Jack Skellington Apple Raspberry Pie & Meringue Ghosts

I never celebrated Halloween growing up. It just wasn’t a thing at all in Greece. In the past few years however, I spent it in places where it’s greatly celebrated and I think I am slowly changing my mind. After all, any excuse to bake something fun is a great opportunity.

I had blast baking a Jack Skellington Apple & Raspberry Pie as well as an army of sweet meringue ghosts.

For the pie I used as a base the Puff the Bakery recipe. If you don’t know who these ladies are, you should check their website. During lockdown they put together very detailed online baking courses. If you are thinking to up your pastry game definitely consider their course.

Scroll down for both spooky recipes!

Jack Skellington Apple & Raspberry Pie

This quantities are for a 9' inches pie tin

For the dough (Puff the Bakery recipe)

350g unsalted butter
450g strong white bread flour
25g caster sugar
10g fine salt
140ml ice cold water
10g cornflour+30g sugar (to sprinkle between the bottom of the pie & the filling

For the filling

400g apples
200g berries
140 caster sugar
Zest of 1/2 an orange
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp ground cloves
1/4tsp ground ginger
2tbsp cornflour
20g butter

1 egg for egg wash
Demerara Sugar for sprinkling

Step by Step

Pastry

Cube the butter in small pieces and chill it in the freezer for 20min
In your stand mixer add the flour, sugar & salt and mix
Add in the cubed butter in the bowl and mix. When the mix looks a bit like wet sand but, still has pea size pieces of butter, add in the water
As soon as the dough comes together take it out of the stand mixer and bring it together with your hands. Try not to handle it too much, you don’t want the butter to melt
Shape it as a rectangle and roll it out. Perform a single fold by folding the top third of your rectangle. Now fold the rectangle again in half. If you look at your rectangle from the side you should be able to see 3 distinct layers. You can skip this step as it’s not mandatory it will help you though get a flakier pastry
Divide the dough into 2 disks and cover them with cling film. Let them rest in the fridge for 2 hours

Filling

Get rid of the skin & slice the apples thinly and evenly

In a bowl, mix all the filling ingredients and let them sit for 15-20 minutes

Baking

Butter your pie dish and roll out one of the discs and place it in your pie dish
Mix the sugar and cornflour and add it in the pie dish
Add the filling. If your berries have too much juice avoid adding it all in the pie
Roll out your second disk and place it on top of the pie
I used a stencil made out of parchment paper to carve out Jack Skellington’s face. If you are better at drawing than me you might be able to do this freehand
Rest the pie in the fridge for an hour
Egg wash & sprinkle with Demerara sugar
Preheat the oven at 200C and place a heavy tray inside (this will help to bake evenly the bottom of the pie)
Bake for 1 to 1/15h

Sweet Meringue Ghosts

90g egg whites
180g caster sugar
2tsp of lemon juice
30g of dark chocolate

Step by Step

Place the egg whites and lemon in your stand mixer (you can also use a handheld mixer) and start whisking them
Add in the sugar one tbsp at a time and gradually increase the speed
Once all the sugar is in keep whisking for a minute or so until you reach stiff peaks and your meringue is nice and glossy
Use a piping bag to pipe your little ghosts on a silicon mat or parchment paper
Bake in a preheated over at 110C
If you want a dry meringue with a soft/chewy middle bake for 1.30h
If you want a completely dry meringue bake for 1.30 and after that slightly open your oven door (you can place a wooden spoon to keep it open) and bake for another 45min to 1h
Let the meringues cool down. In the meantime melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (stack two pots one on top of the other. Add some water in the pot below and the chocolate in the pot on top. This will melt the chocolate smoothly)
Use a thin brush or spaghetti dipped in chocolate to draw the meringue faces.