Spooky Halloween Picnic Treats
If you're planning a party, bringing food to an event or just want to get into the spirit of Halloween, we've got some great creepy-looking yet delicious dessert recipes perfect for the occasion. These sweet Halloween treats are just spooky enough without being too scary for young children and are easy for anyone to make - really! We've included two great Martha Stewart recipes, but rest assured you don't have to be Martha to pull them off. Kids love to be included in the process of making these fun desserts, too!
Ghoulish Petits Fours
Source: MarthaStewart.com
Ingredients:
White sheet cake
Confectioner's sugar icing
Butter glaze
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, for eyes and mouth
Instructions:
1. Using a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out circles from cake. Brush off any crumbs with a pastry brush.
2. Fit a pastry bag with a plastic coupler, and top cake rounds with icing in a ghost or hat shape,about 1 inch high.
3. Place a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet; set aside. Set an iced cake round on a fork; hold over bowl of glaze. Using a large spoon, drizzle glaze evenly over cake and icing until completely covered. Transfer to wire rack. Repeat with remaining rounds. Let set, about 5 minutes.
4. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water; stir chocolate until melted. Transfer to a disposable pastry bag or resealable plastic bag; snip off tip with scissors. Pipe eyes and a mouth onto ghosts.
Finger Cookies
Source: Epicurious.com
Cookie Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tablepoons Icing Glue (see below)
Icing Glue Ingredients
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon water
Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Add the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract and mix well.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until completely mixed.
4. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
6. With your hands, roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a finger shape for each cookie. If the dough gets sticky and hard to work with, put it back in the refrigerator for a little while. Place fingers on an ungreased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart.
7. Use a butter knife to make knuckle marks on the finger cookies. Slightly flatten the front of the finger to create a nail.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes, until fingers are slightly golden. Remove from the oven and let cool. Meanwhile, prepare the Icing Glue. Mix together powdered sugar and water in a small bowl until the consistency is similar to that of a paste.
9. Attach almond slice fingernails to the tips of the fingers with Icing Glue. Let glue dry for about 30 minutes.
Witches' Brew
Source: MarthaStewart.com
Serve root-beer floats from a "steaming" cauldron made magical with the smoke of dry ice. You'll need a large cauldron and a chilled bowl that fits inside it (dry ice can cause glass to crack, so use bowls made of metal); dry ice (available in supermarkets); frozen root-beer mugs; root beer; and ice cream. Wearing gloves, use an ice pick to break up the dry ice (never touch it with your bare hands); place a few pieces in the cauldron. Cover the ice with water, pushing the ice under with a long wooden spoon if necessary, and place the chilled bowl in the cauldron. Fill the bowl with root beer. Put a scoop of ice cream in each mug, and ladle root beer over the top.
To make things even easier on you, we've compiled a list of Halloween dessert recipe collections. Just click to view. Enjoy!
FoodNetwork.com
MarthaStewart.com
Epicurious.com
Recipezaar.com
