Showing all posts tagged zucca

Halloween’s not much of an Italian festivity. We have carnival, we have other days. Yet, little by little, with the help of TV shows and movies and lots of advertising from companies that just needed another occasion to sell their stuff, Halloween has become a sort of new celebration, especially among the youngest. My nieces will attend their second-year-in-a-row party tomorrow night, and asked for something to bring. Lots of things, and so little time. What’s better than spooky cookies and a muffin along the way?
The dough for the cookies is just the same pastry, just need some invention to shape it differently. For the dough you need:
650 gr of flour (keep some more at hand, if the dough ‘s too wet you may need to add some more)
200 gr sugar
8 gr baking powder
4 eggs
150 gr vegetable oil
Put the eggs in a bowl and mix them with the sugar, then the baking powder and then the oil. Try to avoid any lumps. After that, little by little, add the flour. The dough is to become more solid as you pour the flour in. When it becomes less sticky, put it onto a pastry board, sprinkled with flour. Keep on kneading untile the dough is well elastic and smooth.
Then use your fantasy and start forming the cookies. For the skulls you may need a dough cutter (or a teacup) and a rolling pin. The dough must be half centimeter thick approximately.
Cut as many circles as you like, then pinch the lower part to form the jaw of the skull.
Use a fork prong or similar to form the eyes and the nose, as for the teeth I have used pine nuts.
For the witch fingers cookies use the same dough, forming little fingers by rolling bits of dough between your hands. For the nail, use a peeled almond. Mark the finger lines using a fork prong. if you want to add abit of spookiness, use any sort of jam – but it needs to be a red one (cranberries, cherries, anything you like). you can put some (very little actually) under the almons and at the basis of the finger.
Both skulls and fingers will bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pumpkin muffins are just as easy, and you need
250 gr flour
120 gr sugar
125 ml milk
80 ml vegetable oil
2 eggs
16 gr baking powder
cinammon

Put in a bowl the baking powder, the flour and the cinammon (the quantity depends on your personal taste. I added half a teaspoon, you may want to add a full teaspoon). Stir well and then form a hole in the middle of the dry powders. where you’ll pour milk, oil and the eggs. Whisk everything and avoid the unwanted lumps (I use a food processor). Once the dough is smooth, add the blended pumpkin.
Pour the dough in the wrappers and then into the over at 180 degrees for the usual 15/20 minutes.
If you want a nice topping you may use the cheese cream I did with
200 gr fresh cheese
120 gr icing sugar
80’ gr butter
and some food coloring. Whisk the chees eand the sugar, and after it is well amalgamated add the butter (it must be soft but not melted). I used a pastry bag for the decorations.
Happy Halloween!!