IF you are planning to throw a Halloween party this week, then you will want to delight – and scare – guests with a spooky spread.
If you need a helping hand, top chefs including Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver have published a range of ghoulish recipes from Cheesy Feet to Witches’ Hair spaghetti.
Lynsey Hope tests out different celebrity Halloween recipes[/caption]
But if you don’t have time to trawl through all the celebs’ frightful feasts, one mum has done it for you and picked six of her favourites.
Lynsey Hope, 42, from West Malling, Kent, who is mum to Jacob, ten, Olive, seven, and Ivy, four, says: “I wanted recipes that looked scary, but also tasted great to create a show-stopping Halloween.
“Some were definitely harder to create than others, but making them was so much fun.”
Paul Hollywood’s Toffee and Apple Cake
Paul Hollywood’s Toffee and Apple Cake recipe was easier than expected[/caption]
Paul cooks up a cosy, warming feel with a real hit of cinnamon[/caption]
YOU NEED:
15g self-raising flour
115g self-raising wholemeal flour
100g soft dark brown sugar
1tsp baking powder
2tsp cinnamon
5tbsp sunflower oil
5tbsp milk
2 free-range eggs
2 eating apples, peeled, cored and chopped into 5mm cubes
50g toffee, broken into small pieces
METHOD: Butter a 1.2L heatproof bowl and dust with flour. Preheat oven to 180C.
In a bowl, mix the flours, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon together.
In a separate bowl or jug, beat together the oil, milk and eggs.
Pour this on to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Fold in the apple and toffee pieces.
Pour into the prepared dish and bake for 50-60 minutes.
Test the cake is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre.
If it is cooked it will come out clean.
Leave in the dish to cool for ten minutes then turn the cake out.
Leave to cool and serve.
LYNSEY SAYS: “This recipe was easier than expected.
“The cake did look a bit boring compared to some of the other recipes and definitely isn’t as appealing for kids – but it is a lovely option for grown-ups.
“It has a cosy, warming feel with a real hit of cinnamon.
“For my Halloween spread, I pimped it up with a few spooky sweets and it looked fab.”
Bryan Woolley’s Mummy French Bread Pizza
Bryan Woolley’s Mummy French Bread Pizza will be popular with the kids[/caption]
YOU NEED:
French stick
Pre-prepared pizza or tomato sauce
4 olives
20 strips of mozzarella cheese
METHOD: Place two halves of French stick on a baking sheet and divide the pizza sauce between the two halves evenly.
Cut the olives in half and place them at one end of the sliced bread halves to be the eyes.
Divide the mozzarella strips between the two pieces of bread and criss-cross them, making them look like wrappings on a mummy.
Be sure not to cover the eyes.
Place the mummies in the oven and bake for about ten to 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Remove from the oven and serve with your favourite sides.
LYNSEY SAYS: “Easy to make and cheap, too – you only need a few ingredients.
“The design was simple to create and looked effective.
“You do need mozzarella slices rather than a ball and make sure you don’t position them too closely together for the best effect.
“They were a bit dry, so next time I might hide pepperoni under the cheese strips.”
Nigella Lawson’s Slime Soup
Nigella Lawson’s Slime Soup only has a few ingredients[/caption]
Nigella has created a healthy, veg-based option for Halloween[/caption]
YOU NEED:
500g frozen peas
1 spring onion
Vegetable stock concentrate or a stock cube
1 ball mozzarella
METHOD: Cook the frozen peas and spring onion in 750ml boiling water with the stock concentrate or stock cube until tender.
Remove and discard the spring onion once the peas are soft enough to be blitzed into soup.
Chop up the mozzarella roughly and put into a blender or food processor.
Do this in about three batches, pouring the vilely green and slightly slimy soup back into the pan and heating gently to meld cheese and peas better together.
Makes 1 litre, which is probably enough for 4-6 children, depending on how much sugar they have eaten.
LYNSEY SAYS: “Super-easy to make and although my kids would normally turn their noses up at something like this, because I told them it was ‘slime’ soup, they had great fun eating it.
“And it was nice to have a healthy, veg-based option for Halloween to counteract all the sugar.”
