Karen's Spook-tacular Owls and Spiders!

When I saw these splendid creatures on Karen's inspiring blog, Lavender and Lovage, here and here, I really had to have a go, and I am delighted with the results.

My five year and I decorated some cakes last week.  They were a hit with the friends we took them to, as well as the men in our family.

If you didn't get a chance to make them this Halloween, book mark Karen's pages for next year.

Spiders and Owls

A close up of the spiders

And the rather jolly owls

Are you looking at me?

A superior glance from an owl

Organise your sweets

Legs in spiders

The final touches

Always dress correctly for baking

Don't forget to lick the bowl!

Halloween with Two Cats and Three Witches!

Today my little girl had four of her friends round for lunch, they were all in high spirits!

  We had pizza and as it was Halloween we also decorated some cookies and fairy cakes.

I used my old and reliable cookie recipe and cut out some bats, pumpkins and ghosts.  The girls all tackled the decorating with relish!  I packaged everything up for our guests to take home, so the photos here are of my little girl's creative endeavours.

Happy Halloween!

I will be adding a bonus post today, to show you the wonderful owls and spiders we made, following Karen's wonderful inspiration.  Do take a look!

Pumpkins, Bats and a Scary Ghost!!!!!!

Icing the cupcakes

Chocolate icing to help the orange icing stay in place

Pumpkins, we glittered these

A rather frightening ghost

HELP!!!! Now I'm really scared!!!!

That's better

I'd say quite friendly, really!

Palmiers

One of my all time  favourite treats. These are just so delightful to share with friends who have popped round for a drink in the evening.   I (again) cheated, and used a ready made puff pastry!

1) Role out the pastry (into a rectangle).
2) On the top half I sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese with a teeny bit of Cayenne pepper.
3) On the bottom half, I spread tomato puree, some chopped black olives, anchovies and capers
4) Fold into the middle, twice( don't forget egg wash!)
5) Cut the rolled pastry and put on a lined baking sheet
6) Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes


(NB after about 7 minutes, flatten with a palette knife, and turn, this ensures the best shaped Palmiers!)

Palmiers really need to be eaten within an hour or two of baking, but you can prepare them early in the day, pop them in the fridge, then bake them in the early evening and wow your friends with a perfectly delicious "amuse bouche".



PS I have just joined Twitter, but I am not a hundred thousand per cent sure what I am doing, so please bare with me as I learn how it works.  Thank you :-) 

Perfect , crunchy palmiers

Wonderfully quick to bake

A rectangle of pastry

Two fillings

Fold and fold again

Slice and place on baking tray

After 7 minutes turn (and press with a knife)

Perfect within a minute or two of the oven!

Autumnal Mince Pies!

I had to check that my mincemeat tasted okay, so I decided to make Autumnal Mince Pies!

In this case, rather then make my own pastry, I took a shortcut and used a ready made fresh pastry, which was fine.

I cut out 24 circles of pastry and lined some pre-greased bun tins.  I put most of a jar of my mincemeat in a pudding basin, and stirred in a spoonful (or two) of brandy.

I put a teaspoonful of mincemeat in each pastry case (remember it will expand on baking), and then I popped either a mini pastry leaf or pumpkin on the top.

I used egg wash on a visible bits of pastry, and baked them in the oven.

I'm glad to report that my mincemeat was delicious.  The mince pies were wonderful warm with some fresh cream, and perfect over the next few evenings, straight from the cake tin, with a cup of coffee.

I will be using exactly the same method in December, but replacing the leaf and pumpkin lids with stars and holly leaves for my Christmas Mince Pies!

(Looking at these photographs, makes me realise I need to improve the lighting in my kitchen and/or only photograph food in the middle of the day.  Please accept my apologies for the shadows!)

Autumnal Mince Pies

My ingredients

Adding a spoonful of brandy to the mincemeat

Cutting out the bases of the pies

Mini Leaf and Halloween cutters,
ideal for pastry lids and tiny biscuits

A teaspoonful of mincemeat in each pie case

Cutting out my pumpkin lids

On top of the mincemeat,
don't forget the egg wash!

Straight out of the oven

Lovely

Perfect for an Autumn day!

Halloween Cake Pops

Following the fabulous cake pop course at Cakes 4 Fun,  I was beginning  to wonder if I would ever try making cake pops at home.  A Halloween treat for my little girl to take to school and share with her friends seemed an ideal opportunity!

Cake Pops are quite labour intensive.  I started in the morning baking a chocolate cake.

Once it was thoroughly cooled, I crumbled it.  I then added a butter icing flavoured with milk chocolate (I was making these for 5 year olds!)

I formed the cake crumb/icing dough into small balls (about 32g each).  I made a hole in each for the stick, and then put them in the freezer.  (I put each cake pop in a fairy cake case.)

After tea and homework I iced the cake pops with my little girl.  We melted orange candy melts and dipped the sticks, which we then very quickly put in the cake pops.  The candy melts set very quickly, so we were able then to dip the whole cake pop in the orange candy.

Once they were set, we melted green candy melts and swirled the cake pops, giving the cake cops a green top, on which we sprinkled some edible glitter.

Once they were ready, I packaged them in individual cellophane bags and tied them with ribbon.  we packed them in a cake tin, lined with kitchen paper to prevent too many bumps, and my little girl took them into school the next morning.

Orange and Green Halloween Cake Pops!

Ingredients for the chocolate cake

The cake 

Cake crumbs

Melting the chocolate for the icing

Perfect

Mixing the icing 

Cake crumbs and icing

Mix well

Form into small balls

Make a hole for the stick and freeze

Very orange candy melts

Dip the stick in the melted orange candy

Quickly pop into the cake pops

Melting the green candy

Dip and swirl

Let them dry upright before packaging

I wrapped in small cellophane bags and tied with ribbon