Halloween Recipes

Soul Cakes

A traditional English recipe that the rich would have made to give to the poor to help the passage of lost souls. These cakes are round and flat, but gently spiced with cinnamon for a delicious Halloween treat.

2. Sift flour and spices, add and mix to a stiff dough. Knead thoroughly and roll out, 1/4 inch thick cut into 3 inch rounds and set on greased baking sheets.

3. Prick cakes with a fork and bake in the oven: 180 °C / 350 °F / Gas 4 and bake 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar while still warm.

Spooky spider cakes

Make some tasty scary Halloween treats that will be loved by both children and adults. These spooky spider cakes follow a similar method for making fairy cakes.

Ingredients

• 200g butter , at room temperature
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 200g self-raising flour
• 4 eggs
• tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 tbsp chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

TO DECORATE

• 2 packs liquorice Catherine wheels
• 12 tbsp Nutella or other chocolate spread
• liquorice allsorts (the black ones with the white centre)
• tube black writing icing
• 1 length red bootlace

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and line a muffin tin with 12 cases, preferably brown ones. Put the butter, sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Break the eggs into a smaller bowl, taking care not to get any shell into it, and then tip on top of the butter mixture.

2. Add the baking powder and vanilla to the larger bowl, and then beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth and creamy. Stir in the chocolate drops or chocolate. Spoon the cake mixture evenly into the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden - a cocktail stick pushed into the middle of one of the cakes should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

3. To decorate the cakes, unravel the liquorice wheels and cut into lengths with scissors to make dangly legs. Stick 8 into the top of each cake, making small cuts with the tip of a sharp knife so they push in really securely.

4. Spoon the chocolate spread on top and spread lightly within the liquorice legs to make a round spider's body. Now cut the Allsorts to make eyes and the red bootlaces to make mouths, and then stick them onto the cakes and dot on the icing to make eyeballs.

Monster Toes

This ghoulish finger food dish will not only look scary, but the visiting vampires and witches will be unable to resist this tempting snack.

Ingredients

• Cocktail sausages
• Tortilla wraps
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Tomato salsa or Ketchup

Method
1. Take a tortilla wrap and place two cocktail sausages lengthways in the centre of the wrap.
2. Cover the sausages with some shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes, make sue that part of a sausage can still be seen at one end, then roll the wrap.
3. At the other end of the wrap put a spoonful of tomato salsa or ketchup. Repeat this process with all of the tortilla wraps and place them on a platter for serving.

Zombie Brain with Gravestone Toast

This would make an ideal centre piece on a Halloween buffet table. Let the ghosts and goblins feast on this delicacy.

Ingredients

• 50g blanched almonds
• 400g grated white Cheddar cheese
• 200g soft cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 50g grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 French baguette

Method
1. Preheatoven to 180 degreesCelsius. Spread the almonds out in a baking pan and toast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and blend in a blender so that they are chopped roughly. They should remain crunchy.
2. Add the grated cheese, cream cheese and Worcestershire sauce to the nuts and the blend again, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice, until very well mixed. The cheese mixture should be nearly smooth.
3. Spread half of the Parmesan cheese onto a plate. Spoon half of the cheese mixture out onto the plate with the Parmesan and roll, by hand, to form a slightly flattened ball. Set aside and repeat with the remaining Parmesan and cheese mixture.
4. Press the two flattened balls together to form the two halves of a zombie's brain and place on a serving plate. Chill the brain in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow it to firm up, then make brain-like indentations in the surface of the cheese with a knife, spoon, or whatever else you have handy.
5. Now the gravestone toasts. Slice the baguette into1/4-inch slices. Spread out on a baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees Celsius, turning them over once, for 10 minutes or until they are lightly toasted on both sides.
6. Arrange tombstone toasts around the brain on the serving plate and serve, if you dare.

Meringue Bones

This will make an ideal treat for any trick or treat visitor, or it can be easily enjoyed at your Halloween party.

