Halloween Ghosties Recipes

Steps:

• Beat butter in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
• Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a second bowl. Add flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture and mix to combine. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Dust a work surface with flour and roll out dough into a thin circle. Cut out tulip shapes; if your tulip cookie cutter has a stem, cut the stem off with a knife, so you have a stemless tulip shape. Arrange cut-out cookies on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from baking sheets carefully and transfer to wire racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
• Stir 1 cup confectioners' sugar and milk together in a small bowl until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more corn syrup if icing is too thick.
• Spoon icing into a piping bag with a small plain tip. Pipe icing around the edge of each cookie to create a border. Fill in the middle completely with icing. Stick 2 chocolate chip cookies into the wet icing for the eyes. Let cookies stand until icing dries, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Wash strawberries and gently pat with paper towels until completely dry. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt white chocolate and shortening at 50% power; stir until smooth. Stir in extract. , Dip strawberries in chocolate mixture; place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet, allowing excess chocolate to form the ghosts' tails. Immediately press chocolate chips into coating for eyes. Freeze 5 minutes., In microwave, melt remaining chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Dip a toothpick into melted chocolate and draw a mouth on each ghost. Refrigerate leftovers.

Steps:

• Butter, then line a 30 x 20cm Swiss roll tin with baking parchment. Melt the butter in a large non-stick saucepan. Tip in the marshmallows, then melt very gently for about 10 mins, stirring regularly to make sure they don't stick.
• Once smooth, stir in the cereal until all of the grains are coated. Spoon the mix into the tin, then press down to make it flat and smooth. Chill until cool and set. Can be made up to 2 days ahead.
• Make the ghost shapes two ways. Cut the cake into rectangles, then use a sharp knife to round off the tops and zig-zag the bottoms. Or, to make flying ghosts, stamp out circles about 9cm across and use a sharp knife to divide into teardrop-shaped ghosts. Cut pieces of leftover cake to make arms, if you like.
• Carefully push a lolly stick into the bottom of each ghost. Put onto a cooling rack. If you've made arms, stick them on using a little white chocolate, then spoon over more chocolate and paint it over and down the sides of the ghosts with a pastry brush. Leave to set. Pipe on eyes with the plain chocolate or icing.