Michelle Darmody: Halloween treats to make with the kids

Bake some scary treats for a post-trick-or-treating activity.

The spookiest weekend of the year is upon us. I love Halloween, not only is it a great time of year for food, with the harvest bounty of fruit and vegetables giving lots of reasons to cook up warming comforting dinners, it is also fun conceiving costumes and decorations.

I am old-fashioned and still enjoy making decorations if I have the time. Often it is simply silhouettes of witches and scary pumpkins cut out of black card and stuck to the windows, and of course, a few carved pumpkins or Jack-o’-lantern’s dotted about. Other times things get a little more complicated, particularly if older nephews are involved, and garlands of bats and tissue paper ghosts are devised.

As with a lot of Halloween traditions that are now international jack-o’-lantern’s originated in Ireland, with people carving scary faces on turnips and large potatoes. When Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America pumpkins began to be used in their place.

Baking a few scary treats for the post trick-or-treating get together is a tradition in our house.

This year I am making spooky sticky tarts and almond fingers. Mummy sausage rolls, where thin strips of pastry are wrapped around the mini-sausages and little eyes are added after they are baked, always go down well. The spiced pumpkin biscuits are tasty but have quite a bit of spice in them. You can omit some of it if you wish.

Sticky Jack-o'-lantern Tarts

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Baking a few scary treats for the post-trick-or-treating get-together is a tradition in our house.

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 225g flour

• 140g cold butter, cut into cubes

• 55g caster sugar

• 1 egg, lightly beaten and an extra egg yolk

• 4 tbsp of apricot or raspberry jam

Method

1. Rub the cold butter into the flour until it looks like rough breadcrumbs, try not to over mix.

2. Stir the sugar into the egg, stir it until it begins to dissolve. Add this to the flour mixture with a fork. Bring everything together with your hands then wrap it in parchment and place the pastry in the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight if you wish.

3. Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease and flour a 12-hole bun tin.

4. Roll the pastry to about 3mm in thickness and cut out 12 discs which will neatly fit into your bun tin. Place these back into the fridge while you cut out another 12 circles and shape them to look like scary carved pumpkins.

5. Sit the 12 full disks into the tin. Spoon the jam into pastry and then place the pumpkins on top, pinching the edges slightly to stick them to the base.

6. Brush the egg yolk over the pumpkin faces. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden. Once cool enough to handle place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Spooky almond fingers

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

The perfect Halloween treat.

Servings

20

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 125g cold butter, cubed

• 45g golden caster sugar

• 20g ground almonds

• 160g plain flour, sieved

• 1 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam

• 20 whole or halved almonds

Method

1. Line a large flat baking tray with parchment.

2. Beat the butter and sugar until pale. Add in the almond and flour until combined. Wrap up the dough and place into the fridge to firm up.

3. Cut the dough into twenty pieces and shape each one into a knobbly finger. You can add detail to the knuckle with the point of a knife and the press an almond into the dough for a nail. Dip a few of the fingers in the red jam. Place the biscuits back into the fridge to firm up.

4. Preheat your oven to 180°C and then place the tray into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes. Once cool enough to handle and firmed up slightly place onto a wire rack to cool completely.