Halloween Jack O'Lanterns Recipe

• 125 grams / 5 oz of plain biscuit or cookie crumbs
• 100 grams / 4 oz of butter
• ¼ cup of cocoa
• 1 cup of icing sugar
• ½ cup of coconut
• ¼ cup of chopped walnuts (optional)
• ¼ cup of raisins (optional)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons of spirit, liqueur (Rum, Brandy, Sweet Sherry, Grand Marnier, Cointreau) or fruit juice

• 150 - 200 grams / 6 - 8 oz of ground almonds
• 2 cups of icing sugar
• 1 cup of castor sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons of fresh strained lemon juice
• ½ - 1 teaspoon of almond essence
• orange and green food colouring

Filling
Place all the ingredients into a food processor or large bowl and mix until the mixture forms a thick paste. Roll small spoonfuls into balls and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Marzipan
In a medium sized bowl or food processor mix together the ground almonds,icing sugar and castor sugar. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the egg yolks, strained lemon juice and essence. Taste and add more essence if desired. Mix together thoroughly. Take 2 tablespoons ofthe mixture and mix with a drop of green food colouring in a separate bowl. Add a couple of drops of orange food colouring to the remaining mixture and turn out onto the bench dusted with a mixture of icing sugar and cornflour, knead the mixture until smooth. Roll out the orange marzipan to 2 mm / 1/10th inch thick. Cut rounds using a cookie cutter about twice the diameter of the filling. Place a ball of filling in each circle and quickly wrap each ball tightly. Pinch off any extra marzipan fromthe base.

Hold each ball and mark six lines equally spaced around the sides of the balls using the back of a knife handle or the side of a clean pen to make indentations in the balls so they resemble a pumpkin. Press down lightly with your thumbto give a slight indent at the topand bottom of the pumpkin, where the lines meet. Using a small knife or modelling tool, cut two very small triangles for the eyes and one slightly lower for the nose. Then mark in a jagged mouth using very small triangles for each tooth. Roll a littlegreen marzipan between your fingers to form the stalk and leaves and press onto the indentation at the top. Refrigerate before serving.

(Makes 30 to 40)