Foreshadow the fate of your Halloween guests with a gory tray full of open wounds just waiting to be hungrily gobbled up by creatures of the night.
Werewolf Slashed Baklava Skin
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp cardamom (optional)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 1/2 box (½ pound) frozen phyllo, thawed overnight in your refrigerator
- 2 cups salted pistachio nut meat, shelled
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ tsp red food coloring
- 2-4 drops black food coloring
Walnut baklava is fantastic, but you never know when someone at your Halloween party might have a tree nut allergy. Accidentally killing someone is no fun. Substituting pistachios in your baklava is a good way to make sure you’re able to take your time and personally enjoy your guest’s demise.
While contemplating their end, take out your frustrations by pouring all your shelled pistachios into a food processor and pulse 3-4 times. Don’t get over-enthusiastic. You merely want to crush their spirits, not transform them into bone meal powder.
Once you’ve crushed the life from your nuts and thawed the papery thin phyllo, it’s time to preheat your oven to 350F.
While it heats up, pour the honey, sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, and cardamom (if using) into a small saucepan. Bring the whole mess to a boil, stirring frequently. Keep stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. Set the pan aside to cool.
Grab a 9”x13” cake pan and use a pastry brush to generously paint the inside with your melted butter. It’s now ready for you to build up layers of skin.
Lay two paper thin sheets of thawed phyllo dough in the pan. Lightly paint the top sheet with a little more butter. Add another sheet of phyllo and another layer of butter. Keep this up until you’ve piled on six sheets.
Sprinkle those six sheets with half of your crushed pistachios. The nuts look lonely, so sweeten their disposition by sprinkling ¼ cup of your brown sugar on top of the pistachios.
Smother the pistachios with another six layers of phyllo, lightly painting a layer of butter between each one.
Next comes the other half of the pistachios followed by the rest of your brown sugar. Shocker!
You can probably guess what comes next – yes, it’s yet another six layers of phyllo with butter painted between each one.
Grab a sharp knife and cut the pan into nine equal sized pieces. Channel your inner werewolf and slash each piece with a different wound pattern.
It’s finally time to pop your pan of wounded skin into the oven. Let it toast up in there for 45 minutes, until the whole thing is a deep golden brown.
In the last 10 minutes, reheat the syrup. As soon as you pull the crispy tray of skin out of the oven, scald it all by pouring the hot syrup over the top. Take care to cover the entire surface so the juices soak into every nook and cranny. Fetch that sharp knife again and re-cut your baklava along the same lines and wounds.
Once the pan has completely cooled it’s time to make those wounds bleed. Use a small, disposable paint brush (I get them from the dollar store) to paint red food coloring along the wound lines. To add a little more realism, dip a toothpick in black food coloring and lightly dab it into the middle of the wounds to give them some depth.
If you’re feeling bold and daring, try substituting sweet chili pistachios to give your wounded skin baklava a sweet and spicy kick.
Psst! This year’s crop of Halloween recipes are ripped straight from the pages of Kitchen Overlord’s upcoming cookbook: Dead Delicious!
Whether your Halloween revolves around zombies, slashers, or body horror, you can cover your table with so many eyes, ears, guts, and brains your kitchen will look like the aftermath of a horror movie. Click here to get your copy now, just in time for Halloween!
