Halloween: Witch's Fingers

 

So it's that time of year again, when witches ghosts and zombies are on the loose. Luckily I managed to capture a witch before she could cast a spell on the mama deer household, and off with her fingers! They just so happened to be quite tasty, what a lucky coincidence. 

For the biscuits, I used a Linda McCartney recipe for chocolate crescents as she called them. As follows:

140g plain flour

50g unrefined caster sugar

pinch of sea salt

85g butter

50g milk chocolate, grated

1-2 tbsp milk

In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar and salt together. Rub in the butter and work it with your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the chocolate and continue to work the mixture until it forms a  smooth dough, adding a little milk if necessary. 

Roll out the dough thinly on a floured surface and cut it into the desired shapes. Bake on a greased baking tray at 160C for 18-20 mins. Allow to cool on a wire rack. 

This is quite a simple and easy recipe to work with, perfect to do with kids. However, I found the "dough" did not come together with 1-2 tbsps of milk, I reckon I needed maybe 5 or 6 to get it into a dough I could work with.When it does come together, its quite sticky, wet and messy. 

When the biscuits were ready, I let them cool, while melting some Green and Blacks white chocolate in a double boiler. I found working with white chocolate a little more difficult than regular milk. To melt, I brought the water to a boil, before turning to a low heat. The chocolate needs to be stirred constantly to bring it to a melting state. Make sure no moisture gets into it, or it will seize up into a claggy mess. If this does happen, it can be rescued by adding a tsp of sunflower oil at a time while constantly stirring. When I finally got to a molten chocolate lake in a bowl, dipped in my biscuits and then transferred to the fridge to chill. 

Finally for the blood and knobbly knuckles look, I mashed up some blackberries in a bowl and drizzled over, along with some of the juice. The white chocolate and the blackberries, go really well together, the tartness of the berries cuts through the sweetness of the white chocolate.

These are a little messy to make, so kids will love them! They also have the gross out factor, another bonus as kids grind away on the crunchy biscuits like old bones and blood. Happy Halloween!