Halloween Party

I went all out for my Halloween party this year. As one of my friends has a nut allergy and is also allergic to pumpkin, I had an interesting time trying to make things that seemed Halloween-y but didn't have pumpkin or nuts.

But pumpkins are so perfect for a Halloween party, so I made pumpkin shaped brownies (I made a pan of brownies and cut them out with a cookie cutter). And iced them so they'd resemble pumpkins.

I also made both chocolate and plain palmiers. Not that they are terribly Halloween-y...but they are good!

And with the left over puff pastry, I made cheese straws.

My friend with food allergies has never been able to eat pastries from patisseries, so she's never had things like a fruit tart. A classic pastry cream and fresh fruit tart seemed terribly un-Halloween-ish. But an apple tart seemed to work nicely. This is the same apple tart I made in class, just in a bigger tart shell and with better apple compote (I finally made it so that it didn't resemble apple sauce!)

Finally I made cupcakes; because who doesn't like cupcakes? I just made the vanilla cupcake from Magnolia Bakery's cookbook and decorated them with my favorite vanilla buttercream (which is my own recipe.) I decorated some to look like pumpkins and some to look like little gravestones in a grassy grave yard (I made the stones by slathering cut up brownie with gray icing and then carving "RIP" into the icing with a toothpick.) Aren't they the cutest little tombstones?

The desserts were all a hit. As was all the lovely real food that my friends so kindly brought, thank you guys!