Baking with the Kids for Halloween

Halloween is fast becoming a major event in the UK as it has been for many years in the US and this means more and more kids wanting to host or attend a Halloween party.  But this also makes for a great reason to get that personalised baking set they bought you for your birthday out of the cupboard and enjoy some baking time with the kids.

Party treats

With ghosts, witches, pumpkins and other spooky elements, there are plenty of inspirations for Halloween and plenty of great ideas how to make something with the kids within the theme.  One really simple idea involves decorating biscuits to make Spider web biscuits to serve your guests.

All your need for this recipe is eight rich tea or other buttery biscuits, 100g of dark chocolate and 3 tablespoons of icing sugar as well as a few drops of lemon juice.  Melt the chocolate either on the stove or in the microwave until it is smooth and shiny then spread some on each biscuit.  Leave them for around ten minutes to set.  Meantime, mix the icing sugar with lemon juice to make an icing paste.  Use a pastry bag with a very fine nozzle and start in the centre, drawing three circles, each one a little bigger.  Then use a fine knife to drag the icing from one circle to another to create the web, or join them with more lines of icing if you prefer.  Let them set and you have perfect Spider web Biscuits.

Gruesome cakes

Graveyard cupcakes really look the part on the Halloween buffet table and by using a chocolate cake mixture from a box, the kids can really get involved with the job from the start.  As well as a 500g cake mix you will also need 800g of chocolate icing, 150g digestive biscuits and 24 oval or rectangular shaped biscuits such as Nice.

Make up the cakes as instructed on the box then add the chocolate icing, leaving one quarter of it for extra decoration.  Fill a pastry bag with the remaining icing and use a plain tip then write RIP on the rectangular biscuits at the top end.  Stand each decorated biscuit in the cupcake to resemble a gravestone coming out of the ground then sprinkle each cake the digestive biscuit crumbs to appear like dirt.

Traditional sweets

One of the most traditional sweet treats for Halloween has to be the toffee apple and these too can easily be made at home.  Use 100g pre-made toffee along with six Granny Smith apples and some wooden sticks like those found in ice lollies.  Insert a stick ¾ way into an apple then place them on a lined baking tray.  Mix up the toffee with two tablespoons of water and ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence on a low heat until melted and smooth.  Dip each apple into the toffee until each is covered then put back onto the tray until they set, pop them in fridge if you need them quicker than leaving them to air-dry.