For the ghost face: Melt the chocolate either in a double-boiler or in the microwave. With a toothpick or paintbrush, paint a ghost face on the inside of a clear glass. Put the glass in the freezer while you make the milkshake and whipped cream.

For the milkshake: In a blender, combine ice cream, milk and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth.

For the whipped cream: Whip cream until almost stiff. Add sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Beat until cream holds peaks. Put into a piping bag. (I have a Whipped Cream Dispenser which makes making and piping whipped cream easy.

Take the glass out of the freezer. Fill with the milkshake. Top with the whipped cream. Serve with a spoon and a straw.

Happy Halloween!

Check out these Christmas milkshakes.

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4½ cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 grams) bread flour or all-purpose flour, chilled
1¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
¼ cup (2 ounces/60 grams) olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1¾ cups (14 ounces/420 grams or 420 mL) water, ice cold (40°F/4.5°C)
1 tablespoon sugar
semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

Instructions:

DAY ONE

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

Note: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.

The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

Note: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

Note: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to three days.

Note: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespoons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow it to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

Note: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

Note: Make only one pizza at a time. During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and re-flour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully, then try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

Note: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

Note: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.

If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

Chicken Fajita Pizza

Recipe: Deep Fried Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

Oil
Confectioners' sugar
Prepare the pizza dough up to step 11 above.

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan or fryer, heat the oil to 350˚F. Don't fill the pan more than one-third full. Carefully lower one piece of dough into the fryer. Cook on both sides until golden brown. Remove and press gently into a bowl to shape. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Note: You can find out more about deep frying at my post on Deep-Fried Whiting.

Recipe: White Chocolate Toasted Pistachio with Ground Cherries and Passion Fruit Filling

Makes: 4 tarts

2½ ounce shelled, unsalted pistachios, toasted
3 ounces ground cherries (or you could use fresh cranberries)
1 ounce passion fruit
1/3 cup heavy cream
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Place the nuts on a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes or until golden.

Prepare a bowl with ice water. In a pot of boiling water, blanch the ground cherries for a couple of minutes until they soften slightly but do not burst. Plunge them into the ice water and let cool. Dry on a paper-towel-lined baking sheet.

Bring the cream to a boil. Pour over the white chocolate. Stir until smooth. (If the chocolate isn't completely melted, use the microwave to finish melting, but do it slowly so that the mixture doesn't separate.) Add passion fruit and butter, then stir to combine.

Scatter nuts and ground cherries in the deep-fried pizza dough, and then top with white chocolate mixture. Repeat until the deep-fried pizza dough is filled. Chill for 3 hours. Serve the same day since the fried pizza dough will not taste fresh the next day.

Note: Instead of deep-fried pizza dough, this filling is nice in a pastry tart shell or even on its own as a parfait.

Here are my other Daring Bakers challenges:

• Lavash Crackers and Honeydew-Peach Salsa (September 2008)
• Chocolate Éclairs…Kransekage (August 2008)
• Danish Braid (June 2008)
• Opéra Cake (May 2008)

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For the Cake:
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup water

For the Frosting:
4 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons white chocolate chips

Instructions:

Here are the directions to make it in an 8x8 baking pan.

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, and salt in a baking pan. Make three holes. In one hole, add the oil. In another, add the vinegar. In the last, add the vanilla. Pour water and mix until blended.

Bake for 30 minutes (20-25 for the cupcake-in-cookie-cutter version).

For the frosting: Melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double-boiler or in the microwave. In a separate bowl, melt some white chocolate chips in a double boiler or in the microwave. Fill two piping bags with each of the chocolates. Pipe the chocolate onto a tracing of the cookie cutter or right onto the cupcake.

Tasting Notes
I made these after my Tuesdays with Dorie cake (coming up tomorrow) and side-by-side comparisons were interesting. The kids preferred the Wacky {Cup}Cake taste to the more chocolatey taste of Dorie's Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcake. The Wacky Cake isn't as sweet or as chocolatey, so I was surprised that the kids liked this one better. However, without a side-by-side comparison, both cakes are delicious.

