Oh what to do about Halloween? It's a bit of a dilemma in NZ. As a country we don't have a tradition of Halloween; yet our children, possibly with the aid of advertising, just can't help themselves but want to engage with it. Where else does dress ups, theatre and candy combine so beautifully?
Anyway, Little Miss really wanted to go trick or treating this year, but I just wasn't happy with going around our neighbours effectively demanding candy when no one in our street really pays any attention to Halloween. Having heard about reverse trick or treating last year, we thought we'd give it a go. Reverse trick or treating is when you go around giving the treats to your neighbours, rather than expecting to be the recipient. We're always looking for opportunities to encourage our only child's generosity, so this was the perfect scheme.
With a ghosty theme in mind, I made these Raspberry Ghost Meringues and some delicious Chocolate truffles to share with our neighbours. They are super easy to make and gluten free.
Raspberry Ghost Meringues
4 egg whites
a pinch of cream of tartar
1 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 teaspoon raspberry extract
2 tablespoons berry jelly crystals
Preheat the oven to 120deg. C. and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Carefully separate the eggs to avoid contaminating the whites with any egg yolk, as this would prevent the whites from foaming up as they should. Add the pinch of cream of tartar to the whites and with the whisk attachment to the beater, beat until soft peaks form. Add the caster sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time. Beat well in between each addition. The mixture will become smooth and glossy. Beat until firm peaks hold when the whisk attachment is raised from the mixture.
Add the cornflour, beating briefly and slowly until it is combined.
Take the bowl from the mixer. Add the raspberry extract and jelly crystals to the mix.
Using a spatula, fold the mixture just once.
That way the raspberry is marbled through the mixture.
Gently spoon the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle.
Pipe the meringues straight down onto the tray, squeezing the bag in 'jolts' so they form little round rolls in the sides.
Leave a gap between each meringue on the tray as they will spread a little.
Bake the meringues for 2 hours until they are crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle. At this stage turn the oven off and open the oven door. Leave them in the cooling oven for another half hour.
Once they are cold, melt some chocolate, and using a skewer or toothpick, dab two eyes onto each ghost meringue.
We packaged our treats up in cellophane bags, wrote out some little cards, then off to visit our neighbours.
Everyone was thrilled to receive our little gift. It was a lovely way for us to catchup with our neighbours, no-one felt pressured because they didn't have sweets in the house, and our little blossom was so happy spreading a little joy around our street. Definitely a tradition we'll be doing again next year.
After two crazy busy weeks it was great to return to NZ for a couple of days of down time and a bit of quality catch up with some buddies. Always on the look out for more delicious dessert ideas, and with a few lemons languishing in the fruit bowl, I decided to adapt the ever popular Sticky Lemon Slice into a dessert. Behold, the Sticky Lemon Tart; complete with Meringues on top - Little Miss and her buddies loved eating the spare meringues with jelly.
Sticky Lemon Tart
Tart Case
130g plain flour
40g icing sugar
120g butter
Cream the butter and icing sugar together, then fold in the flour.
Find yourself a 25cm fluted loose botton tin, then spread the batter evenly around the bottom and sides of the tin.
The batter is very soft, so just take your time spreading it evenly.
Now take a sheet of baking foil and gently press it into the tin to hold the batter in place.
Chill in the fridge for half an hour.
Heat the oven to 200deg. C. and bake the tart shell for 15 minutes.
Take the tin from the oven and gently remove the foil.
Return the half cooked tart shell to the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes.
Lemon filling
180g caster sugar
2 whole eggs plus 2 extra egg yolks - reserve the extra egg whites to make the meringues
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
the zest and juice of 4 lemons
While the tart shell is baking make the filling:
Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and beat briefly until combined.
Pour the filling into the hot baked tart shell and return to the oven.
Turn the oven down to 160deg. C. and bake for approximately 45 minutes until set. Once cooked it will still have some wobble in the filling.
The filling will have puffed up, but will fall on cooling.
Meringues
2 egg whites
a pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup caster sugar
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks appear. While continuing to beat the whites, add the caster sugar a little at a time until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy.
Place tablespoon lots onto a lined tray and pop into the oven with the tart. Cook until dried out and crispy.
To assemble the tart: Once cool, use a mug or small bowl to sit the base of the tart onto, then pull the sides of the tart tin down to free the tart.
Leave the tart tin base in place and put the whole thing onto a serving plate.
Whip 200ml of cream until stiff. Spread the cream into the tart, then top with a stack of the meringues, find some plates and a knife, call up your buddies and serve.
We had a lovely party on Sunday. Little Miss 4 had a wonderful time with her buddies. They were entertained by Melanie Poppins with face painting, balloon toys, the party rabbits, entertaining puppets and a magic show.
Everyone enjoyed the hospitality. The chef made the sandwiches and sushi - and the impressive centre piece made of fruit and vegetable flowers. I wondered what he was doing carving at a melon, and low and behold, he pops this impressive vegetable arrangement on the table!
This is a small sample of the sweets - with more goodies outside on the children's table.
Little Miss 4 wanted a Barbie Mermaid cake. I made a Carrot Cake using my usual recipe and decorated it with Cream Cheese Icing sprayed with green cake decorating spray. I couldn't bring myself to colour the whole batch of icing green. The image of green tongued little people leaving the party was too terrible to contemplate. I covered the Barbie with pink tinged Bakels Pattinice White Icing to form her tail and bodice. The children all wanted a slice of the tail!
Happy little party girl making friends with one of the party rabbits. We all had a lovely party; thanks to all our wonderful guests for sharing a great party afternoon with us.
