Menu
Deliciously Scary Treats
This Halloween, throw a wickedly wonderful fete for family and friends. With help from the Wilton entertaining experts, you'll have all the tricks to treat your guests to a spooky celebration that will leave them howling with delight. Halloween's not just for the kids anymore, so before you put on your costume, grab your baking and decorating supplies and get ready to let the creepy crawlers loose.
"Halloween is the one time of the year that you can take your decorating skills
to the dark side," said Nancy Siler, vice president of consumer affairs at Wilton. "From finishing pumpkin cookies with ghastly grins to creating creepy cakes decorated like graveyard skulls, it's the perfect holiday to have some fun in the kitchen."
Try these tips from the Wilton test kitchen for tasty and terrifying treats:
Creepy Cupcakes: Transform traditional cupcakes into other worldly creations by decorating with eyeballs, spider webs or candy corn. Set up a decorating table during your Halloween party and let kids make their own creepy creations.
Mummy Wrap: Dress up your Halloween treats with themed baking cups. Pumpkins, mummies and ghosts are an instant way to give your party extra personality.
Try these recipes for Pumpkin Cake Pops and Graveyard Crouque-en-Bouche for a spook-tacular Halloween party. For more unique decorating ideas and recipes visit www.wilton.com.
Skull Cakes:
Makes 8 skulls
| 4 | cups all-purpose flour |
| 2 2/3 | cups granulated sugar |
| 1 | tablespoon ground cinnamon |
| 2 | teaspoons baking powder |
| 1 | teaspoon baking soda |
| 1/2 | teaspoon salt |
| 1/2 | teaspoon ground cloves |
| Pinch ground nutmeg | |
| 1-1/3 | cups vegetable oil |
| 4 | eggs |
| 2 | cups applesauce |
| Buttercream icing |
Preheat oven to 325ºF. Prepare Dimensions Mini Skull Pan with vegetable pan spray.
In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cloves and nutmeg. In small bowl, whisk together oil, eggs and applesauce. Add to dry ingredients, stirring until well combined. Fill each cavity about 2/3 full with 1/3 cup batter. Reserve remaining batter.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove to cooling grid and cool completely. Bake remaining batter as above.
To assemble, cut the domes off of fronts and backs of skulls and sandwich with buttercream icing.
Jolly Jack-o-Lantern Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
| 1 | cup (2 sticks) butter, softened |
| 1-1/2 | cups granulated sugar |
| 1 | egg |
| 1-1/2 | teaspoons vanilla extract |
| 1/2 | teaspoon almond extract (optional) |
| 2-3/4 | cups all-purpose flour |
| 1 | teaspoon salt |
| Light Green, Black, Red and Orange Sparkle Gel |
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray Easy Decorate Pumpkin Cookie Pan with vegetable pan spray.
In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg and extracts; mix well. Combine flour and salt; add to butter mixture. Beat until well blended. Press dough into cavities, filling 2/3 full.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown around edges. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn pan over; lightly tap pan to remove cookies. Cool completely on cooling grid.
Decorate cooled cookies with Sparkle Gel, using light green for stem; black for eyes, mouths and mustaches; red for tongue; and orange for remaining pumpkin areas. Let set, about 1/2 hour.