Bake up a frightful Halloween!

Just because the annual tradition of Trick or Treating is off the table this year, it doesn’t mean you and your little ones can’t have some frightful fun.

We love Halloween at Mini Mixers and we always try to whip up some fantastic, spooky treats to keep everyone’s sweet tooth happy at this time of year.

In this month’s blog, I’ve decided to explore some of the ways you could have fun in the kitchen while staying safe, warm and well-fed! I’ve rounded up some ideas for making this year’s Halloween one to remember – for the right reasons – and some recipes and creative ideas to get the kids busy and happy in the kitchen.

Ways to enjoy Halloween without trick or treating

There are so many ways to celebrate Halloween without even venturing out onto the streets this year. With the global pandemic meaning we need to avoid the kind of contact that collecting sweets from our neighbours entails, why not bake up some truly terrifying treats to enjoy while you’re celebrating Halloween at home?

Host a Halloween Zoom gathering – whip out your favourite scary costumes, slap on the face paint and petrify your friends over an online meet up. If you get really organised you could even share a recipe with them in advance so you’re all enjoying the same sweet treats while you chat and play games.

Set up a Phantastic Photoshoot – Don’t waste your costumes this year – decorate yourselves and the house then stage a spooky photoshoot! You’ll have endless fun and create some lasting memories of Halloween 2020 to enjoy for years to come.

Snuggle up for a frightful film night – Whether you love a horrible horror or a cracking comedy, there are plenty of Halloween-themed films to enjoy as a family. Lock the door, turn off the lights, snuggle under a blanket and gather some treats to enjoy while you watch a film together.

Monstrous recipes to bake for Halloween…

Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without a mountain of tasty treats to enjoy together. We might not be able to venture out and trick everyone into treating us, but we can treat ourselves and have some family fun into the bargain.

Here are just a few of my favourite recipes to get your spooky fingers busy in the kitchen:

• Crispy pumpkins – Whip up a tasty batch of Rice Krispie Treats and colour the mix bright orange. Form them into pumpkin-shaped balls, add a green stalk to the top and ‘hocus pocus’ you have some putrid (delicious) pumpkins to devour…
• Chocolate chip spider cookies – This simple recipe can be turned into scary spider cookies for an extra dose of creepiness… have some fun with melted chocolate to add spider legs to every chocolate chip – then chomp them all to pieces!
• Halloween cobweb cake – Get yourself in a sticky mess making this gorgeous chocolate cake complete with cobwebs that will make your skin crawl… It’s sticky, it’s messy and it’ll scare even the most devoted Halloween fan!
• Mummy brownies – These frighteningly simple brownies will delight the kids. And all you need is your favourite brownie recipe, some white chocolate and some googly eyes – simple, delicious and monstrous!

Simple brownie recipe

INGREDIENTS

275g butter (softened)
375g caster sugar
4 eggs (large)
75g cocoa powder
100g self-raising flour
100g plain chocolate chips
150g white chocolate
Googly eyes

METHOD

PRE-HEAT THE OVEN TO 180C / 160 FAN / 375F AND PREPARE A 30 X 23 CM BAKING TIN

Butter or grease your baking tin. Once greased, line the base and sides with baking paper.

MEASURE OUT THE INGREDIENTS

Measure all the ingredients and add them to a large mixing bowl or freestanding mixer.

Before adding the butter cut it into small chunks.

MIX EVERYTHING TOGETHER

Mix everything together until it is well combined.

BAKE THE HALLOWEEN BROWNIES

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, using a spatula spread the mixture gently into the corners and level the top.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. It’s cooked when the top of the brownies have a nice crust or if you stick a skewer in the middle and it should come out clean. If it starts to look a bit brown on top, cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes.

Once they’re cooked, leave the brownies to cool in the tin then cut into 15 squares (or more/less if you want smaller/larger pieces.

Enjoy decorating your spooky brownies!

Why not put your imagination to the test and come up with something spooky, scary and frightful to bake and decorate this Halloween? There are so many recipes and amazing products out there – the only limit is your imagination. Share your creepy creations in the comments below – I’d love to see how you celebrate Halloween this year.