Jamie Oliver’s Chocolate and Pumpkin Loaf
Jamie Oliver’s Chocolate and Pumpkin Loaf was very moreish[/caption]
Jamie’s cake took the longest to make out of all these recipes, but it was so delicious and definitely worth the time[/caption]
YOU NEED:
300g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
2tbsp cocoa powder
½tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp ground cinnamon
1 whole nutmeg for grating
175g cooked pumpkin or butternut squash
100ml buttermilk
150g quality milk chocolate
1tsp vanilla extract
125g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
175g dark brown sugar
3 large free-range eggs.
For the ginger icing:
2cm piece of ginger
1 clementine
200g icing sugar.
METHOD: Preheat oven to 170C/gas mark 3 and grease and line a 12x25cm loaf tin.
In a bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
Add a good grating of nutmeg and set aside.
Puree the cooked pumpkin or squash, then whisk with the buttermilk in a jug.
Melt and add the chocolate, followed by the vanilla extract.
Set aside.
In a separate bowl, use an electric whisk to cream the butter and both sugars until fluffy.
Gradually beat in the eggs, whisking continuously, then fold in half the flour until combined, followed by half the buttermilk liquid.
Repeat until everything is mixed in.
Pour the batter into the loaf tin, then bake in the oven for an hour or until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then take it out and let it continue to cool on a wire rack.
Meanwhile make the icing. Peel and finely grate the ginger, then place in a bowl.
Finely grate the clementine zest and put aside.
Squeeze the clementine juice into the bowl, then beat in the icing sugar to make a thick but spoonable topping.
Pour over the warm cake, sprinkle on the zest and serve.
LYNSEY SAYS: “Jamie’s cake took the longest to make out of all these recipes, but it was so delicious and definitely worth the time I put in.
“It was a bit dark when it came out of the oven, but once iced it looked very appetising.
“The highlight was the ginger icing which had a real kick and was very more-ish.
“Great for this time of year.”
Lorraine Pascale’s Scary Mummy Sausage Rolls
The kids lapped up these Mummy Sausage Rolls[/caption]
It took only around half an hour to prepare Lorraine Pascale’s dish[/caption]
YOU NEED:
2tsp sunflower oil
15 chipolatas
320g ready-rolled puff pastry
1 beaten egg to glaze
75g American mustard
METHOD: Heat oil in a large pan over a low heat and gently fry the sausages for eight minutes, turning often, until lightly browned all over.
Transfer to a plate and leave to cool for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the over to 220C/gas mark 7.
Unfurl the pastry, leaving it sitting on its plastic wrapping.
The pastry should be about 38cm long and 23cm wide.
Trim with a knife or roll out with a rolling pin if not far off.
Cut out 38 x 1cm-wide strips across the width so they will be about 23cm long.
Wrap these around the cooled sausages like mummies’ bandages, leaving a gap at one end for the eyes.
Use 2.5 strips per chipolata.
Don’t worry if the pastry strips stretch or break, just patch them up and keep going.
Place the wrapped sausages on a baking tray as you go, eye side up.
If the pastry gets too soft, pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm.
Once all the sausages are wrapped, brush pastry with the egg.
Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the sausages are fully cooked through.
Transfer to a serving platter.
Using the tip of a teaspoon, place two dots of mustard on the exposed sausage to create eyes.
LYNSEY SAYS: “These looked really effective and the kids lapped them up.
“It was quite a faff cutting out all the strips of pastry, but it only took me around half an hour before putting them in the oven and then all I needed to do was pop the eyes on.
“They tasted delicious too.”
James Martin’s Toffee Apples
I had no idea making toffee apples would be so hard[/caption]
James Martin’s Toffee Apple recipe turned out to be a real showstopper and a great addition to a Halloween party table[/caption]
YOU NEED:
12 apples
750g caster sugar
25g butter
Sprinkles, marshmallows and sweets to top
12 lolly sticks and a carved pumpkin to serve
METHOD: Stick the lollypop sticks into the apples, making sure they are secure.
Heat the sugar in a non-stick pan until light brown and then stir through the butter.
Roll the apples in the toffee mixture then pick whichever topping you like and pop onto a non-stick mat.
To serve, pierce the top of the carved pumpkin with a knife, then stick in the toffee apples to create a display.
LYNSEY SAYS: “I had no idea making toffee apples would be so hard.
“The problem was applying the decorations.
“The toffee mixture hardened in seconds and once that happened, it was almost possible to get the toppings to stick.
“That said, by the time I’d finished, I was impressed with how they turned out.
“A real showstopper and a great addition to a Halloween party table.”
