When I was a little girl my Mum made Halloween so much fun. We had very little money so things were tight and we had to make do with what we had. But in actual fact I think we had much more fun because of that. It’s easy to go out and buy or hire a Halloween costume, but to put one together from nothing at home is so much more exciting. Mum used to dress my sister and me up as witches, making dresses from black plastic dustbin sacks which she painted with gold and silver stars. We had matching tall witches hats made from cardboard and more black sacks. Then she’d paint our faces with make-up and off we’d go to join the other children in terrorising the neighbourhood. Everyone said we were the best dressed witches in town!
Then there would be the pumpkin carving, apple bobbin and the biscuit making we so looked forward to. Mum would make a huge pile of biscuits to give to the trick and treat-ers and of course we got some too. She’d make up little pots of coloured icing and paint the biscuits with moons, pumpkins, ghosts and witches. We’d help too and our messy creations would be added to the pile.
The whole thing brings back so many delightful memories and puts a smile on my face, so it’s in honour of my Mum that I’ve recreated those Halloween biscuits. Thanks for making it all so magical Mum, you’re still the best Mum in the world. xxx
Halloween Biscuits
Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
250g plain flour
A few drops of vanilla extract
150g icing sugar
Food colourings
1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in the vanilla extract.
3. Beat the egg and gradually add it to the butter and sugar.
4. Mix in the flour then bring everything together with your hands to form a dough.
5. The dough can be used straight away but is best after at least half an hour chilling in the fridge. It will be fairly sticky so you’ll need to roll it out on a floured surface and sprinkle over more flour as needed. Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/2 cm thick.
6. Cut out discs using a biscuit cutter
7. Bake the biscuits at 180C for about 10 minutes, but do keep an eye on them, they may need a few minutes less or longer. They should be very lightly golden when cooked.
8. Put the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.
8. To make the icing mix sifted icing sugar with a few tablespoons of hot water to make a thick paste. You can add more icing sugar to make it thicker, or thin it out with more hot water.
9. Divide the icing into separate bowls and mix in drops of food colouring.
10. Have fun decorating!
Makes about 20-25
