Our Top Bonfire Night Treats

It’s Bonfire Night this weekend – the perfect time to wrap up warm, watch some fireworks and snack on comfort food. What’s not to love? Food on Bonfire Night has remained the same for years, whether it’s a jacket potato or a hot chocolate, we’ve taken the fuss away from treats for the night. All of these recipes are fully adaptable, make them your own and switch out ingredients for whatever you see fit. We’ve gathered a couple of ideas for what you can make in preparation for the munchies, some classic and some with more of a modern twist.

Banoffee S’mores

You may be familiar with the concept of s’mores as they’ve been in pretty much every movie to feature Bonfire night. The classic s’more consists of biscuits, marshmallow and chocolate. This recipe kicks it up a notch, upgrading our favourite treat to pack it full of banoffee goodness. You could even replace the marshmallows with a vegetarian alternative.

Ingredients:

• 16 milk chocolate biscuits
• 8 large marshmallows
• 8 tsp caramel sauce
• 1 banana cut into 16 slices

Method:

Preheat the grill to high and line your baking tray with wax paper. Lay 8 biscuits down with a marshmallow on each of them and grill until it starts to brown and starts slightly melting. Drizzle over some caramel sauce, top with banana slices and sandwich with another chocolate biscuit.

Homemade Toffee Apples

A classic bonfire night treat – toffee apples! Making them at home may look scary, but it’s actually pretty easy. Making them at home makes this staple treat adaptable and you can even add additional toppings onto the caramel before it sets.

Ingredients:

• 8 apples
• 400g golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp vinegar
• 4 tbsp golden syrup
• 100ml water
• Wooden lolly sticks

Method:

Wash the apples with hot water to remove the waxy coating, dry thoroughly and push a wooden lolly stick into each apple. Place the sugar and water into a pan and cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the vinegar and syrup, and continue to boil until the it reaches 150°C. If you don’t have a thermometer, pour a little into cold water and it should instantly harden. If it doesn’t, continue to boil. Quickly dip each apple into the toffee until covered. Leave to harden, and you’re done!

Bonfire Night Baked Potatoes

What would Bonfire Night be without baked potatoes? Although we use an oven, you could quite easily cook the potatoes in the bonfire beforehand and skip to the filling. The possibilities are endless with this one, add whatever toppings you want for a delicious bonfire night snack.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium baking potatos
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 25g butter
• 1 large onion, finely sliced
• 6 slices smoked streaky bacon, chopped
• 2 tbsp double cream
• 200g mixed cheese

Method:

Heat the oven to 200°C. Prick the potatoes with a fork, rub them with half the oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange on a baking tray and place in the oven for around 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the skins are crispy and the potato is soft inside. Whilst the potatoes are baking, heat the remaining oil in the frying pan, add the onion and cook until softened. Once golden, remove the onions from the pan and add the bacon, cook until crispy. Cut eat potato in half and scoop out the inside of the potato into a bowl, leaving just the skins. In the bowl, mash the potato with butter and double cream, and stir in the onion, bacon and three-quarters of the cheese. Spoon in back into the potato skins, top with cheese and bake until cheese is melted. That’s it, you’re done!

Hazelnut Cream Hot Chocolate

We love standing around a bonfire, wrapped up warm, with a hot chocolate in hand. What’s even better is that this recipe has a little added alcoholic kick. You can omit this ingredient completely to make it suitable for everyone. This recipe is also really scale-able, the below ingredients are for one serving so double or triple it as required.

Ingredients:

• 50ml double cream
• 1 tsp chocolate hazelnut spread
• 150ml whole milk
• 25g milk chocolate, chopped
• 25ml hazelnut liqueur
• 1 tsp chopped hazelnuts, toasted

Method:

Whip the cream until thick and fold in the chocolate hazelnut spread. Only stir a couple of times because you want a marbled effect. In a saucepan, warm the milk until simmering, take off the heat and add the chocolate. Stir it until smooth, add the hazelnut liqueur and return to the heat until hot. Pour your hot chocolate into a mug and add your whipped cream mixture on top, sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts and enjoy.

Coconut Hot Chocolate

This is a twist on the classic hot chocolate and is equally as delicious. You can replace the ingredients in this to make it vegan and lactose-free, which is great as you’ll be able to cater for everyone. Once you try this, you’ll never look back.

Ingredients:

• 150ml whole milk (or coconut milk)
• 25g white chocolate, chopped (or cacoa butter)
• 25ml coconut-flavoured rum
• 1 tsp finely grated dark chocolate (or flaked coconut)

Method:

Pour the milk into a small pan on medium heat until simmering. Remove the pan from the heat and add in the white chocolate, coconut-flavoured rum and stir until melted. Return to the heat until hot. Pour your hot chocolate into a mug and garnish with the dark chocolate. It’s as simple as that!

Mulled Apple Juice

Now not every drink has to have an added kick. This mulled apple juice is alcohol free and is a great option to share with the kids. We’re sure that once the adults smell it, they’ll even be wanting some. If you’re also the designated driver, this is the drink for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre apple juice
• strips of orange peel
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves
• sugar or honey, to taste

Method:

Simmer the apple juice with the orange peel, cinnamon stick and cloves for about 10 minutes until the flavours have infused. Sweeten to taste and serve! Garnish each drink with a bit of orange peel, and even some extra cinnamon sticks if you fancy.