It’s approaching that spooky time of year again, full of frightfully fantastic costumes, tricks, and of course treats! So, to kick start the season full of sweet treats, here’s a recipe you can try at home, and who knows, maybe you will win the best house on the street with these Marvellous Monster Cookies.

Monster Cookies

This recipe makes 15 cookies.

Recipe link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/monster_cookies_63048

Ingredients

• 85g Unsalted Butter (softened)

• 150g Caster Sugar

• 1 Egg (beaten)

• 1tsp Vanilla Extract

• 175g Self-Raising Flour

• 1/4 tsp Salt

To Decorate

• Handful of Smarties (or similar)

• Handful of White Chocolate Chunks

• Black Writing Icing

Method

1) Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift in the flour and salt, and beat until combined.

2) Divide the mixture into three portions, then colour one Orange, one Green and one Purple. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.

3) Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and line two baking trays with baking paper.

4) With damp hands, roll each portion of coloured dough into five balls and place on the lined baking trays. Using your hand, slightly flatten each ball. Press in smarties for eyes and white chocolate chunks for teeth. Bake for 10 minutes.

5) Remove from the oven and leave on the baking tray for 5–10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

6) Once cool, use the Black writing icing to create pupils and eyelashes on the monsters’ eyes. Finally, serve and enjoy!

Just remember not to eat too much sweets at Halloween!

“Pumpkins, Sweets, & Spooky Treats!”

~ Unknown 🎃

Recipe by Caera Neeson (S3) 💜

Melt in the Mouth Macarons

If you prefer, this is also a video tutorial to follow : https://youtu.be/yCkdUP4xgw4

This recipe makes 20 macarons.

Recipe Link : https://bromabakery.com/foolproof-macaron-recipe-step-by-step/

Equipment                                                                

• Stand Mixer

• Baking Trays

• Parchment Paper Sheets

• Piping Bag

• Saucepan

Ingredients

• 100g Egg Whites

• 100g Granulated Sugar

• 100g Almond Flour

• 100g Powdered Sugar

• Pinch of Salt

• Food Colouring (Pink or Green)

Filling Ingredients (optional)

• 6 tbsp of Unsalted Butter (room temperature)

• 2 Cups Powdered Sugar

• 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

• Pinch of Salt

Recipe

1) Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2) Heat a small pot of water over medium-low heat until it steams. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites and roughly 3 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Place the bowl over the steaming pot, creating a double boiler.

3) Whisk egg whites and sugar continuously until sugar melts completely and egg whites become white and frothy, which should take about 1 minute. Remove from heat and place the bowl back onto the stand mixer.

4) Fit stand mixer with whisk attachment and whisk on high speed, while slowly adding in the remaining granulated sugar. Add either Pink or Green food coloring (optional). Continue to whisk for another 3-4 minutes, until stiff meringue peaks form. Congratulations, you just made a Swiss meringue!

5) Next, sift together the almond flour, powdered sugar, and salt twice, then gently shake the mixture into the meringue bowl.

6) Place the bowl back onto a stand mixer, still fitted with a whisk attachment. Turn the mixer to medium speed and whisk for 5 seconds (just enough to combine the almond flour mixture with the egg whites).

7) Stop the mixer and use a large spatula to hand-mix the batter for the remainder of your mixing. You’ll want to gently fold the mixture with your spatula, scooping up the batter from the outside of the bowl and gently twisting it into the center in a circle-like manner. You’ll know to- stop mixing when you can make a figure-eight out of the dripping batter without the batter breaking. If you cannot yet make a figure-eight, repeat the process if necessary, and try the figure-eight again. The best way to describe the perfect consistency is like slow moving lava. It should give, but only slightly, like in slow-motion.

8) Once your batter is the correct consistency, scoop it into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1 inch tip. Pipe silver dollar-sized circles onto prepared baking sheets, keeping about 1.5 inches between each meringue. Bang baking sheet on counter two times to remove any air bubbles. 

9) Let the macarons air dry for 15 to 30 minutes or until dry to the touch. Just pop them into the prepared oven for 13 minutes, turning around halfway through, then allow to cool completely before removing from baking sheets.

10)  While the macarons are cooling, make the filling. Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until fluffy and fully combined, which should take about 2 minutes.

11) Scoop mixture into a piping bag fitted with a roughly 1/2 inch tip, then set aside until ready to assemble the macarons.

12) Once the macarons are completely cool to touch, pipe the filling onto a macaron and sandwich with another macaron. Repeat with all macarons. Finally, serve and enjoy! 

Remember the Wicked finale movie : ‘Wicked : For Good’ is hitting our cinema screens very soon on the 21st of November 2025! 

“As someone told me lately, everyone deserves the chance to fly”

~ Elphaba (Wicked) 💚

Recipe by , Caera Neeson (S3) 🩷