Well another year and another Halloween has been and gone. Last year we missed out doing much to celebrate as we were madly in the throws of getting ready to move to Melbourne. In fact, we were in Melbourne just days before Halloween trying to find somewhere to live. This year it wasn’t looking good for a big celebration either. Things have just been so busy trying to find time to get everything done just wasn’t going to happen.
I still have two sci-fi based costumes to get ready before the end of October not to mention cake decorating, party planning etc etc. The plan was keep it simple. A few friends, no costumes some food, drinks games and just a quiet night in.. maybe pull out a few of the decorations…
Well this is what resulted:
There was also dungeon wallpaper down the hallway and a glow in the dark room with black light in the TV room. The low key decorations somehow managed an upgrade along the way. In my defence Halloween is my favourite holiday of the year and I LOVE pulling out all the candles and decorations and this was the first chance to try things out in the new house.
Not all the decorations moved with us interstate so it was an adventures seeing what we had kept and them wondering why we got rid of some of the things we did. The food… well it was themed of course and the recipes for the things I made follow below. Most of them were adapted / pillaged from the internet and largely this year inspirations was provided by Martha Stewart’s website (as well as templates for the bats and rats used for decorations). The menu included:
- Shrunken head pies
- Bloodied Brain cupcakes (oodles of places have listed instructions for these)
- Brain pannacotta (as inspired by Not quite Nigella)
- Witches hands
- Puff pasty pumpkins
- Creature chips and dips
- then a variety of cookies, treats and standard nibbles.
It was quite the spread for the 5 of us … I am still working on my tendency to over cater but I loved the way everything turned out.
On to the recipes!
Creature Chips
The creature chips were the simplest to make and were a lot nicer to be nibbling on with dips and cheeses than standard fatty salty chips (don’t get me wrong I am a lover of fatty salty chips but there was more than enough of both to go around that more was not required).
Simply take your favourite Hallloween cookie cutters – I have over 40 to choose from thanks to a great barrel full of cutters provided by the wonderful adma a few Halloweens ago- using purchased tortillas in a variety of types if you can find them. I used wholegrain and plain cut out the shapes with your cookie cutters, spray lightly with canola or olive oil spray (the olive oil with garlic is really tasty) sprinkle with a little salt and bake in the oven for about 5-10 mins at ~190°C, basically until they just start to colour.
Place the chips on a cooling rack until completely cool and crisp, store in an airtight container. These are best made no more than about 24hours before your event. They will also work with any type of flat bread such as mountain bread and lavash breads. For Halloween I tried to choose good shapes for dipping that wouldn’t have small pieces that broke off, these were: bats, ghosts, coffins, devil heads and Frankensteins.
Puff Pastry Pumpkins
The recipe for these was pilfered from Marthastewart.com and is another simple but effective treat.
You will need:
Butter puff pastry
Gruyere cheese (~ 100gish. 1.5 cups)
Parmesan Cheese (1cup)
Paprika
Butter for melting
Djon Mustard
and a pumpkin cookie cutter
Mix the grated parmesan and gruyere (I also ground in a little fresh black pepper) and set aside.
Spread a thin layer of djon mustard on one sheet of the puff pasty (I used the pampas packet of butter puff pastry that comes with 3 sheets and managed to get over 12 pumpkins form that, you would get more if you re rolled the scraps and cut again). Sprinkle a good layer of the chees mixture over the mustard and lay a second sheet of pastry across the top, encasing the cheese. With a rolling pin roll the sheets together a little so the stick.
Cut your shapes and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, then place the whole tray in the fridge to chill for ~5-10mins. Melt ~tablespoon of butter and add a teaspoon of paprika (more if you prefer a stronger floavour). Remove the pastry from the fridge and brush with the melted butter and paprika mixture. Place in a preheated 190°C oven and cook for 7-10 minutes until pastry is golden brown. You can serve these hot or cold and they reheat well in the oven.
Shrunken Head Pies
These pies were just a basic mince meat pie filling baked in a skull pan such as this one.
for the filling you will need:
- onion (diced)
- 1kg (you could halve this and just use 500g for less pies)
- 125g bacon diced nice and small
- tomato paste
- Beef stock
- gravy powder
Saute off the bacon and onion in a pan before adding the mince and browning it off. Throw in ~1/4 cup of tomato paste and a cup of beef stock. I usually add some instant gravy powder to help thicken the mix and enrich the flavour. I usually to this to taste and add some tabasco, worcestershire sauce, black pepper and salt. Simmer the mixture until it is thick but not dry, then set aside to cool.
Line the baking tray with shortcrust pastry ( I usually just use packaged shortcrust pastry for parties to cut down on prep time, add to that pastry and I often don’t agree when I make it from scratch this is a low stress alternative) add filling then place a pastry ‘lid’ onto each of the pies and brush with egg wash. I cooked mine at 190°C for about 15-20 minutes until the pastry was lovely and crisp and golden. Let the pies cool in the tray for 5mins before turning out onto a cooling rack.
The pies can be made beforehand and kept in the fridge / freezer, just reheat in the oven before serving.
Dulce De Leche Bat Cookies (From Martha Stewart)
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup plain flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dulce de leche ( I made my Dulce De Leche in the oven in the same way as Not Quite Nigella, this is easier than babysitting a pot of boiling caramel)
Whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg, yolk, chocolate, and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate 1 hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out 36 rounds with a 2-inch cutter, and space 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Using an aspic cutter set, cut a triangle, point side up, in the center of half the cookies, and then use the half-moon cutter to make one “wing” on each side of the triangle. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375. Bake until set, 7 to 9 minutes. Let cool. Top each uncut cookie with 1 teaspoon dulce de leche and a cutout cookie.
