be without partaking of those wonderful amber munchkins. “Toffee Apple” draws it’s flavours from fun. Pure and simple. Yes there are ghouls, ghosts and all sorts of ghastly goings on, but let’s not forget that Halloween is also about fun. That giddy rush you get from an unexpected fright, the hilarity of squeezing into an otherwise ungainly costume, or the squeal of delight from a child who only moments ago stood petrified, eyes wide in adrenaline fueled wonder.

I’ve been wracking my brain for a while as to what recipes to put up here. I’ve eventually settled on my Banana Loaf. It’s become somewhat of a staple in our house at this stage. After knocking up a batch of Banoffee Pie cupcakes there’s always a few straggler fruit left behind which this loaf provides a wonderful use for. Also if you’ve got some fragrant but visually maledictive bananas lying about this is the perfectly tasty way to use them up. Since becoming a dad I’ve found myself remembering and revisiting a lot of recipes I first learned at my mothers hip. In the pursuit of twenty-something trendiness and fervour, they not so much got lost as put on my mental shelf in some effort of unconscious archiving.  Now as a parent I find myself dusting them off and some kind of culinary muscle-memory they come into play again.  This is one of them- perfect with a cup of tea or coffee or a quick kids pudding. For something a little more special try toasting it, adding a dollop of mascarpone and finishing with drizzle of honey.

Banana Loaf

Ingredients

350g (over)ripe bananas

180g plain flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

160g sof, light brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

4 tablespoons melted butter

50g walnuts (optional)

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 170 degrees (fan).

2) Spray a 1lb loaf tin with release spray, or give it a coating with oil.

3) Put the bananas into a bowl and mash until smooth (a great thing to occupy the children!).

4) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl.

5) Put the sugar, beaten eggs and melted butter into a large mixing bowl and whisk until pale and increased in volume.

6) Gently fold in the bananas and dry ingredients until you can see no flour. If your adding the walnuts add then in at this folding stage.

7) Spoon into the loaf tin and bake in the centre of the oven for about 45 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

8) Leave to cool in it’s tin for about 10 mins, turn out onto a wire rack, and dust with icing sugar.

* In place of the walnuts you may also substitute the same quantities of pecans, chocolate chips or dried cherries.