Get your kitchen in the Halloween ‘spirit’

Here at Discount Kitchens Warehouse we like to get in the spirit of Halloween, so we have compiled a great selection of ideas to get your kitchen in the spirit also.

As the autumn nights creep in and the spookiness of Halloween is upon us, we feel these ideas will be a fantastic addition for this time of year.

Halloween Colcannon Recipe

Colcannon used to be –and still is– eaten in Ireland on Halloween night, and is one of the most traditional Halloween recipes there is. Colcannon is wonderfully flavourful, incredibly filling, and oh-so warming on a cool Autumn night. To make it even more traditional, make a well in the centre and fill it with real butter. Dip each bite of colcannon in the butter before eating. As far as traditional Halloween recipes go, this one isn’t great for your heart, perhaps, but it’s too tasty to resist.

If you want to really have a traditional Samhain party, put a plate of buttered colcannon out on the stoop for the fairies and ghosts that hang around on All Hallow’s Eve. Recipe serves 6 to 8.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. of cabbage or kale, cooked
  • 1 lb. potatoes, cubed and boiled until tender
  • 2 leeks, cleaned well and chopped, or green onions
  • 1 C. whole milk or light cream
  • 1/2 C. butter, melted
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • pinch of ground mace (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Boil kale or cabbage in lightly salted water until tender. Chop.
  2. Bring milk or cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Add leeks and cook until soft.
  3. Drain potatoes, add salt and pepper to taste (and optional mace). Beat until fluffy.
  4. Return potatoes to pot over a low flame.
  5. Add milk with leeks.
  6. Beat in cooked kale or cabbage until green and fluffy.
  7. Remove from heat and serve. Make a well in the middle of each portion and divide the butter evenly among servings, filling each well.
  8. Dip each bite of colcannon in butter before eating.

You can find more recipes like these at http://www.divinedinnerparty.com/traditional-halloween-recipes.html

Spooky witches’ fingers

It’s time to get a little spooky here on the blog.  {insert scary Halloween laugh here}  I’m going to let you just think of your own spooky laugh…

Kids will delight in these biscuits – perfect for a Halloween party!

An easy cookie recipe that turns out into very spooky cookies! I used strawberry jam under the almonds to fake the blood under nails.

The kids will love them, and so with you.

Ingredients

  • Serves: 30
  • 225g (8 oz) butter, softened
  • 125g (4 1/2 oz) icing sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 350g (12 oz) plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 100g (4 oz) whole almonds
  • 1 tube red decorating icing

Method

Prep: 30min  ›  Cook:25min  ›  Ready in:55min

  1. Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder and salt, continually beating; chill for 20 to 30 minutes.
  2. Preheat oven to 160 C / Gas mark 3. Lightly grease baking trays.
  3. Remove dough from fridge in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of greaseproof paper. Use the paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped biscuit. Press one almond into one end of each biscuit to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze biscuit near the tip and again near the centre of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped biscuits on the baking trays.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until the biscuits are slightly golden in colour, 20 to 25 minutes.
  5. Remove the almond from the end of each biscuit; squeeze a small amount of red icing into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the icing to ooze out around the tip of the biscuit.

You can find spookier recipes like these at http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipes/halloween-recipes.aspx

Pull Apart Graveyard Cupcakes

A spooky holiday comes upon us very soon, an eve of serious mischief or of some delightful treating. Decorate your house with silly string, graveyard signs of R.I.P, spooky pumpkin lanterns, spiders crawling all over your walls, vampires that appear as your guests are walking into your house at night. Fancy costumes are always a hit, why not dress up as your favourite horror film character, and use a lot of props and blood. If you are hosting a party, why not have a trick for the adults and a treat for the kids, or even the adults if they play nicely!

You really cant go wrong with a chocolate pull-apart cupcake, something so good will melt into the tip of your tongue. For the adults, why not tickle their pickle with a Deadly Devils Punch, sure to keep the party rocking till the early hours of the morning. Pull-Apart Graveyard Cupcakes Although it looks like a cake, this graveyard is made up of individual cupcakes, making it a self-serve party. Just grab-n-go, no knives necessary.

Total Time: 2 hrs 35 min

Prep Time: 1 hr

Inactive: 1 hr 10 mins

Cook Time: 25 mins

Yields: 24 cupcakes

Level: Difficult

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

  • 400g plain flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 170g grape jelly
  • 225g granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs at room temperature
  • 340g unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tbsps pure vanilla extract
  • 230ml milk

For the frosting

  • 280g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 780g icing sugar
  • 3 tbsps milk
  • 10 chocolate biscuits, coarsely crushed

For the decorations

  • 15 large white marshmallows
  • 3 chocolate biscuits, coarsely crushed
  • 1 tbsp black or dark green sugar
  • 50g orange sugar
  • 1 tube of black icing
  • 1 tube of green icing
  • 5 oval shaped biscuits
  • 230g marzipan
  • 3 round lollipops, wrapped
  • 7 lengths of black liquorice (approx 20cm each)

Method

  1. For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two 12 cup muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Warm the grape jelly for approximately 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave until loosened, and whisk until smooth. Set aside.
  3. Beat together the sugar and eggs in another medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. While beating, gradually pour in the butter and then the vanilla.
  4. While mixing slowly, add half the dry ingredients and then all of the milk. Follow with the rest of the dry ingredients, taking care not to over mix the batter.
  5. Remove roughly 500g of the batter and stir in the grape jelly. Evenly fill the liners about two-thirds full, alternating the plain batter and grape batter.
  6. Bake until a tester inserted in the centre of the cupcakes comes out clean and the tops spring back lightly to the touch, 20 to 22 minutes. Place the pan on a rack to cool for 10 minutes, and then remove the cupcakes to the rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.
  7. For the frosting, beat the butter and salt in a large bowl until fluffy and combined. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the milk one tablespoon at a time until the frosting has a nice spreadable consistency. Add the crushed cookies and continue to beat until any large chunks are crushed to smaller bits and the frosting has a speckled, greyish look.
  8. To decorate, arrange the cupcakes in 4 rows on a large serving plate or cutting board. Fit a marshmallow between each cupcake, 5 marshmallows per row, to fill in the gaps between the cupcakes. Spread the frosting over the whole rectangle so it looks like one cake. Sprinkle with the cookie crumbs and black decorating sugar.
  9. To make the tombstones, use the black decorating icing and a small round tip to write “RIP” or other one-word epitaphs on the top half of the oval sandwich cookies and stick into the cupcakes randomly around the graveyard.
  10. To make the ghosts, take two-thirds of the marzipan and place between 2 sheets of wax paper or parchment. Roll about 1/8-inch thick and cut into 3 rounds using a 4-inch biscuit cutter. You may need to gather and re-roll the scraps for all 3 rounds. Drape over the wrapped lollipops and stick into the cupcakes around the tombstone. Using the black decorating icing and the same round tip, dot eyes and a mouth on the ghosts.
  11. To make the pumpkins and leaves, divide the remaining marzipan into 4 small pieces and roll each into a ball. Roll in the orange sugar until coated and place around the graveyard. Use the black icing to pipe a small stem. Fit the tube of green decorating icing with a leaf or ribbon tip to dot bits of green grass poking through the dirt around the graveyard and pumpkins.
  12. To make a border, use 6 pieces of the liquorice, trimming to fit, to make a border around the cake, leaving the middle of the front side open. Bend the seventh piece into an upside down “U” and stick into 2 cupcakes in the front to make an arched gateway.

For more recipes like these, head to http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/article/halloween-party-recipes.html

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