Halloween Recipe: Witch's Fingers
What could be more fun at Halloween than a bit of spooky baking,?! These fingers are just the bake for Halloween - they are tasty and creepy at the same time, and will bring the creative side out in you and your children.
Ingredients
110g plain flour
75g butter or hard margarine: leave in the fridge until needed.
75g grated cheese (use a strong cheese for good flavour)
2-3 tablespoons milk
1-2 teaspoons green pesto (optional seasoning)
How to Make
1. Preheat the oven to gas 5 or 190oc (fan 170oc).
2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
3. Place the flour into a bowl. Chop the butter into cubes and add it to the flour.
4. Pick up some flour and butter and rub it between your fingertips. Keep rubbing the mixture between your fingertips until it starts to look like breadcrumbs.
5. Add the grated cheese and season to taste.
6. Mix the pesto (if using) into the milk and mix well.
7. Add this milk to the cheesy mixture and mix well with a spoon until it forms a soft ball.
TIP: Always add liquid slowly - you can always add more if needed. Adding too much is hard to correct.
8. Add a little more milk if it is not sticking together.
9. Give the ball of dough a good squeeze (if it is too wet, it will be too soft to make fingers).
10. Cut the dough in half, then each half into 5 pieces. You now have 10 pieces in total. Each half is a hand!
11. Sprinkle the worktop with a little flour.
12. Take a piece of dough between your palm, roll it up and down to create a sausage shape.
13. Roll all the pieces into 8 finger shapes and 2 thumbs, so you have 2 hands. Or make them all fingers if you want!
TIP: They don’t have to be all straight and the same size, you can have some short, long, bendy or nobbily – get creative!
14. Place them on the baking tray, a little apart as they spread.
15. Place your chosen nails near the top of each finger. [ARROW TO NAIL IDEAS] Press it down a little, so it doesn’t pop out whilst baking.
16. Make markings with a spoon on the fingers for the knuckles.
17. Place them in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes.
18. Remove from the oven, leave to cool for a couple of minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack.
NAIL IDEAS:
Cocktail Sausages: Chop sausages into rounds or cut them down the middle for long nails!
Peppers: If you get all colours of peppers, you can create a rainbow of nails. Cut them into triangles to have really pointy nails!
Pepperoni: Brown spotty nails here we come! Tear the pepperoni up and the nails will look all jagged - maybe the witch has been nibbling those nails!
Tomatoes: Cut baby plum or cherry tomatoes in half and create red squashy nails on top.
VARIATIONS:
* Flavour the mix with a sprinkle of paprika.
* Add bits of spring onions or pepper to make warts on the fingers.
* Add fresh herbs such as parsley and chives to make green, speckled fingers.
Thanks to Angie Johnson at Mrs Bun the Baker Cookery School for this fab recipe from her new cookery book, Make Bake Celebrate.