Truley Gruesome!

I made these SAVORY, SPICY, WITCHES FINGERS for my card group. We all dressed in costumes and everyone brought perfect food for Halloween. I went as a gypsy in honor of my Hungarian heritage. It was a silly, joyous, fun-filled afternoon of eating, imbibing, and canasta playing! I am fortunate to have such wonderful lady friends.

I found this recipe online, but amped up the spice. The consensus was they could have been even spicier, so depending on your taste, increase the heat!

Ingredients:
1 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces, place in freezer until ready to blend
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup ice water, but you will not need all of it

Equal amounts Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco for glazing

Enough whole smoked almonds to serve as finger nails. I made only 18 fingers, but they were quite large.

Preparation:
Put the grated cheddar cheese, flour, butter, salt, smoked paprika, cayenne, and garlic powder in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles sand. Add the ice water 1 Tbsp. at a time until the dough comes together. You do not want soggy dough, but it needs to come together as a pliable ball of dough. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, gently roll out dough to about a 1 inch thickness. Cut the dough into strips the size of a finger and using your hands roll them into cylindrical finger shape. Place onto the lined baking sheet and push the smoked almonds into one end to resemble finger nails. Score the fingers to create the wrinkle lines of a finger. Brush with the Worcestershire Tabasco mixture and let the fingers cool another 30 minutes in the fridge.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the fingers are golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

AND HERE’S THE BLOOD…

I found this FAKE BLOOD recipe on Epicurious. It made about 1 cup, which was way more blood than I needed, as I only wanted blood splatter. Did you know that each persons blood color is unique. We all have different shades of blood red!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 tsp. red food coloring
5 drops blue food coloring
2 drops green food coloring
1 Tbsp. corn starch

This photo is from the Epicurious site. It looks very real.

Preparation:
In a small bowl, whisk together the corn syrup and water. Add the red, blue, and green food colorings and whisk until well combined. Whisk in the corn starch until completely dissolved and let the liquid sit for 10 minutes to thicken.