Witch Fingers and a green Pepper Spider

I've been trying to come up with gory foods for our Halloween parties for years.  I love the actual size Jello brain molds.  Creating a giant colored, hand-shaped ice cube that floats in the punch bowl works extremely well. 

But the one that I've had the most praise is the Witch Finger breadsticks.  They look weird and slightly realistic.  And they're a great appetizer before the big meal.  Use them to dip into almost anything.

And best of all, making these breadsticks is fun to do with the kids.  Except for the knife work on the knuckles, they can help every step of the way.

Witch Finger Breadsticks

Makes about 20-30

1 tablespoon yeast
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups warm water (around 105 degrees)
6 tablespoons melted butter
5 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Green food coloring
3 dozen almonds

Combine the yeast, brown sugar, and water in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer.  Let if foam up for about 5 minutes.  While you're waiting, melt the butter in the microwave and allow to cool.  Add the butter and two cups of flour and mix well using the bread hook attachment.  Add the green food coloring until the color is slightly darker than expected (the color will lighten a bit as you add the final ingredients).  Slowly add the rest of the flour until it collects into a ball around the bread hook, it does not stick to the bowl and it not sticky to the touch. 

Separate out the dough into 20-24 small balls.  Roll each dough ball out to a skinny stick, slightly narrower on one end.  Using a sharp knife, score a few slices 1/3 and 2/3 of the way down to make it look like the folds of skin on the knuckles. 

Place the breadstick onto a greased cookie sheet.  Take an almond and press it down into the narrow end of the breadstick so it looks like an old crusty fingernail. 

Heat the oven up to 150 and then turn it off.  Place the breadsticks in the warm oven to rise for 20 minutes.  After rising, Remove them from the oven while you preheat it to 350 degrees. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until one single breadstick starts to turn brown.  Immediately pull them so they don't brown over.  If you're really industrious, you can pull out the red food coloring, paint the bottom tip of the bredsticks red so it looks like they were freshly lopped off the hand.

Now you can serve them with pizza sauce or marinara sauce for a bloody dipping sauce.  Or you can pair them with any other cheese, chili, spinach, or artichoke dip you'd like.  You can make some of the Pumpkin Bread Bowls,  fill one with a gory looking marinara, and surroound it with a dozen of these breadsticks for a tasty, yet gruesome treat.

Now you don't have to make all of your green dough into the Witch Fingers.  My boys have been on a spider kick later, especially after seeing a 40" spider hanging from the light in the front yard.  So I decided that I would make a spider for them as well.

Take some of the dough and roll it into a 2-3" ball.  Set it on a greased cookie sheet.  Next roll out some more dough into a long, thin strand.  Slice it into 8 lengths and place them around the ball to form the legs.  Next, take a few peppercorns and place them across the face to form the plethora of eyeballs.  Using a small knife, slice up an almond to form the fangs and press them into the body. 

Finally, sprinkle ground pepper over the body to give it a dirty, almost hairy look.  Let it rise in a warmed oven as was described earlier or in a warm place for the 30 minutes, then cook in a 350 degree for 20 minutes or just until the skin slightly turns brown.

Now that you have all of these items, you can throw them all on a platter, make it look festive and gory, and serve it up at your Halloween party this year.

So make a batch of these breadsticks, add the creepy crawlies, and serve them up to your guests.