Halloween is just around the corner and you all must be busy planning how to make it spookier! There are plenty of activities to check out on Halloween in Calgary, while you can plan your own Halloween party at home or choose to spend your evening outside. Whether you’re hosting your friends or not, it’s all about creating something new and frightful, which is also delicious to eat.
Thinking of which recipes to prepare this Halloween? We’ve distilled the top five spine-chilling recipes that you can make and surprise your near and dear ones.
Let’s see how you can prepare these yummy dishes.
Wondering who Jack Skellington is? Well, he is a character and the main protagonist of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. He is the Pumpkin King of HalloweenTown, a fantastical setting created exclusively for the occasion of Halloween, and is a skeletal zombie. You can make any pie and put Jack Skellington’s face atop your pie, but for a more sinister effect, use dark-coloured berries.
Set the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the pastry in half, with one piece being slightly larger than the other. Roll out the larger piece into a 12-inch circle on a surface that has been lightly dusted with flour. Transfer to a pie pan, and fit it in snugly without straining. Toss the sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl to remove any lumps, then add the berries. (if they are frozen, don't thaw them) and lemon juice. Pour into the pie pan, then top with butter. The leftover crust should be rolled out to form a circle just bigger than your pie plate. Cut rough holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth.
Use the tip of the knife to create the mouth without going all the way through. Trim the excess crust from the edge of the pie dish and transfer it to the pie's top. Pinch the pastry together to seal it, then use a fork's tines to press down all the way around. Bake the pie for about an hour, or until the juices have thickened and the crust is a deep golden colour.
In the middle of the oven, set an oven rack. Set the oven's temperature to 325 F. With vegetable oil cooking spray or a silicone baking mat, line a baking sheet with a rim. Place aside. Mix the salt, baking powder, and flour in a medium bowl. Place aside.
Butter and sugar should be combined in the paddle attachment-equipped bowl of a stand mixer for two to three minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl's sides as necessary. The egg and vanilla should be thoroughly combined. The flour mixture should be added gradually until a dough forms.
Roll each portion of dough into five-inch-long fingers between your palms, using about one and a half tablespoons at a time. To create fingernails, firmly press an almond slice into the tip of each finger. To create knuckles, make multiple horizontal cuts in the middle of each finger that are roughly 1/4 inch deep and 1/2 inch long. To form the knuckles, press the dough on either side of the cuts. Place the fingers on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until lightly golden. After being moved to a wire rack, let the fingers cool fully. The jam should be warmed up for about two minutes over low heat in a small saucepan. Put the fingers' blunt ends on a dish after dipping them in the warm jam.
Boil water in a big saucepan that has been liberally seasoned. Water should be ice-cold in a big dish. Save the pepper tops after cutting them off. Seeds and membranes should be taken out. Boiling water should be used to cook the peppers and their tops for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they are just soft. Introduce the peppers to the ice bath. As soon as they are cool, take them out and use a sharp knife to carve a jack-o-lantern face into one side of each pepper. Macaroni should be cooked until al dente, which takes around 6 minutes. Bring the water back to a boil. Drain the pasta, save 1 cup of the cooking liquid, and do not rinse. In a big pot over medium heat, warm the half-and-half until it just simmers.
Spend another 10 minutes cooking until the liquid is reduced to approximately 3/4 cup. Melt the cream cheese by adding it and stirring. Cheddar should be added and thoroughly mixed up until the sauce is smooth.
Turn off the heat and toss the macaroni in the pot. If the sauce needs to be thinned, stir in some of the saved pasta water. If necessary, salt the food. Let the mac and cheese mixture settle for 10 minutes, then divide among the peppers and top each with pepper.
Set the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Put a silicone mat or parchment paper on the bottom of a baking sheet with a rim. Roll the dough out onto a work area after opening the crescent dough tube. To make a rectangle, pinch the seams together. Eight large strips of dough should be cut lengthwise. One strip of dough should be used per hot dog, and it should be wound around the hot dog while being gently pulled to expand the dough. The dough should be periodically crossed to create the appearance of mummy wrappings. Leave a small section of the hot dog exposed at the end so you can add eyes after baking. Repeat with the remaining dough and hot dogs, placing the wrapped dog on the prepared baking sheet.
Cut out 16 little rounds of cheese for the mummies' eyes using the narrow end of a broad piping tip while the hot dogs are baking. From the oven, remove the hot dogs. Use a toothpick to "glue" each cheese round to the open portion of the hot dog to form two eyes. Spread some ketchup on one side of each cheese round. Put a small amount of ketchup or mustard on the same toothpick, and use it to make a pupil in the middle of each eye.
Stirring a generous pinch of sugar and yeast into the water or milk in a large dish will cause it to froth. Once you have a soft dough, add the flour, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and salt. For another seven to eight minutes, knead the dough (or use the dough hook on your stand mixer) until it is elastic and smooth. Reposition the dough in the bowl, cover it with a tea towel, and let it double in size for an hour or two. The dough's rise can be slowed by placing it in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours if you wish to prepare it ahead of time.
Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces, and then roll each piece into an oval before frying. I used the tip of a large icing bag for the mouth and a chopstick and my finger for the eyes. Cut out a mouth and some eyes. Make the holes larger than you'd like them to be because the dough will expand while baking.
A medium saucepan should have at least an inch of canola oil in it. Heat it over medium-high heat until it is heated but not smoking (350 F is good if you have a thermometer; if not, test with a scrap of bread or dough to see if it bubbles).
Cook a few dough pieces at a time, sparingly packed in the pan, for one to two minutes on each side, or until brown. When still warm, transfer to a platter lined with paper towels, then sprinkle with icing sugar or cinnamon sugar (place it in a baking dish or pie plate).
Now that you know five creative ways to cook some mouth-watering dishes this Halloween Day and impress everyone, it’s time to get going.
ABM College wishes you all a Happy Halloween Day!
Recipes sourced from: cbc.ca and foodnetwork.com
Images: freepik, cbc.ca, and foodnetwork.ca
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