Jack O Lantern Recipes

JACK-O-LANTERN PUMPKIN PANCAKES

Steps:

• Stir together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, lightly beat together the milk, egg, pumpkin, and oil. Stir flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, blending just until moistened.
• Heat a lightly greased griddle over medium high heat.
• Pour batter, 1/3 cup at a time, onto the prepared griddle. Make a jack-o-lantern face in each pancake with the chocolate chips. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook until golden brown on the other side, about 5 minutes per side.

JACK-O'-LANTERN STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Oil a baking dish with olive oil.
• Use a small knife to cut eyes, nose, and mouth into the flattest side of each pepper, just like a jack-o'-lantern. Cut around the seedpods and remove the tops, trimming and discarding any seeds from under the stems. Trim the white membrane from the inside of each pepper and shake out any seeds. Place in the prepared baking dish.
• Mix together ground beef, salt, pepper, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, green onions, melted butter, ketchup, Cheddar cheese, and rice in a bowl until well combined.
• Stuff mixture evenly into peppers and cover with the pepper tops. Wrap the baking dish loosely with foil and place on a sheet pan.
• Bake in the upper center of the preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove the foil and continue baking until peppers are tender and ground beef is cooked through, 10 to 15 more minutes.
• Place stuffed peppers on a few tablespoons of warm tomato sauce. Serve immediately with more sauce on the side.

GINGERBREAD JACK-O'-LANTERNS

Steps:

• Beat together the shortening, sugars and the egg until fluffy. Stir in the molasses. Sift together the flour, spices, baking soda and salt, and blend into the sugar mixture. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 3-4 hours.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. This is a tender dough, so work quickly to roll the dough 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut out pumpkin shapes using a pumpkin cookie cutter, or freehand using a small knife. If you're cutting your pumpkins freehand, don't make the stem too thin or it will break off after baking. Use a spatula to lift the pumpkins onto lightly greased baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes. Don't overbake. Cool completely on wire racks before decorating.
• To decorate the pumpkins, set aside 1/3 cup of the royal icing and color it green. Color the remaining icing orange by blending in red and yellow food coloring. (Start with 5 drops of red and 6 drops of yellow and add more coloring as desired to make the color more intense.)
• Spread orange frosting over the pumpkin, avoiding the stem. Allow to set, then use a toothpick to dab green frosting on the stem.
• You can press on candy corn or chocolate chips to make a face on each pumpkin, or you can pipe a face on with melted chocolate using the following method. Melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave in a heatproof bowl for 1 minutes. The chips may look unmelted, but stir them with a spoon to see if they have actually softened before putting them in for another minute, if necessary.
• Spoon the melted chocolate into a zipper-lock bag. Seal the bag, pressing out any air. Use a toothpick to make a very tiny hole in one corner of the bag to release a thin stream of chocolate. Pipe eyes and noses and jagged grins as desired. Allow the chocolate to set before stacking the cookies.
• With beaters or a standing mixer, whip the egg white and lemon juice until frothy. At medium speed, beat in the confectioners' sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture is thick but still liquid enough to beat. Then beat on high until the mixture is thick and glossy, about 3 minutes. Cover the surface with plastic wrap while waiting to use it. Royal icing will set to a firm, glossy finish when applied to a cookie. The icing can be stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week.

JACK-O'-LANTERN EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add corn, onion and pepper; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in pumpkin, black beans and seasonings; heat through. Cool slightly., On a lightly floured surface, unroll pie crust. Cut 60 pumpkins with a 3-in. floured pumpkin-shaped or round cookie cutter, rerolling crust as necessary. Place half of the pumpkin cutouts 2 in. apart on parchment-lined baking sheets; top each with about 1 tablespoon pumpkin mixture. Using a knife, cut jack-o'-lantern faces or slits out of the remaining cutouts. Place over the top of the pumpkin mixture; press edges with a fork to seal., In a small bowl, whisk egg and water; brush over empanadas. Bake until golden brown, 12-15 minutes. Remove from pan to wire racks.