It's nearly that time of year again to hang up the cobwebs, cover the teeshirt in fake blood and turn the lights to dim. The Halloween party is on it's way and if you're looking for some ghoulish treats to serve your guests or to take with you to another party then check out these favourites from Patrick Hanlon who's one half of the wonderful GastroGays.
Patrick Hanlon / GastroGays | 26th October 2013
Guacamouldy
(serves 4-6)
Everyone has their own recipe for guacamole, and arguably this isn't a seasonal recipe in any sense. However, there is something so simply satsifying in making food 'blue' on this particular night of the year. The blazing green and flits of red of guacamole is the perfect vehicle for kitsch silliness in the form of a liberal crowning of mould.
For the guacamole
4 large avocados
2 medium fresh tomatoes, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp coarse sea salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp sugar
For the artificial mould
2-3 tbsp Panko breadcrumbs
Blue food colouring
1. First, make the guacamole. Very finely dice your garlic, or you can make it into a paste on your chopping board by sprinkling some sea salt on roughly chopped garlic and running the side of your knife over and back until it becomes a smooth mixture.
2. Half the avocados and remove the stones. Scoop out the flesh into a large bowl.
3. Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and dice the flesh. Add it to the avocado in the bowl.
4. Pour in the lemon juice to stop discoloration and season with the salt, pepper and sugar.
5. Mash the mixture to the consistency of your choice - whether you want it light and creamy or thick and chunky. Taste, and adjust seasoning if needed.
6. For the mould, simply combine the Panko and the food dye. You can use a mix of blue and black food colourings if you like, in order to get that darker blue hue. Or you can add some Worcestershire sauce to blue dye to make it a darker colour. When coloured, sprinkle half over the guacamole and stir to combine, then finish with a light sprinkling over the top.
Halloween tortilla chips
Serves 4-6
These are simply wraps, cooked until crisp in the oven. Also known as 'the simplest homemade tortilla chips... ever!' To make these all you need is one packet of large wraps. Using a piece of cardboard, simply cut out a template of a Halloween character or icon. We made pumpkins, witches hats and crescent moons.
For the tortillas
1 large packed of tortilla wraps
Scissors
Cardboard/strong paper
For the colouring
Water
Mustard powder
Turmeric
Unsmoked Paprika
Worcestershire Sauce
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Draw out the shape(s) that you want your tortilla chips to be on the card or strong paper, with a pencil. Our pumpkin shape was the size of an adult’s palm.
3. Hold the template and the wrap together (it may be easier to cut the wrap in half or quarter before doing this, depending on the shape’s size) and carefully trim along the cardboard to get your tortilla shape.
4. When you have cut out your desired shape(s), leave them to one side to get coloured. Don’t throw away the off-cuts.
5. To colour, you can mix some cupboard spices with water before baking. For the pumpkin, we mixed 1 teaspoon of mustard power with 1 teaspoon of turmeric and added a little water to make a paste, which you can then brush on your shapes (front and back) before baking. We kept the crescent moon shapes natural and white, and we drizzled a little Worcestershire Sauce on the witch hat shapes for colour. You can use food colouring to completely change the colour of your shapes, if you wish. We coloured the off-cuts with a paprika paste, made of paprika and water.
6. Place your shapes on a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until they are dried out, crispy and the edges are beginning to brown.
Bloody beetroot brownies
Serves 6
These are a real treat on Halloween, whether you’re throwing a party and have these on the table or you’re just spending the night curled up in front of some scary movies. These come out of the oven at that delicious point between gooey and solid. They will stay quite moist, but fragile, for a good two days if kept in a large lunchbox or other airtight container - so you can make them in advance.
Ingredients
250g raw beets, peeled and grated
200g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter, room temperature
100g dark chocolate (or 50:50 dark and milk)
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda and 1 tsp baking powder
50g cocoa powder
125g raspberry purée
8-10 whole raspberries
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Line a 22cm square springform tin with parchment paper.
2. Put a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt the chocolate and butter together.
3. Meanwhile, peel and grate your raw beets into a small bowl. Keep all the juice that leaks.
4. In another bowl on stadby, combine your dry ingredients - flour, bicarb, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder.
5. To make the raspberry purée, simply mash raspberries with a little salt and sugar until it becomes a very loose jam consistency.
