HALLOWEEN TREATS

The ghosts are out tonight! Feed those hungry spirits with homemade treats.


HALLOWEEN POPCORN PUMPKINS

ingredients

• 5 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup candy corn
• 1 cup chopped salted peanuts
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 4 drops red food coloring
• 3 drops yellow food coloring
• 4 sticks red or black licorice, cut into thirds

Directions

1. Grease a muffin pan and set aside. Place popcorn, candy corn and peanuts into a large bowl and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in marshmallows, red food coloring and yellow food coloring, adjusting color if needed to get a nice shade of orange. When the marshmallows are completely melted, pour over the popcorn and stir to evenly distribute the candy, nuts and marshmallow.
3. Use a greased spoon

   

   to fill the muffin cups. Insert a piece of licorice to act as the stem, and mold the popcorn around it. Let stand until firm, 10 to 15 minutes, and then pull the pumpkins out by their stems and admire your pumpkin patch!

SPOOKY WITCHES FINGERS

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole almonds
• 1 (.75 ounce) 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 t he almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red dec orating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.

HALLOWEEN EYE OF THE NEWT

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 2 drops green food coloring, or as needed
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 pinch celery salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
• 1 tablespoon prep ared yellow mustard

Directions

1. Place all of the eggs into a large pot so they can rest on the bottom in a single layer. Fill with just enough cold water to cover the eggs. Bring to a boil, then cover, remove from the heat and let stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse under cold water or add some ice to the water and let the eggs cool completely. Peel and slice in half lengthwise.
2. Remove the yolks from the eggs and place them in a bowl. Mix in the relish, mayonnaise, celery salt and food coloring. Spoon this filling into the egg whites and place them on a serving tray. Round the top of the filling using the spoon. Place an olive slice on ea ch yolk to create the center of the eye. Dab a tiny bit of mayonnaise in the center of the olive as a finishing touch.

HALLOWEEN BRAIN DIP

Ingredients

• 2 avocados
• 1/2 cup prepared salsa
• 1 head cauliflower
• 6 thin slices red and blue fruit leather

Directions

1. Slice the avocados in half. Remove the seeds and set aside. Scoop the avocado out of the skin into a bowl. Mash with a fork or whisk and stir in the salsa. Set aside. Slice off one side of each pit to make it f lat and expose the cores of the pits. They will look like eyes.
2. Remove all of the leaves from the cauliflower and remove the stem, leaving a nice hollow area with the outer part of the head intact. Use toothpicks to hold it together if

   

   it starts to fall apart.
3. Place the cauliflower into a small bowl, so that the hollow is facing upwards and most of the cauliflower is up out of the bowl. The bowl is just for stability. Fill with the avocado dip and arrange the pits as eyes. Decorate the white ''brain'' by weaving thin strands of red and blue fruit leather between the florets to make veins and arteries. I wrap the bowl with chees ecloth and decorate with red food coloring to make it even more horrific!

HALLOWEEN BLOODY BAKED RATS

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 (1.25 ounce) packet meatloaf seasoning mix
• 1 cup cubed Cheddar cheese
• 3 (10 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ounce uncooked spaghetti, broken into fourths
• 1/2 carrot, cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
• 1 tablespoon frozen green peas

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bow l, combine the ground beef, onion, egg, bread crumbs, and meatloaf seasoning. Use your hands to mix until well blended. Measure out 1/3 cupfuls of the meat mixture and mold around a cube of cheese like a meatball. Shape into a point at one end and lengthen the body a bit by rolling between your hands. Place your ''rat'' into a shallow baking dish, and continue with the remaining meat. Insert pieces of uncooked spaghetti into the rounded end of the rats to make tails.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the rats in the dish and cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil.
4. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover the dish and continue to bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the sauce to glaze the rats.
5. While the rats finish baking, heat the peas and carrots in a small bowl in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
6. Carefully transfer the rats to a serving platter so that their delicate tails don't fall off. Press peas into the pointy end to make eyes, and insert carrot slices to make ears. Spoon some of the tomato sauce around them and serve.
   

Witches Brew

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries, thawed
• 2 1/2 cups cranberry juice
• 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 
  
• 2 liters ginger ale
• 2 liters sparkling apple cider (non-alcoholic)
• 6 gummi snakes candy

Directions

1. To make the frozen hand: Wash and rinse the outside of a rubber glove. Turn glove inside out and set aside. In a 4 cup measuring cup, combine the thawed raspberries and cranberry juice.
2. Pour 2 cups of the raspberry mixture into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin ov er and let stand 2 minutes. Warm over low heat, stirring constantly, just until gelatin dissolves. Mix back into the reserved raspberry mixture in the measuring cup.
3. Pour raspberry mixture into the inverted glove. Gather up the top of the glove and tie securely with kitchen twine. Freeze until solid, or several days if possible.
4. To serve: Carefully cut glove away from frozen hand. Place frozen hand, palm side up, leaning against side of a large punch bowl. Pour in ginger ale and sparkling cider. Garnish with gummy snakes.