It’s Halloween
Get in the spirit with these ghoulish recipes
Spookie Hanging Cookies
Makes 12
225g plain flour
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp baking powder
50g butter
100g light brown sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
100g icing sugar, sifted
12 pieces of orange ribbon
l Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon and baking powder into a bowl. Put the butter, brown sugar and syrup in a pan and heat gently until melted. Cool, stir into the dry ingredients and mix to a dough.
l Preheat the oven to 170?C/325?F/gas 3. Roll out the dough to 4mm thick on a lightly floured surface. Using a ginger bread man cutter, cut out 12 figures.
l Place onto greased baking trays. Make a hole in the top of each cookie. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
l Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with 1tbsp water to make a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag with a plain nozzle. Pipe a skeleton on each cookie and leave to set before threading the ribbon through the hole to hang.
Spider Web Muffins
12 bought or home-made muffins
3 tbsp raspberry jam
150g ready-to-roll icing
tube ready-made orange icing
icing sugar
l Warm jam with 1tbsp water. Brush over the tops of the muffins. Roll out white icing on a surface sprinkled with icing sugar. Cut out rounds using a round pastry cutter. Press one on top of each cake. Using the tube of ready made icing fitted with a plain nozzle pipe a spider’s web on the top of each cake. Leave to set before handling.
Pumpkin Lantern Cake
Serves 10
170g plain flour
2.5tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
115g butter, art
225g sugar
3 eggs, separated
1tsp grated lemon rind
175ml milk
565-700g icing sugar
2tbsp liquid glucose
jam
orange and black food colouring
l Preheat the oven to 190?C/375?F/gas 5. Line a 20cm cake tin with greaseproof paper.
l Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks; then the lemon rind and finally fold in the flour mixture alternating with the milk.
l Spoon into the tin and bake for 35 minutes or until cooked. Leave to stand and then turn onto a wire rack to cool.
l For the icing, sift 565g of the icing sugar into a bowl. Make a well in the centre; add 1 egg white, the glucose and orange food colouring. Stir until a dough forms.
l Transfer to a clean work surface dusted with icing sugar and knead briefly. Carefully roll out the orange cake covering to form a thin sheet.
l Place the sheet on top of the cooled cake, which has been brushed down with jam, press and smooth the sides. Trim the excess icing and reserve. From the trimmings cut shapes for the top. Tint the remaining cake covering trimmings with black food colouring. Roll out and cut shapes for the face. Brush underneath with water and arrange on the cake.
l Place 1tbsp of the remaining egg white in a bowl and stir enough icing sugar to make a thick icing. Tint with black food colouring and using a piping bag with a plain nozzle complete the decoration.