If you liked this, you might like my Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins baked in cookie cutters too.

For the Custard:
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin purée
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

For the Caramel:
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon lemon juice

For the Crème brûlée top:
4 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

To make the caramel: bring the sugar, water, and lemon juice to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until the syrup turns a light caramel color. Pour the caramel into ramekins, and tilt so that it covers the bottoms and sides. Let cool.

Note: If you want to serve the caramel separately as hard and brittle, pour it onto wax paper or a silicone-lined baking sheet and let it cool. It will harden. Break apart like you would for peanut brittle. Serve alongside the custard.

To get ready: Preheat the oven to 300˚F.

To make the custard: In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream, milk, and vanilla to a boil. Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar until blended. Stir in the pumpkin purée, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisking constantly, pour the hot milk into the egg mixture; let rest for a few minutes, then strain. Pour the custard into the caramel-lined ramekins.

Place the ramekins in a baking dish. Add boiling water to come about two-thirds up the sides of the ramekin. Transfer the pan to the oven. Bake until a knife inserted into the center of the custard comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool. Chill for 2-3 hours.

To serve as crème brûlée: sprinkle sugar evenly over top of cooked, cooled custards. Using a torch, move the flame continuously over the surface of the ramekins until the sugar melts and becomes golden brown and bubbly.

To serve as crème caramel: run the tip of a knife around the edge of the custard to loosen it. Invert a serving platter over the ramekin and quickly turn it over again. Carefully remove the ramekin.

Happy Fall!

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Recipe: Pumpkin Muffins

You can find the recipe for Pumpkin Muffins in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours (affiliate link) by Dorie Greenspan or here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp who chose the recipe for this week. Tasting Notes I loved these pumpkin muffins. They were best fresh from the oven, but I've been enjoying several since then too. 

Makes: 12 muffins

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
¼ cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Cream the butter and sugar. Mash the bananas with a fork in a separate bowl. Add the bananas to the butter/sugar mixture. Add eggs, and blend. In a separate bowl, whisk the baking soda and flour. Add the flour/soda mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pipe batter into cookie cutters that are lined up on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Tasting Notes
I love these banana muffins. If you don't like chocolate, you can leave it out or replace it with nuts. It's a simple, but delicious recipe!

Makes: 8 individual or 1 9-inch tart

For the Crust:
1 ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons whole milk
1 egg yolk
7 ounces unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces

For the Filling:
15 ounces pure pumpkin
1 ¼ cup heavy cream
1/8 cup coconut milk
1 cinnamon stick
5 whole cloves
1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 chai teabag
¾ cup maple sugar (or 1 tablespoon maple syrup plus 11 tablespoons sugar)
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs

Instructions:

For the crust: Mound the flour, sugar, salt, and ginger on the counter. Make a well and pour the milk and egg yolk in. Start to mix this up with your fingers. Start adding the butter and work it together until it forms a ball. Gather it into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill for 4 hours or up to 2 days before rolling and baking.

Note that this dough is tricky to roll out since there's so much butter in it, but it is so tender and crispy that it's worth the extra effort.

Roll out dough between two sheets of wax paper until 1/8-inch thick. Transfer dough to pie dish. Crimp dough edge decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat oven to 425˚F. Line crust with foil. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until sides are set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Bake until golden brown. Place aluminum foil collar around edge of crust if it browns too quickly, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.

For the filling: Preheat oven to 325˚F. Heat the heavy cream, coconut milk, cinnamon stick, cloves, ginger, and chai teabag until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat, and stir in the sugar and salt. Let this mixture steep for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. Strain the cream mixture into a bowl. Slowly whisk in the eggs, tempering them so that the eggs don't curdle. Pour mixture into cooled crust. Bake until filling is set and knife inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour for a 9-inch tart and 30 minutes for individual tarts. Cool to room temperature.

Sugar High Fridays

This is my submission to Sugar High Fridays, a dessert-focused food-blogging event created by Jennifer from The Domestic Goddess. This month's event is hosted by Anita from Dessert First Girl and the theme is spice.

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