Skull Pizzas

Want a really quick, fun Halloween recipe idea? Try this skull pizza made out of mushrooms. They're so quick and easy to make and you can use a fresh pizza base or a ready made one for a spooktacularly easy Halloween recipe. If you're trick or treating this is the perfect dinner or snack to have before or after!

Do you remember that mushroom skull soup? Well we are using the same skull mushrooms to create a simple skull pizza. This is a fun idea to feed kids on Halloween and I find that having good, savoury vegetarian options are really handy for Halloween parties. I was sent this video by Miss Gruenkern and I decided to make a version of it.

Tips for Making Skull Pizzas

1 You can use fresh pizza dough or a par-baked pizza base for this skull pizza.

2 I use regular white button mushrooms for the skulls. Try to use very fresh mushrooms for this. This makes poking the eyes out easier.

3 I also soak the mushrooms in water for a couple of hours to plump them up (just while the pizza dough comes to temperature).

4 Pizzas usually cook at 220C/440F or higher but we will be cooking this pizza at 180C/350F so that the mushrooms don't brown too much.

5 These skull pizzas can be easily made vegan by omitting the cheese.

These skull pizzas are some of the easiest pizzas and I made them a few nights when I didn't have a lot of time to make dinner. Sometimes I used pizza dough (if I remembered to take it out of the fridge), other times I used a par baked pizza base and topped it. And every night that I made it, without fail, our household's biggest pizza fan would suddenly appear. Whether it was the sound of me taking out the base of the packaging or the sound of me unwrapping the mozzarella ball from its packaging Teddy Elliott would suddenly appear expectantly on the stairs watching me.

I thought I was the family's No. 1 pizza fan but it's definitely Teddy. We often give them pizza crusts to help train them when walking but since I made so many pizzas we had a lot of crust. And somehow Teddy knew this. In his brain he had calculated that we had about four pizzas worth of crust so on those nights, he barely ate any of his regular food. While his little brother Milo will happily eat his own food and then pizza crusts, Teddy Elliott will gamble on getting an upgrade of pizza and sacrifice his regular food in the hopes of a pizza crust. And with such a cute smile he also knows that it is hard to resist him!

So tell me Dear Reader, are you the biggest fan of pizza in your house?

Skull Pizza

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus proofing time

Cooking time: 13-15 minutes

Makes 1 pizza

• 250g/8.8ozs fresh pizza dough or 1 ready made pizza base
• 1-2 tablespoons semolina flour
• 8 mushrooms
• 100ml/3.5ozs pizza sauce
• 60g/2ozs mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/2 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 brown anchovies (optional)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Step 1 - Take the pizza dough out of the fridge. Sprinkle some semolina flour on a pizza tray and shape the dough into a ball and place in the centre of the pizza tray. Allow the dough to come to temperature for 2-3 hours. Soak the mushrooms in enough water to cover them during this time. If your mushrooms are super fresh then you don't have to soak them.

Step 2 - Make the mushroom skulls by cutting them in half. Poke two eyes with a straw and then slice little teeth using a paring knife.

Step 3 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced. Spread out the dough to the edges of the pizza tray with your hands keeping it a round shape adding more flour if needed so that it doesn't stick to the tray. Spoon the pizza sauce on top of the pizza leaving a small border around the edge. Place cheese, garlic, onion, mushroom skulls and anchovies and drizzle with olive oil. Cook for 13-15 minutes.