Get stuck into these spooky treats

It’s that time of the year again, when the evenings are longer and things get a bit spooky. It’s also a great time to treat yourself to some tasty homebakes, and get together with friends and family to test your creativity.

So have a bit of skele-fun this Halloween, with these easy recipes.

Honeyed Halloween Pumpkin Pies

Prep time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves 4
This recipe uses Acacia Honey

Ingredients

Pastry

• 225 g (8 oz) plain flour
• 50 g (2 oz) caster sugar
• 100 g (4 oz) butter, diced
• 2 egg yolks
• 2-3 teaspoons cold water

Filling

• 450 g (1 lb) deseeded pumpkin, peeled, diced
• 75 g (3 oz) Rowse Acacia honey
• 75 g (3 oz) light muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground mixed spice
• Little milk to glaze
• Little caster sugar to decorate

Method

Add the flour and sugar to a bowl, add the butter and rub in with fingertips or an electric mixer until it resembles fine crumbs. Mix in the egg yolks and enough water to mix to a smooth, soft dough. Chill for 15 minutes.

Steam the pumpkin for 10-15 minutes over a saucepan of simmering water until tender. Drain and leave to cool then mash or puree in a liquidiser or food processor until smooth. Add the remaining filling ingredients and mix again until smooth.

Roll the pastry out thinly on a lightly floured surface, stamp out 12×10 cm (4 inch) circles with a plain biscuit cutter, re-rolling the pastry trimmings as needed. Press the pastry circles into the buttered sections of a 12 hole muffin tin. Reserve the trimmings.

Pour the pumpkin filling into the pastry cases. Roll the reserved pastry trimmings out thinly, cut into narrow strips with a pastry wheel or knife, brush lightly with milk and arrange as a lattice over the top of the tarts, sticking on to the top edge of the pastry cases with a little milk, and leaving the ends of the lattice a little long. Or cut leaves and arrange on the filling or omit the decoration if preferred.

Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and bake in a preheated oven 180°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4 for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool for 20 minutes in the tin. Trim off the excess pastry from the lattice, then loosen the edges of the pies with a round-bladed knife, lift out of the tin and carefully transfer to a wire rack.

Serve warm or cold topped with spoonfuls of whipped cream and a drizzle of Acacia honey.

Top tips: Flavour whipped cream with a little clear honey and a dash of whisky. Short on time? Use a chilled 500 g (1lb 2 oz) pack of readymade sweet shortcrust pastry. Steamed and pureed pumpkin – or use butternut squash when out of season – subtly flavoured with honey and ground spices then topped with a spoonful of whipped cream and an extra drizzle of honey.

Honey and Cereal Halloween Mummies

Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 16

Ingredients

• 150g Rowse Honey
• 150g smooth peanut butter
• 200g puffed rice cereal
• 2 bags white candy melts
• 1 box of candy eyes
• 16 lollipop sticks

Method

Pre-line a 9×9 silicone square baking tray with cling film.

Warm the honey in a pan until it thins and begins to bubble. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until thoroughly mixed together. Add the puffed rice cereal and make sure every bit is coated in the mixture.

Tumble the mixture out onto the pre-lined baking tray. Wet your hands and press the mixture down really hard to ensure there are no air gaps. This is really important.

Allow to set for up to 2 hours in the freezer. Once set remove from freezer and allow to thaw slightly before cutting into 16 equal rectangles, place back in the freezer for a further 30 minutes.

Warm the candy melts in the microwave in a mug x1 bag at a time. You’ll need to do this in 30-second bursts, stir then repeat until it’s ready to be used.

Pre-line a 32cmx22cmx5cm baking tray with baking parchment.

Dip the bottom of the lollipop in melted chocolate then insert into the shortest length of the puffed rice cereal, then cover the base with chocolate, repeat this step with all the treats then place in the fridge to set for 10minutes.

After the sticks have adhered to the treats, you need to immerse the entire rice krispie treat into the mug of melted candy melt to cover the entire treat, repeat this step with all the treats then place back into the fridge to set.

Now with the remaining melted chocolate place this into a piping bag (or you can use a sandwich bag if you don’t have one to hand) and snip the end.
Remove the treats from fridge then using the piping bag place 2 dots in the middle in order to stick on the eyes.

Then going left to right go back and forth with the piping bag to get the mummy effect on the body of the treats so you end up with layers to represent the mummies bandages. Place back in the fridge to set for a further 10 minutes.

Once set, remove from the fridge and place centre stage on your Halloween table for everyone to enjoy!