By Stacie Armijo, Staff Reporter
One of the best parts of Halloween is eating decadent candies, and home-made treats can be tastier than knocking on doors and hoping for something good to eat, Chef and part-time Culinary Instructor Julian Griego said.
Griego shared with the Chronicle one of his favorite recipes, full of tricks to make delicious treats for Halloween parties.
After Griego graduated from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Las Vegas, NV, he came back to his hometown of Albuquerque, where he worked at some of the most highly regarded restaurants in the city, including Savoy, Seasons and Marcello’s Chophouse, he said.
- Pumpkin Espresso Creme Brulee
Ingredients
1 ½ cups heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
8 oz. fresh pumpkin (Avoid larger jack-O’-lantern varieties, stick to smaller pumpkins such as Baby Pam, Autumn Gold and Ghost Rider)
½ tsp vanilla extract or 1 fresh vanilla bean
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
½ oz. fresh ground Espresso beans
4 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup coarse sugar or raw sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
For the fresh pumpkin
Halve pumpkin and remove seeds by scooping them out with a large spoon.
Rub butter on the inside of the pumpkin and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and Roast espresso grounds at 400 degrees until soft, remove, and chill for 10 minutes.
Scoop roasted flesh out of pumpkin with a spoon and mash using food processor or large spoon.
Heat cream, milk and vanilla over medium heat in a medium sauce pan, stir occasionally.
Once it begins to boil, immediately remove from heat, and let it rest for 15 minutes.
Whisk in pumpkin puree and pour mixture into 4 ramekins.
Arrange in hot water bath and bake in center of the oven for about 30 – 40 minutes.
The custard should be mostly firm when you shake the pan; it will firm up more as it cools.
Remove from the water bath and cool for 15 minutes.
Tightly cover each rame¬kin with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.
When ready to serve, preheat broiler to very hot, uncover chilled custards and pour course sugar on top.
Place custards on baking sheets and broil until sugar is golden brown.
Cool, crack the sugar shell and enjoy!
From Easybaked.net
Ingredients:
The Cupcakes:
One box Red Velvet cake mix, any brand
Milk (in the same amount of, and instead of, the water called for by mix)
Eggs (in the same amount called for, plus one extra egg)
Butter (twice the amount of oil required by mix – for example, if the box calls for ½ cup of oil , or use 1 cup of butter instead)
Measure and then melt before adding to the mix
The Frosting
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
½ cup of butter (softened)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips, melted
Candy Glass
1 cup of granulated sugar
½ cup of light corn syrup
1 teaspoon of clear flavoring
The Edible Blood
1 (14oz) can of sweeten condensed milk
Red gel food coloring
Black gel food coloring
1 teaspoon of clear flavor¬ing extracts such as vanilla
Directions
Make the decorations first (the glass and the blood) and keep them until just before your party to decorate. They will both keep for several days so you can make them ahead of time.
Cupcakes
Follow the recipe on the box, with the altered ingredi¬ents provided above
Divide equally into 24 cupcake liners in cupcake tins.
Bake at 350 degrees according to times on box.
Remove cupcakes from oven and cool completely.
Candy Glass
Mix together granu¬lated sugar and corn syrup in microwave safe bowl.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for three minutes, mix, cover with fresh plastic and microwave for another three minutes.
Watch carefully after two minutes to make sure mixture does not change color, remove from microwave.
Pour contents onto cookie sheet covered in wax paper that has been liberally sprayed with cooking spray.
Let sit for two hours until completely hardened.
Once dry, break apart and remove from wax paper
Edible Blood
Mix together sweetened condensed milk, red food col¬oring and flavoring in small bowl until a bright red color develops.
Add a very small amount of black food color to make a blood red color.
Store in a zip-top bag in refrigerator.
Frosting
Beat together cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt on medium speed.
Gradually add powdered sugar, while beating until smooth
Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments stirring between, until smooth.
Add melted white choco¬late to icing and beat on low until completely combined
Place in a zip-top bag fitted with a decorating tip and pipe frosting on top of cooled cupcakes
Decorating
Decorate on plat¬ter you will serve on, which makes for nice blood splatter.
Place frosted cupcakes on protected surface and press two to three pieces of candy glass into the top of each.
Clip the corner on the bag of edible blood and drizzle over the top of the glass and the cupcakes, allowing it to drip down the sides of both.
