Spooktacular Treats

Spooktacular+Treats

Happy Halloween! Today, I will be talking about one of the best things about Halloween, treats! But not just candy, I’m talking about actual treats, like Halloween decorated desserts! In this list, I will be sharing 4 tasty treats you can make and enjoy, along with the recipes and directions needed to make them!

 

Halloween Ghost Cookies

These are cookies to be decorated with ghosts on them! You just need some tulip cookie cutters to make the cookies actually have the shape of ghosts, and you can even use chocolate chips for the eyes so they look cute!

Recipe

1 cup of butter

1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all – purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Icing

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons milk (add more if needed)

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (12 ounce) package miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

*Beat butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

*Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a second bowl. Add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix to combine. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

*Dust a work surface with flour and roll out dough into a thin circle. Cut out tulip shapes; if your tulip cookie cutter has a stem, cut the stem off with a knife, so you have a stemless tulip shape. Arrange cut-out cookies on ungreased baking sheets.

*Bake in preheated oven until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from baking sheets carefully and transfer to wire racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

*Stir 1 cup confectioners’ sugar and milk together in a small bowl until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more corn syrup if icing is too thick.

*Spoon icing into a piping bag with a small plain tip. Pipe icing around the edge of each cookie to create a border. Fill in the middle completely with icing. Stick 2 chocolate chip cookies into the wet icing for the eyes. Let cookies stand until icing dries, about 1 hour.

 

Mummy Cupcakes

These are cupcakes decorated like mummys! It’d probably look best with a chocolate cupcake, but I’m sure you could try making this with other flavors, like vanilla, as well! The directions and instructions will state how to make chocolate mummy cupcakes, though.

Recipe

1 (18.25 ounce) package devils food cake mix

1 cup water

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 (16 ounce) can vanilla frosting

Chocolate chip cookies

Directions

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners, preferable dark-colored or Halloween-themed ones.

*Combine cake mix, water, eggs, and oil in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer on low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed until batter is smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.

*Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 21 minutes. Remove from oven and cool tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before decorating, about 1 hour.

* Spoon frosting in a pastry bag or a plastic bag with the corner cut off. Pipe strands of frosting onto the top and bottom of the cupcakes, leaving an oval eye shape exposed in the middle. Pipe 2 dots in the exposed middle for the mummy’s eyes. Place 2 chocolate chips flat-side up in the middle of each dot for the pupils.

 

Halloween Macarons

They’re macarons, decorated like pumpkins! You can make nice expressions with the pumpkin macarons, like making it happy, sad, or angry!

Recipes

2/3 cup fine ground almond flour (scant measure)

2/3 cup confectioners’ measure (scant measure)

1 tablespoon powdered orange food coloring

2 medium egg whites at room temperature

1 pinch cream of tartar

1/4 cup superfine sugar

6 ounces mascarpone cheese (room temperature)

2 tablespoons Caramel sauce

1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon powdered black food coloring

Directions

*Line 2 baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.

*Sift almond flour and 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. Sift again into a second bowl, adding powdered orange food coloring. Whisk well and set aside.

*Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on medium speed until they begin to foam, 1 to 3 minutes. Add cream of tartar and continue whisking until creamy, 1 to 3 minutes more. When the whisk leaves traces in the egg white mixture, increase speed to medium-high. Add 1/2 the superfine sugar while whisk is in motion. When sugar is fully incorporated, add remaining sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form, another 1 to 3 minutes.

*Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in 1/3 the almond flour mixture until incorporated. Fold in remaining flour mixture gently; overmixing will create a runny batter and cookies will not rise. Pour batter into a piping bag or a resealable plastic bag with a corner cut off. Pipe 32 small circles onto the prepared baking sheets, allowing approximately 2 inches between cookies. Lightly rap the baking sheets to release any air bubbles from the batter; cookies will spread slightly, this is normal.

*Allow cookies to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes; during this time, tops will become opaque and no longer glossy and if you lightly touch them, the batter will give and bounce back.

*Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

*Bake 1 baking sheet in the preheated oven until cookies rise and bottoms begin to get crinkly and firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Wait for oven to return to temperature before baking the second batch.

*While cookies are baking, whip mascarpone cheese, caramel sauce, 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar, and powdered black food coloring together until fluffy. Store filling in the refrigerator until needed.

*Cool cookies completely before filling. Transfer filling to a clean piping bag and pipe filling onto 1 cookie base and top with another. Use leftover filling to decorate the tops of the macarons if desired. Let cookies rest before enjoying.

 

Spider Cookies

Cookies shaped like large spiders! You could make these any size you want, but the ones the directions and instructions give you will make you large cookie spiders! If you want them smaller, just reduce the amount you put in!

Recipe

2 (1 ounce) squares of unsweetened chocolate

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup of butter

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cinnamon red hot candies

Directions

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

*In a saucepan melt chocolate over low heat. Let cool.

*In a small bowl mix flour, baking powder and salt.

* In a medium bowl beat margarine on low speed until smooth. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Stir in egg, vanilla and chocolate. Add flour mixture and mix well, forming a stiff dough.

*To make spider, shape a 2 inch flat oval for the body. Make the spider’s head by flattening a circle about 1/2 inch wide. Shape dough for legs each about 2 inches long and less than 1/4 inch wide.

*Attach the head and legs to body. Put two red candies into head for eyes. Bake for 5-8 minutes. Let spiders cool on baking sheet to avoid breaking when moving.