Petrifying Puff Pastries

It's not just about apples and nuts - Halloween, that is.  Actually, if you dared to give any child who calls to your door either of those for their swag bag, they would give you a pitying look and move onto your neighbour pretty sharpish.  For kids these days, it's all about the sweets or even money if they're lucky.  Rather than pander to their every whim, you can create a really simple dessert with just a few ingredients and make it look really special.

When I was in San Francisco last year, I bought some Halloween cookie cutters for the princely sum of a dollar each - the broomstick one is MIA but that left me with a ghost and a spiderweb which cut really cleanly, so well worth the exorbitant spend.  These pastries are incredibly easy to make - use a sheet of readymade puff pastry, cut shapes, bake, split and fill.  I used some blood orange puree which I picked up on my travels, but some shredless orange marmalade would work and if you want to add a grownup touch, a healthy splash of Cointreau or Triple Sec is just perfect.  I also added a tiny drop of orange gel food colour just to ramp up the orange hue.

Petrifying Puff Pastries

1 sheet Puff Pastry
1 tub Mascarpone
60ml Blood Orange Puree
1/8 tsp Orange gel food colouring

Preheat your oven to 200c/Gas Mark 6 and line two large baking sheet with parchment.

Cut out shapes in the pastry and place on the baking sheets, leaving about 2cm expansion room between each.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until well risen and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and transfer to wire racks to cool.  When they're cool, use a small serrated knife (a steak knife is ideal) and split carefully in half.

Whisk the mascarpone cheese and orange puree together in a bowl and add the food colouring, mixing really  well.

Pipe or spread the orange cream onto one of the spooky halves and sandwich together.  Dust with some icing sugar and serve immediately.

The baked puff pastries keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container, as does the mascarpone cream, so you can do these steps in advance and simply assemble them when needed.

Happy Halloween!