Annabel Karmel: Halloween recipes

If you’re looking for a frightfully tasty dinner before heading out trick-or-treating, then I have just the recipe for your wicked feast.

In my house Halloween is a great time to get creative in the kitchen. My kids love to help out with baking and decorating by morphing cookies into monsters, veggies into skeletons and cupcakes into pumpkins. The menu is endless.

After dinner when your little monsters are full, then it’s time to get on their spooky costumes and venture outside to scare the neighbours.

Happy Halloween!

Skeleton Vegetable Dip

Ingredients

¼ cucumber, sliced

½ carrot, peeled

3 mushrooms, sliced

2 sticks celery

1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced

2 broccoli florets

A handful of cress

1 black pitted olive, sliced

Sweet chilli and sour cream dip

100g cream cheese

100g sour cream

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (or to taste)

1 tsp lime juice

Method

1. First, make the dip.

2. Beat the cream cheese until smooth, then beat in the sour cream, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice.

3. Cover and chill until needed.

4. Arrange the vegetables on a board to make the skeleton, as shown. (Save a little of the carrot and pepper for the face.

5. Transfer the dip to a small bowl and add the cress, olive slices, carrot and pepper to make the face.

Bones have never tasted so good!

Makes 1 skeleton

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

225g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

125g butter softened

125g caster sugar

Quarter tsp salt

1 egg

200 ml milk

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

100g sultanas

125g pumpkin, peeled and grated

1 tub ready-made buttercream

Orange food colouring

Chocolate flavoured Writing icing

150 g ready to roll white icing

Green food colouring

Brown food colouring

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C Fan. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.

2. Measure all of the ingredients into a free standing electric mixer. Whisk until blended. Spoon into the cases.

3. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until well risen and lightly golden on top.

4. Remove the muffins from the muffin tin and leave on a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Meanwhile colour two thirds of the ready to roll icing green and two thirds brown. Roll out the green icing and shape into 12 leaves, use a toothpick to draw the veins on the leaves. Shape the brown icing into 12 stalks.

6. Colour the buttercream orange and spread the icing over the cupcakes.

7. Decorate with eyes, noses and mouths using the chocolate flavoured writing icing and then add the leaves and stalks to the pumpkins.

Makes 12 muffins

More Halloween recipes

For Mummy Meatloaf, Meringue Bones and more fantastic Halloween recipes from Annabel, visit annabelkarmel.com.

If you’re looking for the perfect pre-trick or treat dinner, then check out Annabel’s delicious toddler meals at annabelkarmel.com. Low in salt, and a tasty way towards their 5-a-day, they’re quick to prepare ahead of a busy night of witchcraft. Even better news; they’re just £1.50 at Tesco until 3^rdNovember.