Jack O Lantern Tarts Food

JACK-O'-LANTERN TARTLETS

Steps:

• Place one disk of dough on a lightly floured work surface; roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out six 6-inch rounds, gathering scraps and rerolling dough once if needed. Fit rounds into six 3 3/4-inch fluted tart pans with removable bottoms. Trim dough flush with tops. Refrigerate on baking sheets 30 minutes. Repeat with second disk of dough.
• Roll out remaining dough to 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk pumpkin, 1 cup cream, whole eggs, honey, sugar, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Divide among tart shells. Bake tarts on baking sheets until edges are golden brown and filling has set, about 30 minutes. Let cool on wire racks. Keep oven on.
• Using a paring knife, cut out jack-o-lantern features from the chilled dough; transfer cutouts to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill in freezer 15 minutes. Whisk yolk and remaining 2 tablespoons cream in a small bowl. Brush cutouts with the egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 9 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Arrange cutouts on top of cooled tarts, and serve.

JACK-O'-LANTERN TARTS

Steps:

• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one disk of dough to a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out six 6-inch circles. Fit pastry in bottoms of six 3 3/4-inch fluted tart tins. Trim overhanging edges. Place tins on an ungreased baking sheet, and transfer sheet to refrigerator; chill shells until firm, about 30 minutes. Repeat with second disk of dough, lining six more tins.
• Roll out third disk of dough to an 1/8-inch thickness, and cut out twelve 3-inch circles. Place circles on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and transfer to refrigerator. Chill until very firm, about 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, eggs, honey, sugar, 1 cup heavy cream, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt. In a small bowl, lightly beat together egg yolk and remaining 2 tablespoons heavy cream. Remove the tart tins from refrigerator, and brush crusts with egg glaze. Divide filling among shells.
• Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake tarts until edges are golden brown and filling has set, about 30 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool.
• Remove chilled pastry circles from refrigerator. Using a clean utility knife or a sharp paring knife, cut a jack-o-lantern face into each circle. Chill faces in freezer 15 minutes. Brush faces with remaining egg glaze.
• Transfer baking sheet to oven, and bake faces until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• When pies and faces have cooled, place one face on each tart.

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 CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour 2-quart round casserole or 2 1/2-quart ovenproof bowl. Make 1 box cake batter as directed on box. Pour into casserole.
• Bake 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Remove cake from casserole; place rounded side up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Make, bake and cool remaining cake mix using same casserole or bowl.
• With sharp knife, carefully slice piece from top of each cake to make flat surface where cakes will be placed together to form pumpkin shape. (Cake scraps can be saved and added to another recipe such as pudding or trifle if desired.)
• In medium bowl, place frosting; tint with 9 drops yellow and 6 drops red food color to make orange frosting. On plate, place 1 cake, rounded side down. Spread 2/3 cup of the orange frosting over cake almost to edge. Place second cake, rounded side up, on frosted cake to make round shape. Spread a thin layer of frosting over entire cake to seal in crumbs. For easier handling, refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes. Frost entire cake with remaining orange frosting.
• Trim ice-cream cone to desired height for stem; place upside down on cake. Cut out eyes, nose, mouth, vines and leaves from fruit snack rolls. Place on frosted cake to form face. Store tightly covered.