Make spooky treats for Halloween meals

Halloween is coming up fast, but there’s still time to create some spooky foods for snacks, dinners or holiday parties.

Popular motifs like witches, spiders and ghosts are easy to create. Make your favorite sandwich, then use a cookie cutter to create spooky lunchtime staples. 

Holiday themed entrees you can make include pumpkin pasties, witches’ finger sandwiches or a plain old cheese pizza with the toppings arranged to give the appearance of a carved pumpkin.

Toast the seeds of your jack-o’-lantern to create a delicious, seasonal treat, or shape toasted rice bars into seasonal shapes. You can spread melted chocolate on top or use food coloring to give them an orange tint.

Decorate cupcakes with orange frosting to create a pumpkin and add features with licorice and candies for a jack-o’-lantern. You can also make a red punch and float a pair of icy hands in it. Fill a pair of clean, non-powdered and non-latex gloves with water, then tie them tightly with an elastic band so no water will leak out. Lay the gloves on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once they’re frozen, cut the gloves off and place the hands in the punch bowl.

Another unexpected option is to place plastic spiders — wash them first — into an ice cube tray, fill with water and freeze. Use the cubes to chill your beverages, giving guests a fright.

Serve your meals in a spooky atmosphere. Paint miniature pumpkins black and attach wings made of black foam sheets to create bats, or wrap helium-filled balloons in cheesecloth, allowing plenty of fabric to trail beneath, and tie the cloth off under the balloon to create flying ghosts.

Here are some other Halloween-inspired ideas from pillsbury.com.

Breadstick Bones

11 ounce package refrigerated Pillsbury breadsticks

1 egg white, beaten

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

8 ounces pizza sauce, heated

Unroll dough and separate at perforations into 12 breadsticks. Roll each until 12 inches long. Loosely tie knot in both ends of each breadstick, then place on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush breadsticks with egg white. Sprinkle with cheese and basil.

Bake in a 375-degree oven 11 to 13 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm bones with warm pizza sauce for dipping.

Bones are also good with a variety of dipping sauces, such as ranch dressing, pesto and honey mustard.

Ham and Cheese Crescent Mummy

8 ounce can refrigerated crescent rolls or 8 ounce can refrigerated crescent dough sheet

4 slices cheddar cheese

8 slices cooked deli ham

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

2 medium pitted ripe olives

Unroll dough. Place on cookie sheet that’s coated with cooking spray. If using crescent rolls, firmly press perforations and seams to seal.

Place cheese slices, overlapping slightly, down center of dough, leaving one-inch border at each end. Top evenly with ham slices.

With kitchen scissors or sharp knife, make cuts one inch apart on long sides of dough rectangle to within 1/2 inch of filling. Alternately, cross strips over filling. Bring short ends over filling and press to seal. 

In small bowl, beat egg and water. Brush dough with egg mixture. Top with olives for mummy eyes.

Bake in a 375-degree oven 20 to 25 minutes, until deep golden brown. Cut into crosswise slices.

Serve with honey mustard for dipping. You can swap cheese and meat for your own favorite combination, such as Swiss and turkey or Pepper Jack and chicken. Or, to add a little sweetness, brush a little apple butter onto the center of the crescent dough before adding the ham and cheese.

Witches Fingers Cookies

16.5 ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon green gel food color

1/4 cup sliced blanched almonds

Crumble dough into medium bowl. Stir or knead dough with flour and green food color until well mixed. 

Shape dough into 65 3/4-inch balls. Shape each ball into a four-inch-long finger. Press sliced almond onto end of each finger. Using toothpick, make three indentations just below the almond fingernail and another three indentations in the middle of each finger to form the knuckles.

Place 1-1/2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350-degree oven seven to eight minutes, until lightly browned just around edges. 

Cool two minutes, then remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Store in covered container at room temperature.

Chocolate Crescent Witch Hats

8 ounce can refrigerated crescent rolls

1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

2 teaspoons powdered sugar or unsweetened baking cocoa

Separate dough into eight triangles. Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of chocolate chips on wide end of crescent triangle and roll over once to form brim of hat.

Form the rest of the crescent triangle into hat shape. Repeat with remaining crescent triangles. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375-degree oven nine to 11 minutes, until golden brown.

Using fine mesh strainer, sprinkle crescent hats with powdered sugar or cocoa. Serve warm.

To dress up the witch hats, melt chocolate chips in microwave and drizzle over hats or use Halloween stencils and powdered sugar or cocoa to make fun designs.

Air Fryer Crescent Mummy Dogs

8 ounce can refrigerated crescent rolls

2-1/2 slices American cheese

10 hot dogs

Mustard or ketchup, if desired

Cut eight-inch round of cooking parchment paper. Place in bottom of air fryer basket.

Unroll dough and separate at perforations, creating four rectangles. Press perforations to seal.

With knife or kitchen scissors, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough. Cut cheese slices lengthwise into quarters.

Wrap four pieces of dough around each hot dog and 1/4 slice of cheese to look like “bandages,” stretching dough slightly to completely cover hot dog. About 1/2 inch from one end of each hot dog, separate bandages so hot dog shows through for face. 

Place three to four crescent dogs, cheese side down, on parchment in air fryer basket, spacing apart. Set air fryer to 325 degrees and cook six to seven minutes, until crescent tops are light brown. With tongs, turn over each one and cook two to three minutes, until golden brown. 

Remove from air fryer. Repeat with remaining crescent dogs.

With mustard and ketchup, draw features on face. Serve warm.

Bewitching Pesto Crescent Hats

12 ounce can  refrigerated butter flake crescent rolls)

8 slices deli-cut turkey

1/3 cup refrigerated basil pesto, plus more for serving

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted

Poppy seeds, for garnish, optional

Unroll dough and separate into eight triangles. Place a slice of turkey on the widest end of each triangle. Place two teaspoons pesto and one tablespoon mozzarella on top of each turkey slice. Wrap turkey in an envelope shape around the pesto and cheese. Fold dough over the turkey into a rectangle to form the brim of the witch hats. Place on large baking tray.

Fold the point of the triangle down diagonally to create a fold in the hat.

Brush dough hats with melted butter, and sprinkle with poppy seeds.

Bake in a 350-degree oven 13 to 16 minutes, until golden brown, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Immediately remove from baking sheet. Serve warm.

Refrigerated dough is easier to work with when chilled, so keep the dough in the refrigerator until ready to add the fillings.

Spider Taco Crescent Ring

1/2 pound ground beef, at least 80% lean

1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

16 ounces refrigerated crescent rolls

Shredded lettuce, for topping

1 cherry tomato, cut in half

In 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook beef over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until brown. Drain. Add taco seasoning mix and 1/4 cup water. Simmer three to four minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. 

In medium bowl, mix beef mixture and cheese.

Unroll dough and separate into 16 triangles. On ungreased large cookie sheet, arrange eight triangles in ring so short sides of triangles form a three-inch circle in center. Dough will overlap. Dough ring should look like the sun.

Spoon beef mixture on the half of each triangle closest to center of ring. Bring each dough triangle up over filling, tucking dough under bottom layer of dough to secure it. Repeat around ring until entire filling is enclosed. Some filling might show a little.

Starting from one long edge, roll each of the remaining triangles into tight logs. Fold over smaller ends and pinch seams to seal. Logs will be seven to eight inches long. Arrange each log around dough ring to look like spider legs, tucking slightly under ring.

Bake in a 375-degree oven 16 to 18 minutes, until dough is golden brown and thoroughly baked. Fill center with shredded lettuce and top with two halved cherry tomatoes to look like eyes. Cool five minutes before cutting into serving slices.