Halloween 2017: Eyeball punch and bleeding heart cakes – the best and spookiest recipes
Let's get spooky in the kitchen
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Your support makes all the difference.Halloween - like all the best festivities - is nothing if not an excuse to enjoy delicious food.
Whether you get the most pleasure from the making or the eating, there’s nothing like a themed treat.
And Halloween is arguably the celebration at which a baker or cook can get most creative.
But what to make when hosting a Halloween party?
We’ve rounded up some of the best, most delicious and spookiest recipes to ensure you have a thoroughly frightening event.
Recipes to make this Halloween:
Spooky tortilla graveyard with guacamole dip
- Serves 8-10
- Prep time: 30 minutes
- Cooking time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 ripe avocados
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
- 4 tbsp coriander, finely chopped
- 2-3 large tortilla wraps
- 250ml vegetable oil
- 85g watercress
- Salt and pepper
Method:
To make the guacamole, add the avocado and lemon juice to a blender or food processor along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend until smooth, then stir in the coriander and red onion. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Use a small, sharp knife to cut grave stone shapes from the tortilla wraps. Why not be as creative as you like and try cutting out some ghosts or trees as well!
Place a large frying pan on a medium-high heat and add the vegetable oil. After a few minutes, check the temperature of the oil by dropping in a small piece of tortilla wrap. If the wrap sinks to the bottom, the oil is not hot enough. Once the oil is the correct temperature, the tortilla should stay on the surface and create bubbles.
Add a few tortilla shapes at a time to the oil, frying for less than a minute on each side or until golden. Drain the shapes on kitchen towel and allow to cool.
Once the shapes have cooled, take a large ceramic oven dish and spread the guacamole evenly over the base. Scatter over the watercress to represent grass, then place the gravestones and other shapes in any way you like.
If not serving immediately, keep the guacamole in the fridge and the tortilla shapes in an airtight container at room temperature.
Strawberry ghost pops
Ingredients:
- 150g white chocolate
- 12 large strawberries
- Edible candy eyes
Other supplies:
- Lollipop or cake pop sticks
Method:
Before making these, pop the strawberries into the fridge for a couple of hours so that they are nice and cold – this will help the chocolate to set quicker.
Line a baking tray or plate with grease proof or baking paper – check that it will fit in your fridge first.
Break up the white chocolate and place it in a microwave safe bowl.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each one to ensure it melts evenly. Be careful not to overheat or burn the chocolate, heat only until just melted and smooth.
Cut the tops from the strawberries, then place the cut edges of the strawberries onto a piece of kitchen paper to soak up any excess liquid (otherwise this could interfere with the chocolate setting).
Take a cake pop stick and dip it into the chocolate, then carefully push it into the pointy end of a strawberry. Repeat with the rest of the strawberries.
Starting with the first strawberry, pick it up by the stick and dip it into the chocolate until the strawberry is completely covered. You can spoon the chocolate over the strawberry if necessary.
Working quickly, place the strawberry flat-side down onto the prepared baking sheet. Add two candy eyes to the stop of the chocolate covered strawberry to turn it into a ghost. If the chocolate has already set, you can dip the backs of the candy eyes into the melted chocolate to use as ‘glue’ to attach them.
Repeat with the remaining strawberries, then place your finished ghost pops into the fridge to finish setting.
Recipe by Eats Amazing.
Pumpkin pie martini
Ingredients:
- 50ml gin
- 25ml pumpkin and cinnamon vanilla syrup
- 20ml lemon juice
Method:
To make the pumpkin syrup: Marinade cubed pumpkin in a container with agave or sugar syrup, vanilla pods and cinnamon sticks. Muddle together to extract the water from the pumpkin, sieve and bottle.
Add all ingredients to a Boston Glass, shake and double strain.
Garnish with a twisted vanilla pod in a Martini glass.
Recipe by Caorunn Gin.
Eyeball punch
- Serves at least 8 people
Ingredients:
- 2 1 Litre bottles of Fanta (2 litres)
- 3 tins of lychees (this will make approximately 24 eyeballs)
- 1 small punnet of blueberries (you'll need at least 24)
- 1 jar of strawberry jam (optional)
- 1 bottle of red food colouring (optional)
Method:
Remove all of the lychees from the tins and place them into a small bowl. Save the lychee juice from the cans to add in later.
Wash the blueberries thoroughly to ensure they are clean and any bacteria has been removed.
Place the lychees onto a sheet of kitchen towel to dry. Place a blueberry into each lychee, taking care not to push them all of the way through. To create an even spookier ‘bloodshot’ eyeball, place a small amount of strawberry jam into the lychee first before adding the blueberry.
Tip: using different amounts of strawberry jam will mean the eyeballs will float at different levels within the punch, if possible try to use a clear punch bowl so you can see the effect!
Pour the Fanta into a large punch bowl, add the saved lychee juice and stir well. For a bloody looking punch add a few drops of red food colouring.
Add the lychee eyeballs, ice cubes and serve cold. For an added Halloween touch crush and add any of the remaining blueberries.
Tip: Save some of the lychee eyeballs and place them onto cocktail sticks, using them to garnish the glasses at your Halloween feast.
Eyeballs: Lychee eyeballs can also make a delicious snack on their own. Simply soak the lychees in Fanta for 30 minutes before making the eyeballs and serve. They can be made a day in advance if they are kept in an airtight container in the fridge.
Recipe by Fanta.
Halloween peanut butter protein cups
Ingredients for the filling:
- 1/4 cup of whey
- Stevia drops to taste
- Splash of water
- 1/8 cup ground almonds
- 1/8 cup peanut butter (or more/less depending on how much you like peanut butter!)
For the outside:
- 40g dark chocolate, melted
Method:
Mix it all together until you get a dough – if it’s too wet, add more of the almonds; if it’s too dry, a tiny bit more of the water! It’s that simple.
Then, pour some melted chocolate into silicone molds and then add some of your dough on top! Cover it all with more of the melted chocolate. Alternatively (as you can see towards the end of the video, you can just mix your dough with the melted chocolate and pour THAT into the molds! You obviously won’t get a clear cut filling but they’ll be just as yummy. This method is faster and less messy.
Set in the fridge for an hour or the freezer for 15-20 minutes. Done!
Recipe by Protein Pow.
Worm dirt cups
Ingredients:
- 130ml Black Raspberry Sparkling Ice sparkling water, cold
- 1 cup milk, cold
- 1 box chocolate instant pudding, 100ml.
- 120g chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
- Gummy worms
- Blackberries – optional garnish
Method:
Add Black Raspberry Sparkling ICE, milk and pudding mix to large bowl. Whisk for 2 minutes.
Pour into cups, allowing space at top for “dirt” cookie crumbs.
Sprinkle “dirt” cookie crumbs on top of pudding. Pudding will be soft set.
Garnish with gummy worms and optional berries.
Serve now or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recipe by Sparkling ICE.
Bleeding heart cakes
These impressive cakes would make the perfect showstopper, but they're potentially not one for the amateur baker. Find the recipe, by Domestic Gothess blog, here.
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