Kids in the Kitchen: Five wickedly delicious Halloween treats to make at home today 

Serve up a ghoulish feast of homemade treats this Halloween 

Make Halloween homemade this year.

Monster cookies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Although this recipe entails a bit of assembling, the end result is worth it for kids to enjoy a spooky treat

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 9 mins

Total Time

 24 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 150g butter, softened

• 60g sugar

• 70g light muscovado sugar

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 225g plain flour, sieved

• ½ tsp bread soda, sieved

• 200g chocolate chips

• To decorate:

• red icing pen

• 24 round large white marshmallows and 60 small ones

• 24 extra chocolate chips, for the eyes

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C and line two large flat baking trays with parchment.

2. Beat the butter with both of the sugars until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the egg.

3. Mix the sieved flour and bread soda well. Then add the flour, a third at a time, to the butter mixture until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Place 24 spoons of the cookie mixture onto the prepared baking trays. Leave a little room for them to spread as they bake. Bake for 9 minutes until golden around the edges.

5. Once cool enough to handle place onto a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Pipe red icing on the base of two of your cookies. Sandwich about five of the mini marshmallows between the two cookies and allow to set until hard. Repeat until you have 12 sandwiches.

7. Stick the chocolate chips onto the base of the bigger marshmallows with a blob of icing and then stick these onto the cookie sandwiches as eyes.

Spooky ghosts

recipe by:Darina Allen

This meringue mixture can make spooky ghosts, pumpkins, brooms, cats, moons and stars, perfect for kids to get busy in the kitchen this Halloween

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 45 mins

Course

 Imported

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites

• 250g icing sugar, sieved

• 300ml whipped cream

Method

1. Cover three baking trays with a perfectly-fitting sheet of silicone paper.

2. Mix all the icing sugar with the egg whites at once in a spotlessly clean bowl.

3. Whisk until the mixture forms stiff dry peaks – 10 to 15 minutes. Spoon into a clean piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe into spooky ghost shapes.

4. Bake immediately in a low oven 150°C for 30 minutes or until set crisp.

5. Pipe eyes with melted chocolate on half of the ghosts. Sandwich the meringues together with whipped cream.

Ghost brownies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

These spooky treats for kids to get creative in the kitchen this Halloween are richly decadent and perfect for sharing

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 25 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 250g dark chocolate chips

• 250g butter, softened

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

• 300g golden caster sugar

• 150g plain flour

• To decorate:

• 100g white chocolate

• 2 tbsp cream

• 36 marshmallows

• black icing pen

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a 9-inch square tin with parchment.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter together.

3. Beat the eggs, sugar and flour until combined and add in the melted chocolate mixture.

4. Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes until the top is shiny and cracking slightly. Allow to cool in the tin then cut into cubes. Place them onto a large flat baking tray lined with parchment.

5. Melt the white chocolate and cream together. Gently pour it over the brownie cubes and pop a marshmallow on top of each one. Draw a ghost's face onto each.

Spider cookies

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Deliciously scary and perfect to make with kids

Servings

12

Preparation Time

 17 mins

Cooking Time

 8 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• For the cookies:

• 85g desiccated coconut

• 95g porridge oats

• 100g plain flour

• 90g golden caster sugar

• 100g butter, melted

• 1 tbsp golden syrup

• 1 tbsp boiling water

• 1 tsp bread soda

• For the spider bodies:

• 100g cream

• 100g dark chocolate chips

• 30g desiccated coconut

• To decorate:

• 100g dark chocolate

• 10g butter

• edible eyeballs

• black icing piping pen

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and line two flat baking trays with parchment.

2. Stir the coconut, oats, flour and sugar together.

3. Stir the melted butter and golden syrup together. Add the boiling water and bread soda.

4. Combine the two mixtures. Place a soup spoon of the mixture onto the trays. Leave a bit of space as it will spread slightly.

5. Bake for about eight minutes until golden. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

6. While they are baking heat the cream until it is shivering, stir in the chocolate chips until they melt. Stir in the coconut and set aside to cool completely. Roll into balls between your palm, set them on a plate and put them into the fridge to harden completely.

7. Melt the remaining chocolate and butter. Allow to cool to just above room temperature and gently dip the cold coconut chocolate balls into it. Sit them onto the cooled cookies and place back into the fridge. Stick the eyes on with a little more melted chocolate once the spiders are cold. Pipe on the legs.

Ghost pizza

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Readymade pizza bases are ideal for this quick and easy spooktacular feast

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 15 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 pizza base

• 500g tomatoes, roughly chopped

• 3 cloves of garlic, halved

• ½ tbsp light olive oil

• 1 tsp honey

• 50g cheddar cheese, roughly grated

• 1 ball of mozzarella, sliced

• black olives, destoned

Method

1. Place the tomatoes, garlic, and oil into a saucepan over a low heat and allow to come to a simmer.

2. Season and add in the honey allow to simmer for about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. Blitz the tomato mixture until smooth. This will make too much for one pizza, but you can store it in the fridge for a few days or freeze it.

4. Preheat your oven to as hot as it will go. Place a baking tray into the oven to heat up.

5. Spread two or three generous spoons of your passata onto the pizza base. Sprinkle the cheddar on top.

6. Cut the mozzarella slices into ghost shapes and arrange these on the pizza.

7. Cut some olives into thin strips for spider legs and into little circles for eyes. Dot the olive spiders onto the pizza and add the ghost’s eyes.

8. Be very careful taking the hot tray out of the oven and slide the pizza onto it. Place this back into the oven and bake for about 10 minutes until the base has crisped up and the cheese has melted.