What is it about Hallowe'en that kids find so irresistible? Ok, it may not be the most Jewish of festivals (and falling, this year on a Friday, you may have to postpone or cancel the trick-or-treating altogether) but the excitement in our house as the sun sets on October 31 is incredible. Children end up with all kinds of sweets and chocolate from trick or treating, so it's lovely to prepare some great home-cooked food for them on the scary theme.
Annabel Karmel is has written 16 books on feeding babies, children and families, including Favourite Family Recipes, published by Ebury. Visit www.annabelkarmel.com.
Dead man's finger sandwiches
Ingredients
Thin sliced white bread,
crusts removed
Soft margarine
Cream cheese or
peanut butter
Almonds
Strawberry Jam
Method
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.
Add a dollop of strawberry jam over the end of the finger for the blood!
Ghoulish Ghost Cakes
Preparation time: 1 hour. Suitable from 2 years.
Makes 12 cakes
Ingredients
175g butter
175g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour
750g ready-to-roll white icing, or you can buy ready rolled white icing
tube of black writing Icing
Method
Beat together the caster sugar, butter and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. l Add one egg at a time with a tablespoon of flour for each egg. Beat well and fold in the remaining flour.
Spoon into 12 greased and floured dariole moulds until just over half-full.
Place on a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 20 minutes (160°C for fan oven).
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Cut the top of the cakes off to form a flat surface and then turn out onto a board or plate. Leave until completely cold.
Roll out the white icing on a surface dusted with cornflour and cut out 12 x 15cm circles
Drape these over the sponge cakes to form ghost figures.
From the trimmings roll out some tiny balls of white icing into oval shapes .
Dampen with water and stick onto the front of the ghost.
Use a blob of black writing icing for the pupils of the eyes.
