Annabel Karmel - The following Halloween-themed recipes are from the Princess Party Cookbook by Annabel Karmel
Deadman's Fingers
Don't forget to count your fingers after tucking in !
Ingredients:
- Thin sliced white bread, crusts removed
- Soft margarine
- Cream cheese
- Almonds
- Ketchup
- Variation
- Peanut Butter for spreading onto the bread and Jelly for the blood.
Directions:
Gently flatten the slices of bread with a rolling pin to make them more pliable. Spread with a little margarine and some cream cheese or peanut butter. Roll up the sandwiches and make three indentations with a blunt knife to form the finger joints. Trim the ends of the fingers into a ‘V' shape and stick an almond on to each tip with a little cream cheese to form the nails. Now for the gruesome bit - add a dollop of ketchup or jelly over the end of the finger for the blood !
Chocolate Orange Spider Cupcakes
Cupcake ingredients:
- 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped into small pieces
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Decoration ingredients:
- 1/4 cup store-bought chocolate flavor frosting (such as Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines)
- Chocolate sugar sprinkles
- 120 chocolate Pocky stick cookies (from 4 or 5 x 2.8-ounce boxes, such as Lu or Glico)
- 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips or 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped into small pieces
- Licorice Allsorts
Directions:
First make the cupcakes. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with 10 paper muffin cups. In an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Whisk the flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl. Add the eggs to the creamed butter mixture a little at a time, adding a tablespoon of the flour mixture with the second egg. Fold in the orange zest and the remaining flour then stir in the chocolate chips.
Fill each paper muffin cup 2/3 full with cake batter. Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely.
To decorate the cupcakes, spread a little chocolate frosting over each of the cupcakes and then scatter over the chocolate sprinkles. To make the legs, take the Pocky sticks and cut off the piece not covered with chocolate. Cut a quarter of the trimmed sticks in half. Stick four short lengths of sticks on each side of the spider's body, then melt the chocolate, dip one end of each of the longer Pocky sticks into the chocolate and attach these to the shorter lengths -- the melted chocolate will harden as it cools, keeping the legs in place. Finally add eyes made from licorice allsorts.
Makes 10 spider cakes
Cranberry and Elderflower Fizz (With melon brain)
Ingredients:
- 200 ml cranberry juice
- 150 ml Elderflower cordial
- 450 ml sparkling water
Directions:
Measure all of the ingredients into a jug and stir together. MAKES 1.5 pints/900 ml
Melon brain
Ingredients:
- One small watermelon
Directions:
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the green skin of the watermelon to expose the white rind. Slice off the base of the melon so that it is flat and will not roll. With a cocktail stick or skewer, outline the squiggly furrows that resemble the surface of the brain. Finally using a small sharp knife, carve narrow channels along the squiggles to expose the pink flesh of the water melon.
