Throwing a festive party or not, Halloween is a great time to get creative in the kitchen, and preparing disturbingly delicious dishes is all part of the fun! Whether you are throwing a party or a movie night, these recipes will be sure to give your guests a night to remember.
Terrifying Toffee apples
Transform the traditional caramel apple craze and get creative
Ingredients:
- 6 medium-size Granny Smith apples (about 5 oz each)
- 6-inch wooden craft sticks or dowels
- 50 unwrapped Werther’s Original chewy caramels or 1 (14-oz) bag unwrapped Kraft soft caramels
- 2 Tbsp. water or heavy cream
Directions:
1. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil. Wash and dry the apples and remove their stems. Insert a stick or dowel into the stem end of each apple.
2. Place caramels and water (or cream) in a 1-quart microwave-safe glass bowl or measure. Microwave on high 2½ to 3 minutes, stirring every minute, until caramels are
completely melted and smooth.
3. Holding the apples by the sticks, dip and swirl in caramel to coat, gently scraping the bottoms against the edge of the bowl to remove excess caramel. (If the dipping caramel
firms up, microwave it in 30-second intervals to soften.)
Optional: Press or roll freshly coated apples into a topping. (You may need to press larger toppings into the caramel to adhere.) Stand apples on prepared baking sheet and chill 15 minutes to set the caramel.
Recipe from http://www.redbookmag.com
Spooky Snacking
The following recipe gives you a simple way to quickly prepare some tasty nibbles for your guests. You could also use broad bean and asparagus hummus, or beetroot and mint dip to give your dish a green or red color, and add that extra fright factor!
Ingredients:
- vegetable dip
· 4 long carrots
· 1 medium carrot
· softened cream cheese
· sliced-almond
· baby carrots
Directions:
1. To prepare them, just fill a serving bowl with your favorite vegetable dip. Wash and peel 4 long carrots for fingers and 1 medium carrot for a thumb.
2. With a paring knife, cut a flat, shallow notch in the tip of each carrot. Then use a dab of dip or softened cream cheese to glue a sliced-almond fingernail atop each notch.
Stick the fingers in the dip, as shown, and serve with plenty of peeled baby carrots for dipping.
Recipe from http://gamentrain.com
Creepy Cupcake’s
Fancy something sweet? Why not use this quick and simple vanilla cupcake recipe then get creative with your decorations!
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar (if you like your cupcakes very sweet, add a little more.)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375f or 170c; line the muffin cups with papers.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Add flour (mixed with baking powder and salt) alternating with milk beat well. Stir in vanilla.
- Divide evenly among pans and bake for 18 minutes. Let cool in pans.
Recipe from http://www.food.com
Frightful Fruit
Swap the traditional apples for these super cheap and easy to make pear ghosts!
Ingredients
- 2 ripe pears, peeled
- 300ml (½pt) apple juice
- 1 cinnamon stick
- A pinch of dried nutmeg
- 2 frozen redcurrants, dried cranberries or dried sultanas
- Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or pine nuts
- Aerosol dairy cream (e.g. Anchor iScream)
- Summer fruit juice or similar red fruit juice
Directions
1. Place the peeled pears into a saucepan with the apple juice, cinnamon stick and nutmeg.
2. Simmer gently for 20 mins until pears soften slightly.
3. Remove from juice and allow to cool. Slice a small slither off the bottom of the pears so that they stand upright.
4. Continue to reduce the juice for a further 10 minutes (this will be a tasty syrup to serve with the pears).
5. Carefully make small holes in the pears for the eyes and place into them the redcurrants/cranberries/sultanas.
6. Use the seeds as teeth and carefully push into the pear in a circular shape.
7. Place on a plate, squirt liberally with cream and spoon some of the red juice into the ghost’s mouths to create a spooky effect!
Recipe from http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk
Photo credits
www.fashiondetective.co.uk
www.examiner.com
http://www.thefitnessfashionista.com
http://laura.moncur.org
www.goodtoknow.co.uk