Cook with the Kids this Halloween

Happy half term for those like me who have the children at home this week after a short and unnerving first term back since lockdown.

Halloween this year is not the same as previous years, we won’t be going to any fun fancy dress parties with friends, we won’t be hosting a spooky dinner for family with the girls in their witches outfits and trick or treating has been regarded as ‘off limits’ too.

Like many others, I’m sick and tired of focusing on the negatives of the situation so instead will be concentrating on the things we can do instead. We can still dress up at home, we can Facetime the family in our Halloween get-ups and take pictures to remember. We can watch some age appropriate scary films – we already have The Adams Family and Corpse Bride under our belt this weekend – any suggestions welcome? And we can do something which we always do, bake and make in the kitchen an array of spooky delights. If you fancy joining in why not try any of the below 9 suggestions.

Halloween Mummy and Spider Cookies

These Halloween Mummy and Spider Cookies use my standard cookie mixture but are decorated to look like monstrous mummies and spooky spiders – they’re fun to make, taste great and look cool too.

Halloween Mummy and Spider Cookies

Halloween Chocolate Bark

This Halloween Chocolate Bark is so simple but super fun to make with the children and once set and cut into shards, can be placed into cellophane bags and given out as a Halloween gift to family and friends too. Also it’s delicious!

Halloween Chocolate Bark

Halloween Chocolate Bark Shards

Halloween Ghost Cupcakes

These Halloween Ghost Cupcakes are just a simple fairy cake (homemade or shop bought) topped with some orange frosting (mine was from B&M) a large marshmallow on each and some Royal Icing cut into circles and some eyes and a mouth added with icing pens.

Halloween Ghost Cupcakes

Pumpkin Mac ‘n’ Cheese

A family favourite dish- this Pumpkin Mac ‘n’ Cheese is greatly improved and made a little more balanced with the addition of sweet, roasted pumpkin – a great lunch of dinner for during half term and especially if you have an abundance of pumpkins from the pumpkin patch!

Pumpkin Mac 'n' Cheese

Monster Burgers

This makes for a really fun meal for the kids.

Either make your own burger patties (here’s my steak ones) or buy some from the butchers or supermarket.

Then all you need is some burger buns, olives (for the eyes), sliced Cheddar or Red Leicester which you need to cut into zig zigs for teeth and melt over the cooked burger, some gherkin slices to poke out the front as a big monster tongue and whatever else you love in a burger – lettuce, tomato, sliced red onions and some BBQ sauce in our case! I served with my Healthy Slaw and chips and it went down a treat.

Monster Burgers

Spooky Spider Cookies

Use Oreo cookies, some melted chocolate, mini marshmallows and some lip sweets for make these cute Spooky Spider Cookies.

Spooky Spider Cookies

Mummified Sausage Plait Monster

I made this in the week and Bridget and Beatrice absolutely loved it. It is simple a square of shop-bought puff pastry topped with a 375g pack of sausage meat, flattened right out, and seasoned with a little black pepper. Then take a sharp knife and cut ‘bandages’ out of the edges of the pastry – long, thin slithers. Then simply wrap the ‘bandages’ across the sausage meat, until it’s completely covered up and the pastry has all been used up. Brush all over with beaten egg and place into a hot (200 degree) oven for 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Make into the monster by adding a couple of olives on cocktail sticks as eyes, a cornichon as a nose (could be a cut out piece of pepper), some tortilla chips as hair and some zig-zag cut out hard cheese (I used Red Leicester) as pointy teeth.

Here’s how I served it for the girls this week as a quick working-night dinner.

Mummified Sausage Plait Monster

Mummified Sausage Rolls

If you’d rather make smaller scale Sausage Rolls these are absolutely perfect and super easy – an idea I’ve made lots of times since having children and taken from BBC Good Food.

Mummified Sausage Rolls

Halloween Chocolate Cupcakes

These Halloween Chocolate Cupcakes are fun to make and the chocolate ganache makes for a more grown-up appealing taste too whilst the spider and icing topped ones will be fab for the kiddies.

Halloween Chocolate Cupcakes

Halloween Ghost Cupcakes

These are really easy to make and if you want a super quick fix you could even buy some ready made fairy cakes and simply decorate with the kids, but we do like to make ours. 

My two girls absolutely loved making these - they're really fun and are a great little activity to do during half term in the lead up to Halloween.

Halloween Ghost Cakes

Here's how:

For the cakes:

• 110g caster sugar
• 110g self raising flour
• 110g butter (softened/room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

To decorate:

• Ready made orange or black Halloween icing/frosting (I bought ours in B&M)
• 1 sheet ready rolled Royal Icing
• 12 large marshmallows
• 1 black icing pen and 1 red, orange or pink (for the mouths)

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 cake cases - we used some leftover Halloween ones from last year which I picked up in Poundland no less.

Use the all-in-one method for the cakes, which means add all of the ingredients (self raising flour, caster sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder and vanilla extract) into a large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon well until you have a good, combined cake batter.

Now spoon equal amounts into the cake cases, we use the two teaspoon method (spoon with one teaspoon and scrape down into the case with the other). 

Place into the oven for 15 minutes or until risen and golden brown then remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes on a wire rack.

To decorate, add a tablespoon of the ready made icing/frosting to each cupcake then use a palette knife to spread all over the top of the cake, into the edges of the case. 

Now place a marshmallow on top longways (the longest side should be flat to the cake) in the middle of the cake to make the body of the cake.

Now take out the Royal Icing Sheet (if you can't get a sheet, but a block and cut a third off and roll out, and wrap up the remaining Royal Icing which should keep for up to a month). Use a round cookie cutter to cut out x12 rounds big enough to go over the marshmallow with a little to spare. 

Place each icing round on top of the marshmallow and use your hands to pinch it down to the cake icing and form a ghostly appearance. 

Once all of the 'ghosts' are formed you can pipe or ice on the eye dots and a little line for the mouths. Enjoy!

If you fancy making more Halloween treats with the children here are a few other ideas:

• Halloween Chocolate Bark
• Mummified Sausage Rolls
• Spooky Halloween Chocolate Spider Biscuits
• Halloween Chocolate Cupcakes
• Halloween Biscuits