3 Halloween Recipes

Get the Halloween shivers with these bat cookies, skull or carrot cupcakes. Or do you prefer long witch fingers with bloody almond nails?

These delicious treats are great alternatives for those who prefer to avoid Snickers and M&M’s on Halloween. Something home-made is sooo much better…right?

Halloween is thought to have originated in Ireland at around 4000 before Christ. There, Halloween was not celebrated with bat cookies and carrot pies. On the contrary. The Celts did not look forward to Halloween because they believed that they were visited by ghosts and spirits on the last day of October. And to keep those ghosts out of their homes, they would put food and drinks by their front door.

Halloween is now something completely different. In the U.S. it has become the 2^nd largest holiday of the year after Christmas.

Children – and more and more often adults as well – dress up on Halloween as creepy characters and creatures and the dining tables at home are decorated with the typical Halloween colours orange and black.

And if all is well, some delicious home-made treats , like these Halloween desserts from our Amanvida chef Maxime, will also be on the dining table.

Orange Halloween Carrot or Creepy Skull Cupcakes

Did you know that carrots are rich in Vitamin D and Vitamin A? And that eating carrots can improve your sight? Improved sight may come in handy on such a creepy evening as Halloween, right?! Because you probably want to keep a sharp eye on everything….

So never hesitate to add those grated carrots to your pastries, not just for Halloween.

Carrots make your pastries sweeter, richer in fibre and healthier. And they taste the best when combined with coconut blossom sugar.

Use this recipe for the Orange Halloween Carrot Cupcakes, or to make Creepy Skull Cupcakes. You choose.

Ingredients for the batter

500 ml orange juice
150 ml extra virgin coconut oil
200 g Gula Java Brut (coconut blossom sugar)
1 tsp vanilla powder
1 tsp cinnamon
50 g raisins
50 g nuts
400 g whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
250 g grated carrots

Ingredients Halloween Icing

250 g powdered sugar
50 g Gula Java Fin
250 g butter
1 tsp vanilla powder
3 tbsp milk
125 g grated carrots

Preparation of the batter

Pre-heat the oven at 180 °C.

In a bowl, mix the orange juice, coconut oil, coconut blossom sugar and vanilla together.

Chop the nuts into small pieces and put them in a separate bowl, together with the raisins, the cinnamon, the flour and the salt.

Add the liquid ingredients and slowly mix with the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Finally, add the grated carrots and stir.

Divide the batter across 24 cupcake forms or fill a baking tin.

Bake for 25 to 65 minutes. The time needed to bake depends on the used baking mould.

To prepare the Halloween icing

Mix the powdered sugar, the Gula Java Fin, the butter, vanilla and milk to a creamy substance.

Remove any moisture where possible from the grated carrots and add to the mixture. Add more powdered sugar or butter if the icing has becoming too liquid or wet.

Use a star-tipped piping bag to ice the cupcakes.

Bat Cookies

In mythology, bats are flying beings with eternal lives because they drink the blood of humans. The thought alone, makes us shiver!

Luckily there are no bloodsucking bats in Europe.

At Amanvida we like bats in the form of cookies much better, preferably drenched in delicious chocolate.

Ingredients for bat cookies

200 g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
25 g extra virgin coconut oil (melted)
225 g Gula Java Fin
1 egg
½ tsp Khoisan fleur de sel
1 tsp vanilla powder
450gr whole wheat flour

Preparation of Bat Cookies

Pre-heat the oven at 180 °C.

Put the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Cream (beat) until light and airy. Add a little bit of the coconut oil.

Add the egg, the salt and vanilla powder and beat again.

Add the flour and keep mixing until you have a sugary dough.

Make a ball out of the dough and wrap in foil. Let it sit in the refrigerator for several hours until firm.

Sprinkle flour onto the counter and your rolling pin so it doesn’t stick. Roll out the dough until it is approx. ½ cm thick.

Use cookie moulds to shape the cookies.

Place the cookies onto a baking tray.

Place the baking tray in the middle of the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.

Let cookies cool. Spread chocolate onto the cookies or dunk them into melted chocolate.

Long Witch Fingers with Bloody Almond Nails

In the very early days, witches were thought of as wise women who could heal you with their natural potions.

Today, the word ‘witch’ makes one think about mean women from Disney movies. You know, those characters with warts on their nose, a long black pointy hat, a broom and bony fingers with dirty, long nails.

Our tip: dress up as a witch on Halloween and share these Long Witch Fingers with your friends.

Ingredients for long witch fingers

226 g softened butter (not melted)
100 g powdered sugar
15 g Gula Java Fin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla powder
100 g whole wheat flour
67 g coconut flour
1 tsp Khoisan fleur de sel
100 g blanched almonds
118-250 g strawberry jam

Preparation of Long Witch Fingers

Mix (cream) the butter, powdered sugar and Gula Java Fin. Add the vanilla powder and the egg and beat.

Add the whole wheat flour and coconut flour, as well as the salt.

Mix everything well and cover with a dish towel. Place in the fridge for 40 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 165°C.

Take ¼ of the dough and roll into finger shapes, approximately the size of your pinkie. Add an almond to the top, to create the finger nail, and press. Form a knuckle by squeezing and moulding the dough. Use a knife to make the notches and creases.

Place on a baking tray with parchment paper and leave at least 1 cm between each finger. Repeat with the rest of the dough until the baking tray is full.

Bake for 17 to 22 minutes until lightly golden brown. Let the cookies cool.

Take the almonds off of the cookies. Add some strawberry jam on the ‘nail bed’ and put the almond back onto the finger.

You can also add some jam in the grooves or creases of the fingers to make them appear extra bloody. Use the rest of the jam as dip.

Post a picture of your own Halloween creations, use #amanvidahalloween and who knows, you might win a gift card of € 12,50.