Bloody Burger Bites

Remember a few year's ago when Burger King® came out with their Halloween Whopper® with the black bun? It was so popular that it completely sold out in a week so I never had a chance to try one. It's been two years and I'm still waiting for them to bring that baby back so I can give it a try. Not being one to wait any longer, I decided to create my own red bun version of Halloween Burgers with these Bloody Burger Bites. Made with homemade slider buns, grilled onions, and a decadently delicious bloody burger sauce. Four perfectly messy bites of this sinister slider will be a crowd pleaser, just remember to have lots of napkins on hand.
These are definitely on the menu at my Halloween party this year. Make the buns, sauce and onions ahead of your party and then assemble right before party time! Easy and delicious! Happy Halloween!

Bloody Burger Bites

Makes 24

Slider Buns
(adapted recipe from Taste of Home)

2 T active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
3 T vegetable oil
3 T sugar
1-1 1/2 t red food coloring
1 egg
1 t. salt
3- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, mix yeast, warm water, food coloring, sugar and oil and let sit for 5 minutes. Measure out flour and salt in another small bowl and set aside. Add egg to the yeast mixture and then add flour/salt and mix until a soft dough forms. On a floured surface, knead dough for about 5 minutes. 

Using a kitchen scale measure out 0.5 oz of dough for each slider bun. Roll into a ball and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Let rise for 15 minutes or until the dough doubles. Note: If you'd like to add sesame seeds to the tops of your buns, brush tops of buns with an egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds prior to baking.
Bake in a 425 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.

Bloody Burger Sauce

(adapted recipe from Teri Appleton Villanueva)

3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 T soy sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
ground pepper
red food coloring

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Grilled Onions
4 yellow onions, sliced into rings
3 T unsalted butter 
salt and pepper (to taste)

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onions and cook until browned and softened. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Burger Bites
2 lbs 80/20 ground beef
seasoned salt/pepper
garlic powder

Make 24 small patties. Season with seasoned salt, pepper and garlic powder. Grill or pan fry.
Assemble Bloody Burger bites with generous amounts of Bloody Burger Sauce and grilled onions! Arrange on a platter and serve with Bloody Marys! 

Last Bite...

 For Halloween Decorating Ideas click here.

Brimstone Bread

Aren't these stunning? This beautiful recipe comes from Hellen Die of the Necro-nom-nom-nomicon. I discovered this talented woman from this way cool pin on Pinterest which led me to Instuctables.com and then to the website behind this amazing prop. To my surprise, not only does she make professional Halloween props, she creates Halloween food too! I was so excited and I read every one of her blog posts and recipes. Her writing is fantastically fun and her recipes are devilishly creative and delicious. I'm in complete awe of her creativity and talent. Luckily for me, she has graciously allowed me to make and blog her gorgeous Brimstone Bread! Check out her amazing website at eatthedead.com and definitely follow her on Instagram to see all her in-process pics and recipes all year long. Happy Halloween everyone and thank you Hellen!  

Brimstone Bread 

Recipe from Necro-nom-nom-nomicon
Makes 12

1 box Fleischmann's® Simply Homemade® Bread Mix
1-2 tsp red food coloring

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare bread according to package directions, but make sure to add red food coloring to the warm water prior to adding it to the dry bread mix. 

Cut dough into 12 pieces, roll into balls, and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Cover with a damp towel and let rise according to package directions. While the rolls rise, prepare to topping.

Topping
2 T dry active yeast
2 T sugar
2 T vegetable oil
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 cups rice flour
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees) with black food coloring

Mix yeast, sugar, oil, salt and rice flour together. Mix black food coloring into warm water and add to the flour mixture. Make sure the topping is very black by adding more black food coloring if needed. I used gel food coloring and it worked very well. The topping will be sticky but still fluid enough to drip of the end of a spoon.
Using your hands, smear topping on rolls. Make sure to spread the topping fairly thick so that it forms the cracks when baked. Let the topping sit for 15 minutes to adhere to the bread dough and then bake according to package directions. Right out of the oven, slice open and slather on some garlic butter and devour!

More Halloween recipes to try:

Black Magic Spellcakes

Love at First Bite Linguini

Midnight Sushi with Wasabi Skulls

Eye of Newt Stew (Black-eyed Pea Curry)

Yay! The kids are back in school and it's time to get back into the kitchen and create more Halloween dishes. I made this Black-eyed Pea Curry back in July as a backdrop for my Rattlesnake Rolls and it was absolutely delicious. But when it comes to it being Halloween food all by itself, it was a little too normal looking...See?  An incredibly comforting and spicy fall dish, but certainly not creepy enough for Halloween.

So, I gave it another go by blending up all the onions, tomatillos, peppers and spices and then adding some black food coloring to really "yuck" it up. I'd say the black food coloring did its job. So much so, that it was extremely hard to photograph this Eye of Newt Stew and make it look at all edible. Once it sits in a large bubbling cauldron for a few moments, all the ingredients turn the most gruesome shades of black and grey! Even the ham turns a murky muddy black, which is absolutely perfect for a fun Halloween meal or your next Halloween party. The longer it sits, the better it looks and tastes. For sure, your friends and family will be reluctant to take a bite, but once they do, they'll come back for more!

Feel free to adjust the spice level. I like spicy and this recipe has some heat, so if you don't want it hot, substitute the Hatch chilies with mild Pasilla Chiles and roast them along with your tomatillos and onions. Happy Halloween!

Eye of Newt Stew (Black-eyed Pea Curry)

Serves 8

1 lb black-eyed peas
1 ham hock
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 lb tomatillos
2 medium yellow onions, quartered
1 1/2 cups Trader Joe's Hatch Chiles®, roasted and chopped (or 2 large Pasilla chiles)
black food coloring
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp garam masala
2 t cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp chili powder
2-3 T honey 
1/4 cup cream
1 cup ham, chopped
salt and pepper (to taste) 

Prep beans
Soak beans overnight in salted water. Drain soaking water from beans and add beans to a slow cooker. Add enough fresh water to cover beans with about two inches of water above the beans. Add ham hocks and garlic to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for about 5-6 hours. Begin checking for doneness (Is that a word?) at 4.5 hours. Once done, remove ham hocks and chop meat from the bone. Reserve 1-2 cups if the slow cooker liquid and drain beans.

Prep Vegetables
Peel, wash and cut tomatillos in half and place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Quarter onions and add to cookie sheet. If you are substituting the Hatch chiles for Pasilla chiles, cut chiles in half, remove seeds and stems and add to cookie sheet. Broil on high until veggies are browned. Remove from oven and let cool.

Add cooked onions, tomatillos, chiles into a food processor or blender and add, cilantro, garam masala, cumin, coriander and chili powder and process until blended. Transfer into a dutch oven and add chicken broth, 1 cup of reserved crock pot liquid, and cream and honey. Heat to a slow simmer.

To make it a Eye of Newt Stew Halloween dish, add black food coloring at this point and then continue below. 

Add chopped ham from the ham hocks, black-eyed peas and additional chopped ham to the pot. Simmer 30 minutes or longer. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.  

NOTE: In the photo below, I added some black-eyed peas and chopped ham right before shooting it so they didn't change color. I wanted to show at least some recognizable ingredients in the photos. Happy Halloween!

Other Halloween dishes to try:

Top 10 Horror 'doeuvres