Halloween ghost biscuits and fruity treats

Fun facts about Halloween

• Halloween is a combination of several celebrations from different cultures and religions at various times in history.
• The first people to celebrate this holiday were the ancient Celtic people, who called it Samhain, which marked the end of harvest season. This was believed to be a time when the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred, and spirits visited the earth.
• People first started dressing in costumes so the spirits that visited would think they were also fellow spirits. 
• Food was left outside of people’s houses to ensure the spirits were happy, and to stop them from entering their house.

What did people eat traditionally?

Some of the typical foods the ancient Celtic people used to eat at the celebration of Samhain were the fruits of their harvesting labour. Some examples include:

• Turnips
• Apples and apple cider
• Mulled wine and ale
• Nuts
• Beef, pork, poultry, ale 

Today, with the evolution of Halloween into modern day trick-or-treating, kids usually knock on people’s doors to receive sweet treats like lollies or fruit.

Ghost biscuits

Ingredients

Biscuits

• Ghost cookie cutters (can also cut by hand if you prefer)
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar of your choice
• 1 small egg
• ½ tablespoon milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence

Icing

• 1½ cups icing sugar
• ⅛ cup milk, plus more for thinning
• 1 teaspoon cacao powder

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius, and line a large baking sheet with baking paper. 
2. In a large-sized bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In another large-sized bowl, beat the butter and sugar together, then add the egg, milk and vanilla essence and continue to beat until well mixed.
4. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, gradually stirring.
5. Gather with hands and shape into a ball, then wrap in cling wrap or a beeswax wrap and place into the fridge for 1 hour.
6. Place some flour onto a clean work surface and roll out the dough until it is about ½ cm thick. 
7. Using ghost cookie cutters, or by hand, cut out the biscuits. 
8. Re-roll scraps to cut out more biscuits until all the dough has been used. 
9. Place biscuits onto the prepared baking tray and freeze for 10 minutes to ensure they hold their shape.
10. Put biscuits into the oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until lightly golden. 
11. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
12. Prepare the icing by combining the icing sugar and milk in a medium-sized bowl, and stir until smooth. 
13. Remove 1 tablespoon of icing and put into a smaller bowl and stir in cacao powder. 
14. Once the biscuits have completely cooled, ice each biscuit with the white icing (use additional milk to thin the icing if need be) and let set.
15. Then using the cacao icing, pipe or hand ice the eyes and mouth onto each biscuit.

Fruity treats

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 2 mandarins
• 1 green bean
• 1 green apple
• 1 kiwi fruit
• 1 mango
• 1 packet black spelt licorice sticks
• 1 tablespoon nut butter
• Small handful of chocolate chips
• Small handful soy crisps
• Small handful pine nuts
• Small handful blueberries
• 2 yoghurt buttons

Directions

Use ingredients to make Halloween treats by following the photos, or use your imagination to make your own creations!