Spooks & Goblins

Jack O Lantern Hand Pies

1 15oz can pumpkin pure

2 eggs

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup Golden Eagle Syrup

1/4 cup cream

4 tbsp plain flour

½tsp ground nutmeg

¼tsp ground cloves

¼tsp ground ginger

¼tsp ground cinnamon

¼tsp ground allspice

1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Pie crust

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup crisco heaping

6 tbsp Ice Cold Water

Mix flour, sugar and salt together. Then with a Pastry cutter, cut in Crisco. Once it is cut in really well and crisco is no bigger than pea size, slowly add cold water, a tablespoon at a time. Mix well until all of the flour just comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.

For the pumpkin filling:

Add all the filling ingredients to a large bowl and mix until you have a smooth mixture.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the pastry from the fridge and allow to rest at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a large rectangle until 1/4 inch thick. Using a pumpkin cookie cutter (or a stencil and a knife), cut out an even number of pumpkins from the dough. Cut out jack-o-lantern faces from half of the pumpkins. Or you can keep some to have full pumpkins too, just score them slightly to look like pumpkins. Spoon the filling into the middle of the full pumpkins, leaving a rough 1/4 inch edge of pastry around the filling. The amount of filling will vary depending on the size of your pumpkins. (I used 1tbsp of filling for my pumpkins). Brush around the edge of the pastry with egg wash, then place the pastry faces on top over the filling. Gently press down on the edges to seal, then crimp with a fork. Place on a lined baking tray, brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool slightly, but best served warm! Or at room temperature.

If you prefer apple filling to pumpkin follow the recipe below.

Apple Filling

2 cups apples, peeled, cored & diced

2 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp Golden Eagle Syrup

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon water

In a medium pot over medium heat, combine apples, lemon juice, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook until mixture is boiling and apples are cooked and soft. In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water.

Add cornstarch mixture to the apples and continue to cook until apples glaze is nice and thick.

Peanut Butter Spider Cookies

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4cup brown sugar

1/4 cup Golden Eagle Syrup

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar for rolling

48 miniature Reese's cups unwrapped and frozen

96 candy eyes

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, beat together shortening, peanut butter, egg, sugar, brown sugar, syrup, vanilla, and milk. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture and beat until blended. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Form into 1" balls. Roll in sugar and place a couple of inches apart on Parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Immediately, gently press an upside down frozen peanut butter cup on top of each cookie and move to wire rack to cool. After placing and moving all of the cookies on the wire rack, put in place the candy eyes while chocolate is still slightly soft. Place in refrigerator for 10 minutes to allow cookies to firm. Put chocolate chips in the corner of zippered sandwich bag.Microwave for 20 seconds, knead and repeat until chocolate has melted. Clip tiny piece off of the corner of bag to allow for piping and draw eight legs on each spider cookie. Place in refrigerator for 10 minutes to allow legs to set.