Little Cooks

Scarilydelicious! 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. 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. 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. 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. 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)

DECORATING TIPS

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! Mummies - just whiz back and forth with the icing to create bandages. 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.

SPOOKY HALLOWEEN BARK

This spooky Halloween chocolate bark is so easy and fun to make! Customise with your favourite Halloween sweets and be warned, it is hugely addictive

6-8 TO SHARE

400g dark chocolate, finely chopped 100g white candy melts 100g green candy melts Handful of candy googly eyes Handful of jelly Halloween spooky eyes Halloween sprinkles 1 Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. 2 Chop the dark chocolate and place in a bowl. Microwave for 30 second bursts, stirring, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Alternatively place bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and allow the chocolate to gradually melt. 3 Place the candy melts in two bowls and melt using same method. Transfer each to a piping or ziplock bag. 4 Spread the melted chocolate over the prepared tray. 5 Working quickly, pipe spirals of the candy melts over the chocolate.

6 Drag a skewer through the spirals to create a marbled spiderweb effect. 7 Sprinkle the googly eyes, jelly eyes and any sprinkles you like over the chocolate while it is still wet.

8 Chill in the fridge until set. 9 Break into smaller pieces and enjoy!

Recipe by AO at Home (ao.com/athome)

HONEY AND CEREAL HALLOWEEN MUMMIES

SERVES16

150g honey 150g smooth peanut butter 200g puffed rice cereal 2 bags of white candy melts 1 box of candy eyes 16 lollipop sticks

1 Pre-line a 9 inch × 9 inch silicone square baking tray with cling film. 2 Warm the honey in a pan until it thins and begins to bubble. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until thoroughly mixed together. Add the puffed rice cereal and make sure every bit is coated in the mixture. 3 Tumble the mixture out onto the pre-lined baking tray. Wet your hands and press the mixture down really hard to ensure there are no air gaps. This is really important. 4 Allow to set for up to 2 hours in the freezer. Once set remove from freezer and allow to thaw slightly before cutting into 16 equal rectangles, place back in the freezer for a further 30 minutes. 5 Warm the candy melts in the microwave in a mug, 1 bag at a time. You’ll need to do this in 30 second bursts, stir then repeat until it’s ready to be used. 6 Pre-line a 32cm x 22cm x 5cm baking tray with baking parchment. 7 Dip the bottom of the lollipop in melted chocolate then insert into the shortest length of the puffed rice cereal, then cover the base with chocolate, repeat this step with all the treats then place in the fridge to set for 10 minutes. 8 After the sticks have adhered to the treats, you need to immerse the entire rice cereal treat into the mug of melted candy melt to cover the entire treat, repeat this step with all the treats then place back into the fridge to set. 9 Now with the remaining melted chocolate, place this into a piping bag (or you can use a sandwich bag if you don’t have one to hand) and snip the end. 10 Remove the treats from fridge then using the piping bag, place 2 dots in the middle in order to stick on the eyes. 11 Then going left to right, go back and forth with the piping bag to get the mummy effect on the body of the treats, so you end up with layers to represent the mummies’ bandages. Place back in the fridge to set for a further 10 minutes.

12 Once set, remove from the fridge and place centre stage on your Halloween table for everyone to enjoy!

Recipe by Shelina Permaloo, Masterchef UK 2012 Winner, for Rowse Honey (www.rowsehoney.co.uk)