Monstrous Recipe or Delicious Recipe? That’s the dilemma of this year’s Halloween Treant! In my opinion, it’s very cute rather than monstrous and it’s really super tasty, full of hazelnut cream and almond crumbs. And yes, the photo set creates the magic and transports us to the Magical World of Halloween!
Who knows about Treants? I admit my ignorance, or rather, I’ve seen The Lord of the Rings but I didn’t know that the Trees in the movie were called Treants. I also didn’t know that there were any in the game Dungeons and Dragons; they can be found in many card games and video games.
Also called Trents or Ents, they are Giant Trees, theoretically very powerful, that can scare their victims. Well, I know all this today thanks to my cousin Paolo who, upon receiving the photo of the Puff Pastry Monster I’m presenting, laughed and sent me three photos of Treants! When someone is born with a passion for games and cards, they see them everywhere. His brother, Andrea, simply wrote that it was very beautiful and that they pruned the dry branches of the Halloween Monster Tree that I made with puff pastry!
To make this Halloween dessert you don’t need great pastry skills, just a few ingredients, it can be prepared in a few minutes and will amaze the little ones and be enjoyed by adults. A dessert for the Day of the Dead that you can also prepare with your children or with your grandchildren.
Melissa and Rebecca, Federico and Valerio gave this dessert full marks, so here I am presenting you the recipe and video recipe to help you prepare it. Here below I’ll also share the other Halloween Recipes I’ve prepared over the years, always for my nephews.
Every link is clickable and will take you directly to the Recipe that you have chosen to read, from the Pumpkin and Cinnamon Cookies and Halloween Mummies with puff pastry, then the delicious Bats from last Halloween and the more classic but always delicious Pumpkin Muffins. I also leave you the Marchigiana Recipe of the Dead Fava Beans, a typical dessert of the Saints’ Festival from my Region, the Marche. October 31st is approaching and it’s time to start thinking about the sweetest way to play with the little ones for this holiday.
Remember that I’m waiting for you every morning in the group and on the Facebook fan page with the Recipe of the Day, an unmissable appointment for all blog fans Le Ricette di Bea!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 10 Minutes
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 8 People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Halloween
- Energy 383.61 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 34.18 (g) of which sugars 10.43 (g)
- Proteins 5.06 (g)
- Fat 25.15 (g) of which saturated 8.09 (g)of which unsaturated 15.48 (g)
- Fibers 1.80 (g)
- Sodium 136.11 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 68 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for a Halloween Treant
To prepare this dessert with puff pastry the ingredient list is very short, of course, I indicated Nutella but you can use another hazelnut cream that you prefer more. You could also choose pistachio cream which is the New Family Fabbri 1905 Product that you can purchase with a 20% discount by entering the code FABBRIRICETTEDIBEA20 before payment.
- 2 rolls puff pastry (rectangular)
- 5.3 oz Nutella® (or hazelnut cream of your choice)
- 1 egg (for brushing the dessert)
- as needed hazelnut crumbs (or other crumbs to taste)
Tools for the Sweet Halloween Treant Recipe
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Baking paper
- 1 Oven
- 1 Brush
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Fork
Steps for the Sweet Halloween Treant Recipe with Puff Pastry
Initially, roll out a rectangular puff pastry roll and spread hazelnut cream or, as in my case, Nutella over its entire surface. Use a spatula, a spreader or a knife; I used the back of a spoon. Leave about a centimeter (approximately 0.4 inches) of edge which will be used to seal the puff pastry.
Lay the second roll of puff pastry, again rectangular, on top of the sheet where the hazelnut cream was spread. Perform these steps directly on the wooden board because we will then have to cut the pastry with the tip of a well-sharpened knife.
Preheat the oven to static mode at 356°F. Keep aside the baking paper from the second puff pastry roll if you prefer or use a new sheet of paper after cutting our Monster Tree. Here’s how to proceed.
Seal the puff pastry on all four sides with the tips of the fork, pressing from the edge outward, this will seal the puff pastry. Now we can start cutting the pastry. First, cut the trunk, in the video recipe these steps are very clearly visible.
If you can’t quite grasp my written explanation I suggest you watch the video recipe several times before making the cuts because the work will be irreparable afterwards. After cutting the trunk we can cut the pastry to create the canopy. Make diagonal cuts from about the middle of the pastry upward, again, I recommend watching the video recipe.
We can now twist the puff pastry branches up to two times at most, not doing more twists otherwise the filling cream might spill out if the pastry is tightened too much. Lastly, cut out the eyes and make slits to create the mouth with a wickedly evil grin! I did not remove the puff pastry from the mouth or eyes, to avoid creating holes where the spreadable cream could seep through during baking.
Now our Monster Treat is ready. Transfer the dessert onto a new sheet of baking paper or the one we set aside since most likely the paper underneath the pastry is cut up.
Proceed by brushing the surface of the Puff Pastry Monster with a beaten egg using a kitchen brush. Sprinkle the branches with hazelnut crumbs or other crumbs to your liking. Then bake the Halloween Treant with puff pastry in the center of the oven.
Let it bake for about 20 – 25 minutes, you’ll see the pastry become golden and crispy. Our Nutella-Filled Tree is finally ready. Let the Halloween Dessert cool on a wooden board, not in the baking tray otherwise it will receive too much heat from it.
Wait about 10 minutes so that the cream, still too hot, has time to cool down and not drip when we cut the dessert. Remove the squares from the eyes and insert more hazelnut cream and more crumbs with a teaspoon to bring the monster’s eyes to life.
If you prefer, you can sprinkle with powdered sugar, you know I don’t like it that much so I didn’t even include it in the ingredient list for this recipe.
All that’s left is to serve the Monstrous Halloween Treat to our little ones, whether children or grandchildren, and enjoy this delicious dessert with them. Bon appétit and remember I’m waiting for you every day in the group and on the Facebook fan page with the Recipe of the Day!
As dictated by American and Anglo-Saxon tradition, every year we gather here on the blog with the Recipe for the Day of the Dead and as always mine is dedicated to the children. It’s indeed perfect to prepare together with them, this simple and delicious puff pastry dessert filled with Nutella will please adults and kids alike.
Tips and variations:
As already stated in the text of the Halloween Treat Recipe, you know that I recommend changing the baking paper under the pastry because, if it’s cut up, it might stick to the pastry during baking. Especially if some chocolate leaks from the dessert, it could end up on the baking tray, burn, and thus leave a bad smell in our dessert for Halloween.
Another tip I can give you is not to overdo with the filling, as it’s an ingredient that heats up during baking, you risk it leaking from the pastry and therefore not creating that nice two-tone effect on the branches.
Let your creativity loose with the decorations, from the mouth shape to the eyes, how to fill them with cream or another ingredient of your choice. Unleash your imagination, when it comes to recipes for children you can have fun decorating the monster with them.
