Caramel Crunch Toffee Apples

Toffee apples rolled in crunchy caramelised biscuit pieces, then drizzled with chocolate. Impress friends at your Halloween party or on Bonfire Night with this yummy and unique treat.

Ingredients

Serves: 6

• 6 dessert apples
• 6 wooden sticks
• 400g dairy toffees, unwrapped
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (250g) packet Lotus Caramelised Biscuits, roughly crushed
• 125g milk chocolate, chopped
• 125g white chocolate, chopped

Preparation method

Prep: 25 mins |Cook: 10 mins | Extra time: 10 mins

1.	Insert wooden sticks 3/4 of the way into the stem end of each apple. Place apples on a baking tray covered with lightly greased aluminium foil.
2.	Combine toffee and water in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring often, until toffee melts and is smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Dip each apple into the toffee and gently run apples around insides of saucepan to scrape off some of the toffee. Scrape excess toffee from the apple bottoms using the side of the saucepan.
3.	Spread the crushed biscuits out on a dinner plate. Roll toffee apples in the biscuits and place on the aluminium foil. Place the milk chocolate and white chocolate into separate microwave-safe bowls. Heat in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Drizzle milk chocolate over the apples, then drizzle the white chocolate over the milk chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Creamy Curry Pumpkin Soup

 Ingredients

Serves: 8

• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
• 30g butter
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 825g pumpkin puree
• 375ml single cream
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation method

Prep: 5 mins |Cook: 15 mins

1.	Preheat oven to 190 C / Gas 5. Arrange pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking tray. Toast in preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until seeds begin to brown.
2.	Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in flour and curry powder until smooth. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble. Gradually whisk in stock and cook until thickened. Stir in pumpkin and single cream. Season with soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring just to the boil, then remove from heat. Garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds. www.allrecipes.co.uk

Pumpkin Loaf Cake

Ingredients

200g (7 oz) plain flour

1 1/4 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

255g (9 oz) pureed pumpkin

200g (7 oz) dark brown soft sugar

110ml (4 fl oz) buttermilk

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, softened

Method:=

1.

Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4.

2.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl.

3.

Mix in the pumpkin, brown sugar, buttermilk, egg and butter until well blended. Pour into a 23x12cm (9x5 in) loaf tin and smooth the top.

4.

bake for 1 hour in preheated oven, or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Halloween Cupcakes

Ingredients

250g plain flour

200g sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

250ml vegetable oil

7 tablespoons honey or golden syrup

325g grated carrots

1 recipe cream cheese icing

orange food colouring paste

green food colouring paste

1 tube black writing icing

Method:-

1.

Preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4.

2.

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil and syrup. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in carrots. Fill a greased or paper-lined muffin tin 2/3 full.

3.

bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from tin to wire rack.

4.

Meanwhile, make the icing according to recipe. Take 2/3 of the icing and ice the cooled cakes. Divide the remaining icing, colouring 1/3 green and 2/3 orange.

5.

Using a icing bag or a plastic bag with the corner cut off, pipe the orange icing onto the iced cupcakes, making a round pumpkin shape. Doing the same with the green icing, make a little stem and leaf at the top of each pumpkin. Draw faces onto the pumpkins with the black writing icing.