I have to say, I don’t celebrate Halloween myself.
I try my best not to celebrate any national holidays if I can.
I just don’t believe in celebrating because I have permission once a year.
I’d rather celebrate something that is meaningful to me, casually, whenever I choose!
Things like……..Monster Truck Day or Red Pandas Are The Most Adorable Creatures On The Planet Day.
Now those are worth celebrating!
In the last couple of years though when it comes to Halloween I have tried my best to make some themed recipes for you all to try.
A lot of the time this involves decoration which I wouldn’t say I’m horrible at but it is one of those things I don’t really enjoy, too much patience involved!
Still, secretly I do enjoy going out of my comfort zone, putting a little arty flare into something and standing back and thinking “It actually came out quite well!”, it seems to be becoming a Halloween tradition for me!
Last year, I shared my recipe for eye-catching biscuits, learning a lot myself along the way with it being my first try at icing biscuits.
This year, there is still decorating involved BUT if you have children, this can be a fun activity for them to enjoy.
Unfortunately I don’t have children.
So this years decoration still comes down to me!
Now, this idea is my own though who knows, it might have been done before…..
Mini Doughnut Pops!
I have heard so much about cake pops, frankly I was getting sick of seeing them.
I haven’t even made or eaten one but the amount of books, equipment and people making them is something that even me, someone out of the loop, can’t help but notice!
So, using a mini doughnut pan to make some baked doughnuts I came up with the idea to decorate them and put them on sticks for a tasty Halloween snack!
Now the beauty of these of course is that you can make the doughnuts, place them in a dish, hand your kids the icing and sprinkles and let them have a little fun with their creations!
I used some icing I made, coloured orange, to stick on an assortment of sprinkles, edible glitter crystals, coloured balls and even a crushed up Crunchie bar to give my doughnuts a creepy feel but you could use just about anything you like!
For the red and green decorations I used some “festive” edible decorations which proved easier to find than Halloween themed ones!
One idea I didn’t use here which the kids might like is threading gummy worms through the doughnut holes.
I have to say gummy sweets and doughnuts just don’t do it for me though, yuk!
I find all of these decorations get all the more harrowing when you use your imagination and think of horrible names for them like my crunchy spider leg doughnuts for instance or my creepy pustule doughnuts, gross I know!
Now, for a few technical notes.
The mini doughnut pan I used for this is absolutely tiny, it makes 20 doughnuts a time, each with just 1 teaspoon of mixture.
If you can’t get a pan that makes doughnuts this small remember you will get less doughnuts and make sure to up your cooking time!
Pepper’s Baked Halloween Mini Doughnut Pops
Makes 48 tiny doughnuts
Ingredients
For the doughnuts
75g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
55g caster sugar
60ml milk
1 medium egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vegetable oil plus extra for greasing
For the decoration
For the icing
100g icing sugar
2 tablespoons water
Food colouring of choice to colour
For the toppings
Chocolate Sprinkles
1 Cadbury’s Crunchie bar
Red & green balls
Red & green edible glitter crystals
Essential equipment
Mini Doughnut pan
Lollipop/cake pop sticks
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°c.
Grease the doughnut pan with a small amount of vegetable oil.
Weigh out the flour, then add in the baking powder and salt and sift into a large bowl.
Weigh out the sugar and add in to the mix, whisk to combine.
In a jug, whisk together the milk, egg, oil and vanilla extract until fully combined.
Gradually add in the liquid to the dry ingredients, whisking all the time until all the liquid is used and a smooth batter is created.
Using a teaspoon, fill the doughnut mold until half full then place in the oven for 8 minutes or until lightly golden and puffed.
Leave to cool.
For icing & decorating
Weigh 100g of icing sugar into a jug and add in the water and enough food colouring to color to the desired hue.
Whisk, then transfer to a shallow dish to dip the doughnuts.
Once dipped in the icing, quickly decorate with sprinkles then insert the stick, using a sharp skewer to make a hole first if needed.
Leave the icing to dry or eat straight away!
