Creative Halloween Treats

These creative Halloween treats are so cute! I’ve never made anything like this before, have you?

The Baked Cheese Mummies are from oliviascuisine. Takes 20 minutes and makes 14 mummies

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets thawed puff pastry
• 14 Mini Babybel® cheeses (wax removed)
• ⅓ cup honey or your favorite jam
• Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water
• 28 candy eyes or mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Place the puff pastry sheets on a counter dusted with flour. Roll the sheets into a rough 11-inch square. No need to get out a ruler; it's fine to estimate. Then, with a pastry cutter or sharp knife, cut each sheet into 9 squares. Reserve 4 of these squares for the mummy bandages.

Drizzle the top of each cheese with some honey (or jam) and lay them, honey size down, on the puff pastry squares. Using the pastry cutter (or knife), cut the edges of the squares, making a circle.

Fold the pastry over each cheese, forming a neat package, using your fingers to gently press the edges together. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, seam side down.

Cut around 12 strips (bandages) out of the 4 remaining squares. Wrap the strips around each cheese, stretching and trimming as needed.

Brush the mummies all over with the egg wash and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the mummies are golden brown.

Decorate with the candy eyes or mini chocolate chips and serve warm!

The Cheddar Pumpkin Appetizers are from Tablespoon. Takes 30 minutes and makes 8 pumpkins.

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons smoked cheddar cold pack cheese food (8oz container), well chilled
2 teaspoons finely chopped peanuts
4 butter-flavored pretzel spindles or sticks, broken in half
16 tiny pieces of fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

Line a small serving plate with waxed paper. Roll each level tablespoon cold pack cheese food into a ball, place on the waxed paper and refrigerate 10-15 minutes for easier handling. With the end of a toothpick draw ridgesaround the balls to resemble pumpkins. Dip bottoms of cheese ball in chopped peanuts. Just before serving insert pretzel halves into cheese ball to resemble pumpkin stem and add parsley for leaves. Store in refrigerator.


The Cheesy Pumpkin Puffs are a bit more complicated then the first two. From the Food Network, serves 12 with a total time of 1 hour and 10 minutes. You need a 4” pumpkin cookie cutter.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, minced
1 cup grated raw pumpkin (from one 8 oz piece, peeled)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
Kosher salt
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup shredded American cheese
1/2 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
2 17 oz boxes of frozen puff pastry (4sheets) thawed
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1 large egg, beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Filling: heat olive oil in a large skillet over med/high heat, add the red onion and cook until almost tender and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the grated pumpkin, cilantro, ginger, garam masala and a pinch of kosher salt. Continue to cook until the pumpkin is tender then transfer to a large bowl and let cool completely.

When cooled add all the cheese, stir and season with salt. Unfold the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. With your 4” pumpkin cookie cutter, cut out 24 pumpkins and arrange half of them on the prepared baking sheet. With the secon half cut out jack-o’-lantern faces using a paring knife. Heap 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each pumpkin on the baking sheet, then brush egg wash around the edges. Put the remaining puff pastry pumpkins (the ones with the faces) on top and seal the edges with a fork. Brush with remaining egg wash and bake until golden brown and puffed, 20-25 minutes. Yum Yum!

What is garam masala? It is the Indian equivalent of French herbes de Provence or Chinese five-spice powder.  Make Your Own Garam Masala: 1 part cumin plus 1/4 part allspice.