Halloween Pumpkin Punch Recipe

Add a splash of Halloween drink enchantment to your spooky celebrations with pumpkin punch, a delightfully spiced concoction made with a delectable base of spiced pumpkin caramel with apple juice and ginger beer. This delicious Halloween punch is non alcoholic and an absolute hit as it is served in a giant hollowed out pumpkin!

Pumpkin Punch with Whipped Rat Guts

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 60 minutes

Serves 10

Pumpkin caramel

• 350g/12ozs. pumpkin
• 1 cup caramel sauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Punch

• 2 litres/4.2pints cloudy apple juice
• 750ml/1.6pints ginger beer
• 5-6kg/11-13lbs carving or Halloween pumpkin
• Whipped cream to serve

Step 1 - To make the pumpkin caramel, heat the oven to 200C/400F and line an oven tray with baking paper. Scoop out the seeds and most of the stringy bits. Place cut-side-down onto the baking paper. Bake pumpkin for 45 to 60 minutes and remove once it can easily be pierced with a knife in several places and the flesh is pulling away from the skin. Allow pumpkin to cool, remove the flesh from the skin. You should have around 1/2 or 3/4 cup of pumpkin flesh. Whizz in a food processor until very smooth. Then add in the caramel sauce, vanilla and cinnamon and whizz again until the sauce comes together.

Step 2 - To make your punch bowl, mark out a circle at the top of the pumpkin with a pen, this will become your lid. Ensure it is a big enough opening to get a ladle in. Then using a sharp knife, carefully cut your way around the circle, and then wiggle the lid free from the body of the pumpkin. Scoop out the seeds and stringy bits with a large metal spoon to form a bowl, being careful to keep a thick layer of the pumpkin wall intact. Also remove any seeds and stringy bits from the lid of the pumpkin. Feel free to name your pumpkin, e.g Patrick the pumpkin, and draw a face on them at this time, as you will not be able to decorate your pumpkin once it has been in the fridge or has cold liquid in it.

Step 3 - Pour off about 1.5 cups of apple juice from the bottle and add into the pumpkin bowl. Add your caramel to the apple juice bottle and shake to make the mixture nice and frothy. Then pour the reminder of the juice into the pumpkin. Top with ginger beer and a handful of ice. Serve with a bowl or bottle of whipped cream for guests to add while serving. To spice up the punch add a cup of rum or gin to the mix.