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking power
• pinch of salt
• 125g granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 105 degreesCelsius. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with the baking powder and salt until foamy. Gradually — one spoonful at a time — add the sugar, beating well after each addition so that the sugar is absorbed into the meringue. Continue beating until the meringue stands up in a glossy, firm peak when you lift the whisk out of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Spoon the meringue into an icing piping bag with a plain round tip approximately ½ inch. Pipe 3 inch bone shapes — one long line with two rounded blobs on each end. Pipe all the meringue at once because it cannot be baked in batches — it will deflate if it sits too long.
4. Place the baking trays in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour. Without opening the oven door, turn the heat off and let the meringues remain in the oven for 1 more hour to dry and crisp.
5. Remove from baking trays carefully — you don't want any broken bones!

Severed Fingers with Poison Dip

This is a spooky and spectacular snack, which will be devoured in seconds by witches and mummies alike.

Ingredients

• 500 g skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 bag (170 g) crisps
• 2 eggs, beaten

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220 degreesCelsius. Lightly grease a baking tray.
2. With a sharp knife, cut each breast into 1/2-inch thick lengthwise strips. Depending on the size of the chicken breasts, you may get 4 to 6 strips out of each one.
3. Cut a small slit into the unopened bag of crisps and, with a rolling pin, crush them thoroughly by rolling back and forth over the bag. Now open the bag.
4. Working with one or two chicken strips at a time, dip each one into the beaten egg, and then drop into the bag with the crisp crumbs. Shake to coat thoroughly, then fish out the fingers and place them on the prepared baking tray. Repeat with the remaining chicken strips, until they are all coated with crumbled crisps.
5. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes — turning over after 10 minutes —until fingers are lightly browned and crisp. Remove from baking tray.
Discard any leftover crisp crumbs that have been in contact with the raw chicken.

Poison Dip:

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 medium dill pickles, roughly chopped
• 3 onions, roughly chopped
• 1 table spoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons sugar

In a blender, combine all the ingredients. Blend, pulsing on and off, until the dip is mixed but still has a slightly chunky texture.
Serve as a dip for Severed Fingers

Rats in Blood

This creepy casserole will have your guests scampering onto their chairs. Trick-or-treaters will love tucking into this at your Halloween party.

Ingredients

For the rats:

• 750g lean ground beef
• 200g uncooked long grain white rice
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 50g uncooked spaghetti, broken into quarters
• 2 thinly sliced raw carrots
• black peppercorns

For the sauce, blood:

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 375 ml water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Method
1. In a mixing bowl, combine the beef, rice, onion, egg and the salt. Mix well.
2. Now make the rats. Scoop out a handful of the beef mixture. Form it, by hand, into a firmly packed teardrop shape -- pointy on one end, rounded on the other. This is your basic rat. Place it into a shallow baking dish and gently pinch in the neck area.
3. Poke a piece of uncooked spaghetti into the larger rounded end as a tail. Repeat with the remaining beef mixture.
4. When all the rats are neatly placed in the baking dish, stir together the tomatoes, water, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Pour over the rats. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 180 degreesCelsius for 45 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for another 45 to 50 minutes, basting occasionally with sauce, or until the rice is tender and the rats are fully cooked.
5. Gently remove rats, one at a time, from the sauce and place gently on a serving platter. (Take care not to damage the tails — they're fairly delicate.) Into each rat, insert two carrot slices as ears, peppercorns for eyes, and a few more broken strands of uncooked spaghetti for whiskers. Spoon sauce around the rats and serve.

Witches Potion Punch

All witches, mummies, vampires and the other ghouls that roam the streets on Halloween night will enjoy this punch refreshment. For an adult party just replace the apple juice with cider.

Ingredients

• Bottle of Lemonade
• Half a carton of orange juice
• Half a carton of apple juice
• 100ml of lime cordial
• 1 table spoon of cinnamon

Method
Mix all the ingredients together and then pour into glasses over ice.