Best Jack O Lanterns Recipes

JACK O'LANTERN STEW

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Cut the top off the pumpkin and scoop out the insides. Rinse well. Carve a spooky face onto the pumpkin, without going all the way through the flesh. Rinse well, oil outside of pumpkin. Bake the pumpkin shell for 30 minutes.
• While shell is baking: saute the onion, green and red peppers, carrots, celery, and garlic until the vegetables begin to soften, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Brown ground beef and chicken. Add the veggies and cooked rice and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 10 to 15 minutes to let the flavors meld.
• Remove pumpkin from oven and let stand 15 minutes. Stir the tomatoes and soup into the meat mixture. Place meat mixture into pumpkin. Put back in oven for 20 minutes. Serve on a platter with cheesy biscuits- -very yummy.

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 JUMBLE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the cereal and peanuts. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, peanut butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt and garlic powder; cook and stir until butter and peanut butter are melted. Pour over cereal mixture and toss to coat. , Spread into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool; stir in candy corn. Store in an airtight container.

JACK-O'-LANTERN STUFFED PEPPERS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Oil a baking dish with olive oil.
• Use a small knife to cut eyes, nose, and mouth into the flattest side of each pepper, just like a jack-o'-lantern. Cut around the seedpods and remove the tops, trimming and discarding any seeds from under the stems. Trim the white membrane from the inside of each pepper and shake out any seeds. Place in the prepared baking dish.
• Mix together ground beef, salt, pepper, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, green onions, melted butter, ketchup, Cheddar cheese, and rice in a bowl until well combined.
• Stuff mixture evenly into peppers and cover with the pepper tops. Wrap the baking dish loosely with foil and place on a sheet pan.
• Bake in the upper center of the preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove the foil and continue baking until peppers are tender and ground beef is cooked through, 10 to 15 more minutes.
• Place stuffed peppers on a few tablespoons of warm tomato sauce. Serve immediately with more sauce on the side.

STUFFED JACK-O-LANTERN BELL PEPPERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
• Lightly mix together the ground beef, egg, bread cubes, onion, tomato, garlic, chili sauce, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
• Wash the peppers, and cut jack-o'-lantern faces into the peppers with a sharp paring knife, making triangle eyes and noses, and pointy-teeth smiles. Slice off the tops of the peppers, and scoop out the seeds and cores. Stuff the peppers lightly with the beef stuffing, and place them into the prepared baking dish so they lean against each other.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the peppers are tender and the stuffing is cooked through and juicy, about 1 hour.

JACK-O'-LANTERN CHEESEBURGER PIE

Steps:

• Cook first 5 ingredients in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain. Stir in ketchup and Worcestershire sauce; cool.
• Unfold 1 piecrust, and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Spread mustard evenly over crust. Stir together meat mixture and 2 cups cheese; spoon onto center of crust, leaving a 2-inch border.
• Unfold remaining piecrust, and cut out a jack-o'-lantern face, reserving pastry cutouts to use as a stem. Place crust over meat mixture; crimp edges of crust, and fold under. Place stem on top of jack-o'-lantern face.
• Whisk together 2 tablespoons water, egg, and 1 drop each of red and yellow food coloring; brush over crust.
• Bake at 425*F (220*C) for 20 minutes; remove from oven, and brush again with egg mixture. Fill eyes, nose, and mouth with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake 5 to 10 more minutes or until golden brown.