Halloween

is just around the corner.  When my boys were small we used to bake treats for school Halloween parties, and parties we had at the restaurant.  Halloween can lend itself to making treats you couldn’t make for any other holiday.  Spiders, severed fingers, and eyeballs come to mind!  It’s one of the few times a year that making something gross is a good thing!  With kids, the grosser the better!  But, cute owls, candy corn, and Jack O’ Lanterns are fun too.  You can have a lot of fun creating different personalities for ghost and pumpkin cookies with some icing and a decorator bag.  If you have limited time, store-bought candies can help decorate baked goods easily.
One simple idea, using store bought candies, is to top chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate cookie crumbs, then place gummy worms on top strategically so they look like they’re coming out of the cupcake.  Kids love Wormy Cupcakes!

Another recipe I’ve used in past Halloweens is for Severed Finger Cookies you use a simple rolled cookie dough with slivered almonds for the fingernails.  Here’s the recipe;

: Halloween Severed Finger Cookies

class=”hrecipe “>Halloween isn’t just for sweet treats either.  As an appetizer you could make Eyeballs.  Just make your favorite deviled egg recipe.  Tint the yolk mixture green or blue.  Fill the egg white with it at garnish with a black olive slice.
I’ve also found renaming things to suit the occasion is fun!  Nachos made with blue corn chips can be renamed Bat Wings.  Or make a punch recipe and call it Witches Brew.  Make a cream cheese spread.  Chill it in a small bowl so it forms the shape.  Lining the bowl with plastic wrap eases getting it back out of the bowl.  Then unmold it onto the plate you will be using to serve it, and sculpt it to look like a Brain. Brain Spread was always a big hit at our parties.
I found some more cute cupcake decorating ideas here  http://nicolehill.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloweens-best.html.  She has this really cute owl cupcake that simply used Oreo cookies and M&M’s for the eyes, and another orange candy for the beak.  So cute!  Some of the other ideas she had include frosting the top to look like candy corn, and using orange frosting on top of the cupcake that looks like a pumpkin.  Complete with a candy stem.

Creating spider web cupcakes is pretty easy too!  Just frost with chocolate frosting (you can add a little bit of black food coloring to make it darker)  and then, pipe a series of concentric circles on the top of the cupcake.  Three or Four should be plenty of circles, one inside the next with a bit of space in between them. Next, using a toothpick, lightly drag it through the white frosting outward from the center.  It’ll be like creating spokes on a bicycle wheel.  Five or Six spokes should be enough.  When you’re done the finished product should look like this; 

If you’re still confused with how to proceed you can find a tutorial on spiderweb cupcakes here; http://www.easycupcakes.com/spider-web-cupcakes/ I think any frosting color combo could work well.  You might think about trying orange, green, or purple for the frosting and yellow, black, white or purple for the web.  Have fun with it!

Don’t forget about using cute cheap items for serving.  You can get a Trick-or-Treat bucket from the nearest Dollar Store that makes a great vehicle for serving popcorn, or put an assortment of candy in it.  A cauldron shaped Trick or Treat pail can make a good place to display your Severed Fingers.  Just tuck some crumpled waxed paper at the bottom so the fingers are plainly visible above the rim.  If you’re really talented, scoop out a pumpkin and carve it on the surface and use it for a bowl to hold dips or pumpkin soup.  Just remember not to carve all the way through so any liquid won’t be leaking out.

I hope you found some information here to spark some creative ideas of your own!  If you would like more recipes like this, leave a comment below and let me know.  I’ve got quite a few more ideas for Halloween treats and parties I could share with you as well.  If you’ve enjoyed this article, why not share it on Facebook!  Hope you have a Hauntingly Wonderful Halloween!

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