Halloween Recipes

Here are the recipes for the Halloween treats (all from the Food Network website):

Maple Cinnamon Spider Web Fitters

Vegetable Oil for frying

1 1/2 C flour

1 T sugar

3/4 t baking powder

3/4 t cinnamon

1/8 t salt

3/4 C milk

1 egg

1 T maple syrup, plus 1/4 C for brushing

1/2 C confectioners' sugar

Pour enough oil in a large skillet so it's about 1 inch deep. Heat oil until hot (280 to 300 degrees)

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk, egg, and 1 T flour. Whisk until smooth.

Put into a pastry bag with a #3 or 4 tip. Squeeze batter into hot oil in spider web shapes (or whatever-names were fun). Cook until brown, about 2 minutes, turn and cook about 1 more minute. Transfer to paper towels and brush with syrup and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Caramel Pear Mice

4 small ripe pears (I would use apples next time)

wooden skewers for tails (or straws, or whatever you have at your house!)

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C brown sugar

3/4 C dark brown scorn yrup

4 T butter

1 C heavy cream, divided

1 t vanilla

1/4 t nutmeg

pinch salt

Black sesame seeds for eyes and candies for nose

Line a pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Cut pears. Blunt side so they stand up on their own. Put in tails.

Combine sugars, corn syrup, butter, 1/2 C cream, vanilla, nutmeg and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Slowly add remaining cream while stirring, keeping it at a boil. Cook over medium high heat until it reaches 240 F, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let sit a couple of minutes. Dip pears in caramel and add eyes and nose before the caramel hardens.

If the caramel gets to hard to dip, microwave at 20 second intervals to soften it up.

Ghostly Pumpkin Pudding

1 pkg gelatin

2 C whole milk

1 C sugar

6 egg yolks (resever 2 whites for topping)

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

1 can pumpkin puree

Topping:

2 egg whites

1/3 C sugar

1/2 t cream of tartar

1 pinch salt

Pudding: Put 1 T cold water in a large bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over the surface. Do not stir. Set aside until gelatin softens.

Bring a few inches of water to a boil in pan that can hold a bowl above the water. Whisk milk, sugar, yolks, cannamon and salt in a heat-proof bowl. Put above the boiling water and cook, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon and almost boils, 10-12 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and pour over the gelatin, whisking constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Whisk in pumpkin until combined. Divide mixture into small cups and refrigerate about 4-8 hours.

Topping: Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a mixing bowl above the water. Whisk the two egg whites, sugar, cream of tarter, and salt in the bowl by hand. Set about the boiling water and until mixture is hot to the touch, about 1 to 2 minutes. Bear with a mixer (or the whisk attachment on your mixer) until eggs hold a stiff peak, about 5 minutes. Put topping onto puddings. Decorate with candy eyes and refrigerate.