6. Now to your main bowl. Sift the sugar into the eggs and whisk until the mixture is pale, light and fluffy. Give it a good two minutes work. Then add your beets, stir all together as the mixture becomes wonderfully pink.
7. Add your dry mix and chocolate mix alternately, beginning and ending with the dry. So in your head judge your dry mix into quarters and your wet mix into thirds. Add a quarter of the dry mix to the big bowl, stir, add one third of the chocolate, stir... and so on until everything is combined.
8. Just as everything has come together, lightly stir in the raspberry purée.
9. Pour into the lined tin and push a few raspberries into the mixture
10. Pop on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes. You want the top to be ever so slightly cracked and firm, but still gooey inside.
11. Cut into six or eight slices and serve.
Captain’s Bloody End Cocktail
Serves 4-6, makes 1 litre
This drink is more of a punch and perfect for a Halloween party. There’s an Autumnal nuttiness from the Amaretto, bringing in the warming winter spices of the rum, with the sharp, sweet and bitter all catered for by the simple syrup and cranberry juice. Top off with sparkling water and we guarantee your guests won’t go thirsty. For more guests, just double the recipe.
Ingredients
200ml spiced rum
400ml cranberry juice
50ml Amaretto
50ml sweet and sour syrup (lemon juice and sugar)
300ml sparkling water
Method
1.First, make the sweet and sour syrup. We used the juice of 2-3 average-sized lemons, which made about 6 tablespoons of juice. Mix with 3 tablespoons of sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Leave to one side.
2. In a large pitcher or jug, combine the rum and cranberry (which are a 1:2 ratio), before adding in the equal quantities of amaretto and sweet and sour syrup. This should all make 700ml, so top up to a litre by adding sparkling water.
3. You can add lemon slices and if you like, and serve chilled. This can be made the day before to save time, and will taste great as the flavours marry.
Chocolate spiderweb lollipops
Makes 12 / serves 6
Looks can be deceiving. These look easy, but they are pernickety and tricky. Not only is it a little difficult to find lollipop sticks, but the delicate balance of keeping two chocolates hot and getting them assembled within time is more difficult than at first it seems. But let us tell you, this is one sweet, sweet pay off, and these can be made one, even two, days beforehand.
You will need
12 cake pop/lollipop sticks
200g dark chocolate (or 140g dark chocolate, and 60g milk chocolate if you prefer)
85g white chocolate
toothpicks
some form of piping bag, whether makeshift or a professional-style one
Method
1. First, melt the white chocolate. It will be quicker to do, and it's easier to keep warm. Microwave or bain-marie is your decision, we used the latter. To keep the chocolate warm, once melted decant into a smaller (cereal-size) bowl, which you can sit in a bigger bowl filled one quarter with warm water.
2. Now, move onto your second chocolate, the darker mix. This will take a little longer to do, so prepare a baking sheet with some parchment on top in another area. Set your toothpicks and lollipop sticks by the side. Get your piping bag into position close by.
3. After all the chocolate has come to a simultaneously liquid consistency, move into position. Dot and spread about 2 tbsp of the darker mix onto the lined baking sheet with a spoon to make individual rounds. You should get 10-12 from that mix.
4. Now, fling the darker chocolate mix away, and focus on the white. Pour into your piping bag and twist into position. You need to make three circles in the chocolate, starting with a dot in the middle of each chocolate round, with a bigger one around that, and then a bigger one again around those two.
5. Working quickly to do all those, now get your toothpick and flick the toothpick from the central dot out to the sides, around each circle of chocolate. (Another set of hands to do either of the two jobs would be ideal, but it can be done alone)
6. When all your rounds are made into makeshift spiderwebs, then insert the sticks towards the middle of each round and swirl slightly until coated in the chocolate, but careful not to mess up your design.
7. Leave in a cool place and they should be hard and ready to eat in about an hour! If you can’t find sticks, these are perfect as little chocolate rounds, just served on a plate on the table.
If you would like more information or recipe ideas from the GastroGays then click here.
INTERVIEW: Elvira - The Queen of Halloween
NEWS: The £1 million Halloween Costume
More Stories
1 Song for Equality and Peace by Craymo
Gay Film Weekend Banned In 1,100 Catholic Owned Cinemas In Italy
Big Brother’s Aaron Frew Leaves Nothing To The Imagination With Completely Naked Shot