Hallowe’en is one of my favourite holidays of the year. If only for the opportunity to dress up in a ghoulish outfit and eat Halloween themed food and drink. I don’t even need to go trick or treating, in fact I’ve never done so. Just the food and costumes will do me fine. And it’s food like the following Goblin Pies that really excites me.
My little Goblins!
I absolutely loved making these pies and cutting out the various faces for them. The first lot I made had more demure looking expressions but then I recalled seeing a picture of the Pumpkins at the start of Nigella’s Hallowe’en chapter in Feast and cut out more sinister looking ones. Use a sharp paring knife and whatever you can find to cut out the various parts (cutters tend to be a bit too big for these pies so I used clean pen lids for the eyes etc). And don’t you think the one in the picture above in the middle row second from left looks like a Mummy laughing?
More demure Goblin faces
These taste exactly and I do mean exactly like party pies but perhaps the best ones you’ve ever had. And if you mince the meat yourself you’ll know what exactly is in the meat pie. My friend Carbon Debit is currently in Romania and she told me that in the supermarket they’ll mince the meat freshly for you, you just choose the meat you want minced and they’ll do the rest.
But getting more wicked…
As for me, I’m counting down the days until Hallowe’en for we’re holding our first Hallowe’en party! Let the gruesome games begin muahahahaaaaaa…
Goblin Pie Faces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 200g small brown onion
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 500g beef mince
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup beef stock
- 2x OXO beef stock cubes
- splash of white wine
- 1 teaspoon Vegemite or Promite (optional)
- salt and lots of black pepper
- 2 teaspoons of cornflour mixed with 2 teaspoons of cold water
- 4-5 sheets store bought shortcrust pastry
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- tomato sauce to serve
1. Preheat the oven to 180c if you are baking these straight away (I didn’t, I made these ahead of time to save my sanity). Cook oil, onion and garlic in a saucepan over medium heat until the onion softens. Add the beef, using a wooden spoon to break up any lumps until browned (5 minutes). Add paste, stock, Vegemite, white wine and salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Then add cornflour and cook briefly on low heat until thickened. Cool completely.
My goblins!
2. Use a 7-8cms cookie cutter to cut 24 rounds of pastry for the base and line two 12 hole cupcake of muffin tins. If they don’t fit, you can stretch out the pastry a little. Use a 5.5cms cookie cutter to cut 24 rounds from the remaining pastry. Use a small paring knife to cut out eyes and anguished mouths. Place one tray in the freezer while you fill the other tray cases with 2 teaspoons of the beef.
3. Top with goblin face rounds and brush with egg. You can either freeze these now for later use or just bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until golden. If baking from frozen, cook for 25 minutes. I placed a white cupcake liner in the bottom for easy removal from the muffin tray.
Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine
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22 Comments | Add your own
These are too cute! And such a versatile idea!
ha what a nice idea. these look really nice for halloween. You re amazing
A savoury dish, yum! They just look SO tasty. I enjoy a good pie and it’s one of my girls favourite things to eat also. Last Friday I bought 6 individual pie tins because I have a number of recipes that call for them. I used them last night actually for filo tarts.
ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, these look great. i guess a lot of people might like them because of the scary faces but i like them because u can see the meat inside!
See vegemite as stock! HaHaha! they’re fabulous!
Fabbbbbbulous pies! I thought they were sweet mince pies at first .. boo hoo
The toothy ones are particularly cute.
hahaha thats such a fantastic idea! i love the expressions lol my fav is the front pie on the top tier
Love these! ‘Specially the ones with the evil square toothy mouths.
Those faces are brilliant, such cute expressions!
Oh you’re so clever! They’re adorable.
Cuuuttee ^^! Shotgun the center one in the middle tier with the surprised looking face hee hee (OoO) sooo when and wheres the party
hee hee
wow!
too scary to eat.:P
haha do I see a ^_^ pie ? Yes I doooo… omg so cute
Hi Barbara-Thankyou! I saw them as my little “babies”
Hi snooky doodle-Thanks so much! I think they could even do at a kid’s party when you want to feed them so real meat pies and not worry about gristle and what else goes into them
Hi Maria-I can’t wait to see the filo tarts! Thanks, I love my little evil goblins
Hi blythe-Yes thankfully the mince didn’t overflow!
Hi Reesmki-Yes! Vegemite or Promite as stock really works, you’re right
Thanks so much!
Hi Y-I always find that I get excited when I see mince pies but then disappointed at the fact that they’re sweet fruit mince. So much the opposite! The toothy ones were a bit harder to cut so I didn’t do as many
Hi chocolatesuze-Haha I put my favourites on the front too
Hi Cakelaw-Thankyou! I was hoping that they’d look a bit evil or sinister
Hi Cappucino-Thanks so much, these were one of my favourite things ever to make because of the faces
Hi Christie-Thanks so much!
Hi FFichiban-Thankyou! hehe yes party at our house this Halloween
Hi pearlypop-Haha no chance, I snuck a couple already!
Hi D-You do spy a pie indeed
Thankyou so much!
Those are perfect! I’d eat them any time of the year!
this is so clever, and very nicely executed! plus, on top of that, they sound scrumptious! my verdict: winner.
hehe, these are adorable! I’d be filling up all the holes with tomato sauce, saves me time from lifting up the pastry lid… haha…. how cute are the one-toothed faces!
Hi Blond Duck-Thanks! I think kids would love these for their birthdays too
Hi grace-Thankyou! I have to say that the pie filling is so good, I am definitely going to have to make it again
Hi Jen-Thanks so much
Haha yes the sauce could go into the holes and absorb a bit. Thanks the one toothed ones were my favourite!
The evil, toothy grins of those goblins are fantastic. I’m glad that they’re savoury… I’m not sure that goblins should ever be sweet!!
Hi Angela-Thankyou! I really enjoyed crafting their evil little expressions and I agree, savoury all the way!
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[...] You can choose Halloween decorations should you want to inject a bit of spooky into your October 31st (and if you need any recipes be sure to check out last year’s Halloween party, Blood and Brain Cupcakes, Pumpkin cheesecake, Eyeball Cupcakes, Buried Alive Cupcakes or Goblin Pies) [...]
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