Realistic Looking Eyeballs Dessert (Halloween)

WARNING: This post contains some visuals that may be frightening to young children. View at your own discretion.

Huge apology for writing this post so close to Halloween! I've had it prepared in the beginning of the month but family came over for a week, so I didn't have the time to pen it down. Thankfully, as difficult as these look, they are actually very simple to make plus the ingredients are readily available. There should still be time to prepare this awesome looking dessert for your Halloween party!

Glutinous Eyeballs Dessert Soup (serves 4)

Glutinous dough
100g     Glutinous rice flour
  75g     Warm water, about 40°C
Cocoa powder

Red Dates with Ginger dessert soup
1.5L     Water
  70g     Yellow rock sugar (adjust more or less to taste)
 8-10     Red dates
A piece of Ginger, about 2"x1" size, skin removed, sliced
8 pieces of Pandan Leaves

Optional
Few drops of red food coloring
Water
A small food paintbrush

1. Pour 3/4 of the warm water into the glutinous rice flour and mix to combine. Drizzle in the remaining water to form a dough that no longer sticks to the sides of bowl. You may require more or less water. If dough is too wet, add a little more glutinous rice flour. Cling wrap the dough or cover it with a damp, clean cloth. Rest for about 15 mins.

2. Pinch out a small portion of the dough and mix with cocoa powder. You will need to add more water as cocoa powder is hygroscopic too. Stop when the consistency feels the same as the white dough. Cling wrap and rest for about 15 mins.

3. Divide the white dough into small balls, and the black dough into an even smaller size. Flatten the black balls and stick to the white balls with a touch of water. Roll the combined dough gently between your palms to get a more cohesive surface. Cover the finished eyeballs with cling wrap while you work with the remaining. You can freeze the eyeballs by dusting a thin layer of corn flour to prevent sticking, and store them in a freezer-safe bag. Thaw completely before cooking.

Optional
4. Dilute the red food coloring with a little water, and carefully paint the opposite end of the "pupil" (black dough) in streaks to mimic blood vessels.

5. Bring a pot of water to boil (not the sweet soup), then turn it down to a simmer. Prepare an ice bath next to your pot. Gently drop the eyeballs into the simmering water, give it a gentle stir to prevent them from sticking to the pot.

6. Give them another minute or so after they float to the surface. Scoop them into the ice bath immediately and reserve.

7. Bring all ingredients for sweet soup to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to dissolve the rock sugar. When done, discard the red dates, pandan leaves and ginger. Alternatively, if you prefer a stronger taste, leave them in the soup until just before serving.

Assembly
8. Simply place eyeballs into the serving vessel, and top with sweet soup. May be served both warm or chilled.

Thoughts: I was actually looking at the 九份芋圓 while randomly surfing for Halloween inspiration. It suddenly hit me that the dough's consistency is like fondant and I can shape it into eyeballs! A happy coincident! Since I didn't have sweet potato flour, I decided to try with the traditional 汤圆 (Asian sweet dumpling) recipe. So thrilled that the resulting eyeballs looked amazing. By amazing, I mean they managed to gross out my family and friends. Heehee.. They look pretty realistic as it is, but I guess I could have done a better job for the "pupils", maybe add in "iris" next time.

Some tips for shaping the eyeballs. The human eyeballs are not perfectly round, in fact they are slightly flatter in the front and the back, resulting in a slight oval shape. I pinched some of them too hard while painting, and they had elongated backs. Still visually stunning but not anatomically correct. *opps* 

I listed the painting as optional because I realized (with help from family and friends of course >.<) the "blood vessels" was mainly why the eyeballs look gruesome and may not be suitable for kids. However, they also agree that without the vessels, they look nothing like eyeballs. Sooo... I'll leave the option open for you guys to decide. 

Since this is a 汤圆 dough, they tastes just like one with a subtle chocolate flavor. I chose to serve them in recycled canning jars, so they looked like preserved eyeball specimens in a medical facility. It'll go along great with a mad scientist or surgeon themed Halloween party!

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