There are so many advantages to getting children involved in the kitchen. First and foremost, it gives you both the opportunity to spend some quality time together and strengthen your bond, regardless of whether you’re a parent or a nanny.
Baking is also a great way for children to produce something that they can take pride in and share with others. No matter what age you are and the complexity of what you’ve made, you feel a sense of achievement when you’ve created something from scratch that you can put your name on.
Now the weather has turned and Autumn is upon us, Halloween is just around the corner and the fun of Halloween extends well beyond trick-or-treating and fancy dress. It is the perfect time of year to don our pinafores and make some spooky yet delicious treats with our children. So here’s some of our favourite Halloween recipes to inspire you this month!
Skeleton Cookies
The beauty of this recipe is in its simplicity. Just about everyone has a gingerbread man cookie cutter lying in a drawer at home and when it comes to the décor, you can be as detailed or as minimal as you’d like, and the finished product still looks great!
Ingredients
You will need: 225g plain flour | ½ tsp salt | 2 tsp bicarb soda | 1 heaped tsp ground ginger | 50g unsalted butter | 100g muscovado sugar | 100g golden syrup | 1x tube white piping icing | 1x gingerbread man cookie cutter
Method
Preheat your oven to 190°C/170°C fan and line a tray with baking paper.
Heat the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan until dissolved. Stir continuously to avoid it burning.
Allow the sugar mixture to cool slightly while you sieve the flour, salt, bicarb and ginger into a large bowl.
Gently pour your sugar mixture into the dry ingredients to form a dough before chilling in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Remove from the fridge and roll the dough on a floured surface to about ½ cm thickness before cutting out your skeleton (gingerbread men) shapes.
Place your cookies onto the lined baking tray and bake for 13 minutes
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack before piping on your skeleton design. (If they aren’t cool enough when you decorate, the icing will just melt off!)
Top tip: If you don’t have a gingerbread man shape available, you can use the top of a glass instead to cut out circular cookies and pipe on a spiderweb design instead.
Graveyard Mousse
Ingredients
For the mousse: 150g dark chocolate (we’d suggest 70% so it’s not too bitter but if making for more mature taste palettes you can opt for a higher cocoa content) | 6 egg whites (the Two Chicks egg white cartons simplify this) | 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
To assemble: 1x pack of your favourite chocolate biscuits | 1x pack of gummy worms | 6x malted milk biscuits | 1x black icing pen
Method
Slowly melt the chocolate in the microwave or bain-marie in a heat-proof bowl. If opting for the microwave, we suggest heating in 30-second bursts and stirring in between so the chocolate doesn’t burn.
Set aside and, in a separate bowl, whisk your egg whites to soft peaks.
Add the sugar and whisk again until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
Working quickly so the chocolate doesn’t harden, fold in your whisked eggs into the chocolate until thoroughly combined.
Put the mixture into the fridge to chill while you crush your chocolate biscuits up into fine crumbs. Once this is complete, you’re ready for assembly.
Grab your mousse mixture and put a spoonful into the bottom of 4-6 glasses. Then layer some of your crushed biscuits over the top.
Alternating between mousse and biscuit, repeat this process until the glass is almost full before adding your gummy worm(s) on top.
Grab your malted milk biscuit and icing pen to make an edible headstone. You can simply write ‘R.I.P’ or get creative and draw bats and skeletons.
Once complete, slot your biscuit headstone into the top of the mousse and sprinkle the top of the glass with one final dusting of biscuit for an earthy effect.
Chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours before serving.
Top tip: For children (or parents) who feel less confident in the kitchen, a simple hack is to swap the homemade chocolate mousse out for something like chocolate Angel Delight as it’s easy to make and can be portioned just as easily to form these fun desserts.
Pumpkin Cake
Lockdown banana breads are a thing of the past. This recipe is a scrumptious autumnal treat and a great way to use up leftover pumpkin pieces post-halloween.
Ingredients:
Cake: 300g self-raising flour | 300g light muscovado sugar | 3 tsps mixed spice (or a combination of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon & ground allspice if you don’t have) | 4 medium eggs | 200g softened butter | 1 orange (zest & juice) | 500g pumpkin
Frosting: 200g mascarpone or cream cheese | 85g softened butter | 100g icing sugar | 1 orange (zest & juice) | 50g pecan nuts
Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C/fan 160°C and grease and line a 30 x 20cm baking tin with baking parchment.
Sift the flour, sugar, spices, bicarb and salt into a large bowl and stir to combine.
Beat the eggs into the melted butter before stirrin in the zest and juice of 1 orange.
Gently fold the egg mixture into the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined.
Grate your pumpkin and stir into the cake batter before pouring into the lined tin and baking for 30 minutes.
While your cake is in the oven, you can begin making the frosting. Cream together the soft cheese, butter, icing sugar, the second orange zest and 1 tsp of its juice until smooth. Keep in the fridge to chill until you’re ready to frost.
When the cake has baked, allow it to cool for 5 minutes before gently pricking and drizzling with the remaining orange juice.
Once the cake has cooled completely, you’re ready to frost - you can pipe this on or spoon and smooth with a palette knife before decorating with the chopped pecan nuts.
Top tip: If this is a recipe you fall in love with, you can make it year-round by substituting the pumpkin for a butternut squash.