Halloween: severed fingers

Up the gore with these severed fingers this Halloween. They make a great Halloween display or offering at a ghoulish party. Use food colouring in the jam (jelly) to bring a lifelike colour to the ‘blood’ under the ‘fingernails’. Happy Halloween.

SEVERED FINGERS

Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Makes: 20 fingers

Ingredients

• 125g / 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of caster/superfine sugar
• 1 egg
• 2½ cups plain flour, sifted
• 20 blanched almonds
• 50g / 2oz of strawberry jam/jelly (or any jam you have will work with food colouring)
• red food colouring

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 160º C /325ºF/Gas mark 3.
2. Line 1–2 baking trays with baking (parchment) paper.
3. Cream the butter with a mixer until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the sugar and continue to cream until sugars are dissolved.
5. Add the egg and beat until combined.
6. Scrape down sides of the bowl and add the flour and mix on lowest speed.
7. Remove bowl from mixer and mix with a spatula.
8. With damp hands, roll the mix into finger length and sized logs and place them on the trays. Shape them into fingers by making them thicker at the knuckles, and then use a knife to make the creases on the knuckles.
9. Push an almond into one of the ends to make the fingernails. That end should be a little flatter than the ‘severed’ end.
10. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Try not to let them colour too much.
11. Combine the jam (jelly) with the food colouring and set aside.
12. Cool on a wire rack. Carefully remove the almonds one finger at a time, and place a small amount of the coloured jam onto the ‘nail bed’ then push the nail back into the bed, allowing the jam to ooze out from all around the almond.
13. Add more jam at the severed ends if you wish, and scare the daylights out of your guests/trick o’ treaters.

TIP
Make them thinner than normal fingers as they do puff up slightly.