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Halloween Recipes for Spooktacular Good Times

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This time of year, when you think about recipes and cooking it’s not really all that common to think of Halloween. Thanksgiving, yes, and Christmas, definitely, but Halloween doesn’t really bring to mind any specific ideas about cooking. That is, until now!

Last year, I decided to host some friends at my house, because I was at the time living in a house on a street that got a lot of trick or treaters. Most of my friends lived in apartments or areas where kids didn’t come, so the idea was that we would all hang out together, drink, eat, watch scary movies, and take turns answering the door and scaring kids. This was an awesome propect, for sure, but it also gave me a little bit of anxiety. Specifically, it made me get hostess anxiety—what does one make to eat on a Halloween night?

Well, I did some digging and came up with a few awesome ideas. Here they are, in no particular order:

Mummy Dogs

This is a fun and easy one. You’ll need some Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and small hot dogs (optional: cheese).

  1. Unroll the crescent and cut the strips to resemble a mummy’s bandages.

  2. Wrap the bandages around the hot dogs so they look like mummies (leaving room for a face is fun). If you want, you can put small slices of cheese inside the rolls, too.

  3. Bake on slightly greased cookie sheet for approximately 15 minutes, or until bandages are golden.

  4. Let cool, then add mustard eyes to mummies and serve with side of mustard. Delicious!

Witches fingers

A twist on the classic sugar cookie, with thanks to AllRecipes. A little more time intensive, though.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
¾ cup whole almonds (or ten “finger nails”)
1 tube red decorating gel

Directions:

  1. Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
  2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
  3. Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of waxed paper. Use the waxed paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
  5. Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.

Makes 60 cookies.

Hand Punch

A fun one, with minimal effort! You will need a fruit punch recipe (your choice), and a rubber glove.

  1. Make the punch in advance.
  2. Turn a rubber glove inside out.
  3. Fill the glove ¾ full with punch, and tie a twist tie or rubber band around the end.
  4. Freeze overnight.
  5. When it’s time to party, take out your punch bowl, and peel or cut away the rubber glove from the “hand.” Drop the hand in the bowl a la some ice, and serve! Spooky!

Pumpkin Seeds

The salty, tasty snack classic.

  1. Once you’ve scooped your pumpkin out for carving purposes, take your pile of guts and separate out the seeds.
  2. Wash the seeds in a spaghetti colander (or don’t wash them—sometimes I don’t), dry them with paper towel (they roast better) and spread them evenly on a cookie sheet.
  3. Drizzle with olive oil, and add seasoning salt (you may wish to do add other seasonings, but I’m a purist).
  4. Roast at 350-400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
  5. Allow to cool and enjoy!

If you’re a good planner, you can have all of these and more at your Halloween party. Sure beats candycorn, I say! What goodies do you serve at your Halloween shindigs?