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Bloody Puff Pastry Hand

17/11/2023

The “Bloody Puff Pastry Hand” is a perfect dish for a horror-themed party, like Halloween, and is based on the use of puff pastry to recreate a macabre appearance. Here is an Italian variation of this idea, enriched with ingredients easily available to us.

Ingredients

  • 1 roll of rectangular puff pastry
  • 100 g of cooked ham in a single slice
  • 100 g of fontina-type cheese
  • Black olives
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Tomato sauce (preferably thick) or ketchup to simulate blood

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
  2. Roll out the puff pastry and cut out the shape of a hand. You can help yourself by first drawing the shape on a sheet of paper, placing it on the pastry and cutting along the edges.
  3. In the area that would represent the palm of the hand, arrange a slice of cooked ham and a piece of cheese, leaving a free border around.
  4. Place another hand-shaped piece of puff pastry on top of the one with the ham and cheese, sealing the edges well to prevent the filling from leaking during baking.
  5. With the help of a knife, lightly score the pastry to simulate the folds of the hand and the separations between the fingers.
  6. To create a more realistic effect, you can roll a piece of pastry to make a “nail” on each finger and attach it by pressing lightly.
  7. Beat the egg yolk and gently brush the entire surface of the puff pastry hand. This will give it a nice golden color once baked.
  8. Add half a black olive to each nail to simulate dirt under the nails or to make the appearance generally more unsettling.
  9. Bake and cook for about 20 minutes or until the pastry becomes golden and crispy.
  10. Serve the puff pastry hand with some tomato sauce or ketchup on the side to imitate blood.

Fun Fact

This dish can also be prepared with various fillings, such as spinach and ricotta or spiced ground meat, to adapt it to personal tastes and make it perfect for the festive occasion.

Remember that the pastry puffs up during baking, so the flatter and more uniform the filling, the better the final result will be regarding the shape of the hand. Have fun and enjoy this dish with such a scary appearance but irresistible taste!