Halloween party food

Here are a few ideas for some savoury Halloween party fare.

Bloody Eyeball Soup

1. Take some cherry tomatoes, cut in half and scoop out the seeds
2. Place a mozzarella pearl into each shell then make a small incision
3. Take a basil leaf and roll into a tight cigar shape
4. cut a slice of the basil leaf and press into the incision in the mozzarella
5. Warm up some tomato soup, and serve with two 'eyeballs' floating on top

Witches Fingers

1. Make a batch of the soft pretzel recipe I used here. 
2. Instead of forming them into the common pretzel shape, form them into small sausages, slightly longer then your longest finger
3. Boil in water and bicarbonate of soda, then place on a baking tray.
4. Using a knife, make some knuckle indentations at the one third and two third mark
5. pinch the 'fingers' a little above and below each knuckle to give that gnarly and bony finger effect. 
6. Brush with an egg wash, and sprinkle with rock salt if you like
7. Press an almond into the end to be the fingernail
8. Bake in a hot oven, Gas 8/230c/450f for 10 minutes or until golden brown

Slimy Worms in a Bun

1. Take a packet of cold hot dogs.
2. Cut length ways, then cut each length again so you have 4 long strips
3. Drop into boiling salted water for about 3 mins
4. Drain the place into a bowl and coat generously with barbecue sauce
5. Serve the 'slimy worms' in a nice kaiser roll or any roll of your choice.

Gravestone Wedges

1. Cut cleaned sweet potatoes into wedges leaving the skin on
2. drizzle over some olive oil
3. Sprinkle in some salt, cumin, paprika and black pepper (or whatever mix of spices you prefer)
4. Rub the oil and spice mix over the edges ensuring that they are all coated
5. lay them out on a baking tray and cook at 200C/gas 7 for 40 mins, or longer if needed to make them crispy

Mini Mummy pizzas 

1. Take one packet of English Muffins and cut each muffin in half. These will form the base of your mini pizzas
2. Smooth a layer of tomato purée over the top of each muffin
3. Take some slices of mature cheddar and cut into strips about 2cm wide
4. Lay them over the muffin pizzas to look like bandages
5. Cut two slices from a pepperoni (or an olive for vegetarian version) and place as eyes
6. Bake in an oven at Gas 5/190c/375f for about 10 mins or until the cheese is bubbling and golden

 Mummy Sausages

1. Take one packet of pork chipolata sausages
2. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry, and using a pastry wheel cut into thin strips about 1cm wide
3. Lightly wet one side of the pastry to help it stick
4. Wrap each sausage in one or two strips of pastry leaving a small space about two thirds up for eyes
5. Bake in the oven at Gas 6/200c/400f for 15 to 17 mins
6. Once cooked, place on a cooling rack then put two small dots of mustard for eyes

Soft Pretzels

Some time ago, I decided to make some pretzels. As soon as they were out of the oven, and I mean they were still surface-of-the-sun hot, my husband and brother descended on them. Within moments, all that remained were a couple of sheepish faces and a few leftover crumbs.

To be fair, these are best when warm, so be prepared to fight people off as they come out of the oven.

The glossy finish is due to boiling them in a water and bicarbonate of soda, then egg-washing before baking.  Commercial bakers use a food-grade sodium hydroxide, but sadly I cannot get hold of that in small quantities, so baking soda will have to do.


Ingredients:

• 250ml warm water or milk (or half milk half water)
• 1 tbsp instant yeast
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp cooking salt
• 440g strong white bread flour
• 5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg

Method:

1. Pour warm water in a mixing bowl
2. Stir in the yeast and sugar and leave for a few minutes to bloom
3. add in the salt and flour
4. Once mixed, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 mins until dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Place in a bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave to double in size, about an hour.
6. Turn out onto floured surface and divide into 4,6,8 pieces depending how big you want your pretzels. This mixture will make 4 large pretzels.
7. roll each portion into a long rope, then form into a pretzel shape (see here for tips on folding a pretzel).
8. when you have all your pretzels formed, boil 1½ litres of water with 5 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
9. add each pretzel individually and boil for 1 min on each side the place on a lined baking sheet
10. once your pretzels are all boiled, brush with an egg-wash and then sprinkle with rock salt or sesame seeds
11. bake in hot oven Gas 8/230c/450f for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown

You can eat these just as they are or try serving them with a spicy tomato or barbecue dip.

Pretzel, Butterscotch and Chocolate Chip Cookie

Sometime ago, I ordered some Nestle's Butterscotch morsels from American Sweets Online, just because they sounded gorgeous. But to be honest, I was not sure what to do with them so they have been sat in my cupboard for a bit.

I had some pretzels left over from Christmas and so I thought why not combine the two along with the "Greatest Chocolate Chip Cookie in the World" recipe?

What makes it the "Greatest Chocolate Chip Cookie in the World"? It is the use of brown butter. Butter makes everything taste great,but when you melt it and cook it for a while, it becomes brown, nutty and caramelly and then things go from great to AWESOME.

Ingredients:

• 250g Butter
• 360g Bread flour
• 1 tsp Kosher (cooking) salt
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 60g Caster sugar
• 300g Brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 40g pretzels, broken into small pieces
• 100g Butterscotch morsels
• 100g Chocolate chips
• Course sea salt (optional)

Method:

1. Place the butter into a large pan and melt over a low heat. 
2. Once melted, turn the heat up to medium and gently stir occasionally
3. Once the foam dissipates, it turns a deep golden brown but will burn quite quickly if not taken off the heat at this point.
4. Leave to one side to cool for 15 minutes
5. Put the cooled butter in a mixing bowl, and add both sugars and beat for 2 or 3 minutes
6. Mix the egg and yolk together along with the milk and the vanilla. 
7. Add this into the the butter sugar mixture a little at a time, beating well to fully combine.
8. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, kosher salt and bicarbonate of soda
9. Add this a little at a time to the butter egg sugar mixture. 
10. You should have a soft, but slightly greasy dough formed
11. Carefully fold in the pretzels, butterscotch and choc chips.
12. Cover with clingfilm and chill for about 4 hrs.
13. Preheat the oven to 350F / 180 C / Gas 4
14. Once fully chilled, scoop rounded tablespoon size pieces of dough and roll into a ball and flatten slightly.
15. Place on a lined baking sheet, at least 1" apart. They should spread too much if they have been chilled properly, but will form a nice thick bake.
16. Sprinkle with a little sea salt if using
17. Bake for 10-12 minutes
18. Allow the cookies to rest for 2 or 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to fully cool.

Servings	32
Calories per serving	184