LITTLE COOKS
y l i r Sca delicious! These Halloween snacks are all treats and no tricks!
HALLOWEEN GINGERBREAD COOKIES MAKES 25-30
180g butter 150g golden syrup 150g black treacle 125g light brown sugar 500g plain flour 1 tbsp ground ginger ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ¼ tsp salt 3 eggs whites 1 tsp cream of tartar 2 tbsp water A couple of squares of dark chocolate
1 Stir the flour, ginger, bicarb and salt together in a large bowl. 2 Tip the butter, sugar, treacle and golden syrup into a pan. Heat gently on the hob until melted (this is a job for a grown up) then leave to cool until still a little warm but not hot. 3 Pour the mixture into the flour bowl and mix until you have an even dough with no white bits.
7 Gather the offcuts up into a ball, roll out and repeat until you’ve used up all of your dough. Repeat the process with the next third of dough. 8 With the final third, roll out the dough, then cut out your gingerbread men with the legs of the cutter placed past the edge of the dough. This will give you your ghost shapes! 9 When you’re ready to bake, place your gingerbread in the oven for 10-12 minutes until a gorgeous golden colour. You’ll probably have to bake them in batches. 10 Allow to cool on the tray for a moment, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. 11 To decorate, put the icing sugar, cream of tartar and egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until light and glossy. Add the water and beat again until you have a royal icing that’s just perfect for decorating. Transfer your icing to a large piping bag, and snip the very end off your bag to create a small opening. 12 To finish, melt a couple of squares of dark chocolate in the microwave and use a toothpick to give the mummies eyes and to paint detail on to the skeleton’s faces. Recipe by AO at Home (ao.com/athome)
4 Wrap in cling film and chill for an hour until firm. You can chill overnight if you wish, just take it out an hour (might take as little as half an hour on hot days) before rolling so that it has time to soften again.
DECORATING TIPS
5 Cut the dough into thirds and keep the spare thirds wrapped while you work with the first one. Roll out on a floured surface to about half a centimetre (a quarter inch) thick. Cut out as many gingerbread men as you can.
Mummies - just whiz back and forth with the icing to create bandages.
6 To avoid breaking or squashing your shapes, it’s easiest to pull away the excess before you lift your gingerbread men. Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.
44 | THE WEST COUNTRY FOODLOVER
Decorate your cookies in any way you like. For a spooky effect, feel free to copy the designs shown here to create skeletons, ghosts and mummies!
Ghosts - trace an outline just inside the edges of the cookie, pipe two eyes and a long, ghoulish mouth. Skeletons - the fiddliest, just take your time, starting with the skull, draw in the spine, ribs and hips, then finish with bones for the arms and legs. Dot on some toes too.
