Ghoulish Goodies: Pretzel 'Fingers'

Lo these many years ago, my roommates and I threw a Halloween party. I baked goodies--lots and lots of them, and we invited all my one roommate's fellow Psych grad students. One of them was a handsome man who later became my husband. I dressed as a saloon girl, he dressed as...a hot guy, I guess, and the rest is history.

I like to think my appropriately creepy snacks had something to do with winning him over. The cooking's definitely helped keep him around since!

Delicious!

Amongst the offerings were these little beauties: pretzels transformed into fingers with the judicious use of almonds and red food colouring. Easy to make, particularly if you regularly make pretzels anyway, as I do, and excellent for atmosphere. These made their way to my office Halloween party, where they went over like gangbusters. I like to be able to surprise people.

Pretzel 'Fingers'

1 batch sourdough pretzel dough, rested for 3 hours
Skinless almonds
Food colouring of your choice (I usually go with red)

Bring a pan full of water to the boil and add 2T bicarbonate of soda. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C.

While that's heating up, cut the rested dough into manageable pieces, roll each piece into a long log, and cut it into 2.5-3" sections. Roll them slightly at one end so it comes to a rounded point.

Using a small, sharp knife, insert the tip into the almonds and split them in half lengthwise. This is a bit fiddly and you can skip it if you like, but I find the whole almonds a bit bulky to make a really great fingernail and prefer to use halves.

Boil the fingers for about 30 seconds each. I advise only doing a couple at a time, so you have a chance to press on the nails before they cool and firm up too much.

After you pull the fingers out of the water, let them cool slightly, and press the almond into the rounded end, pushing firmly so it sinks into the dough and looks like a nail.

Bake the fingers for 20 minutes for softer pretzels, 35-40 minutes for hard. Cool on a wire rack.

Using a paintbrush you keep only for food, paint the nails with food colouring. It may take a few coats for them to look quite right--I think mine took 3. Let them dry thoroughly and dig in!

Ghoulish Goodies: Marshmallow Ghosts

I love making homemade marshmallows. For one thing, they're fabulous. If you've only ever tried the store-bought kind, make these just once so you can taste the difference. Like night and day. For another thing, they're a great example of kitchen alchemy, and since I'm a tiny bit of a closet science nerd, I love me some kitchen alchemy.

Yummy!

It's hard to believe that this awful-looking, brownish, liquid mass is going to turn into glorious, fluffy, white marshmallows.

Getting there...

You refuse to believe it, even as you watch the beater spin, and then all of a sudden--BOOM! You've got marshmallow fluff! And after a couple of hours of setting, you've got the best damn accompaniment to hot chocolate, chocolate fondue, or s'mores you've ever tried. So, so worth it.

Hey! Look at that!

So, it's nearly Halloween, and one of my friends sent a picture of a fabulous little cake adorned with piped marshmallow ghosts. She suggested I try these out for our little office Halloween party and, of course, I rose to the challenge. And quite a challenge it was: I didn't beat the marshmallow quite long enough, so the first couple of ghosties collapsed into Hershey kiss-shaped puddles. The middle batch were great, but by the time I piped the last few, the marshmallow had set too much and they came out less like fluffy ghosts and more like, well, dog poo, if we're being honest. Those I just cut up into little discs for tossing in cocoa, but the others got some faces painted on and are ready for their close-up at the office tomorrow.

Coming soon to a party near yoooooooou!

Marshmallow Ghosts*

1 packet gelatine
1/3 cup cold water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
Black gel food colouring

1. Dissolve the gelatine in 1/3 cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit for at least 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and remaining water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches a temperature of 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

3. Fit the mixer with a whisk and start it up to get the gelatine moving. While the mixer is going, carefully pour the hot sugar syrup into the bowl. Raise the mixer speed to high and let it go for 8-10 minutes, until the mixture turns white and fluffy and holds soft peaks.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large, round tip. Working quickly, pipe out little ghosts (don't get too ambitious--if they're too tall, they'll topple right over). I found that piping a good, fat, solid base before gradually moving upwards helped.

5. Let the ghosties dry for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Once set, paint little faces on using the food colouring and a small paintbrush used only for food.

Cyclops is Husby's favourite

*Warning: This is not for the faint of heart or the compulsively neat. Marshmallows are messy, and you do run the risk of being burned with hot sugar if you're not careful. The first bit can be tackled with plenty of hot water, the second with plenty of cold.

Recipe source: http://lollyssweettreats.com/

Things You Won't See in the States

The U.S. and the U.K. share a lot of things--a common language (mostly), part of a shared history, slang, music and entertainment, most large companies. But then there are moments where you see something you never saw stateside, and you realize you're in a totally different place now. Things like:

Someone unicycling up Inverleith Terrace in the morning (not that there probably aren't people unicycling in cities in the U.S., but I've never seen one

Roomy cabs driven by people who aren't on the phone all the time

Bagpipers playing the Star Wars theme and We Will Rock You (you'd be surprised how well both those songs work on the bagpipe)

Cheap candies all flavoured with actual fruit

Wellies as fashion statements, even on sunny days

Clotted cream ice cream from Devon

Actual castles in the middle of bustling towns and cities

A man in a sweatshirt, work boots, and a khaki kilt just chilling with friends at a pub

Red phone boxes that people are fiercely proud of and will actually protect

Major museums with free admission (and by that I mean--all the major museums are free)

Pudding bowls for sale in every cookery store

Heated towel racks in every residential bathroom

Teeny tiny combination washer/dryers in your flat

This is an incomplete list I'm sure I'll be adding to, but in the meantime, feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

And just in case you didn't believe what I said about We Will Rock You working on the bagpipes...