Make spooky treats to celebrate the holiday

Trick or treat is over in most communities, even though Halloween isn’t until Friday.

So if you’re still looking to celebrate the holiday with family and friends, craft some spooky foods to create the proper ambience.

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. Then use the cookie cutters to create tasty desserts.

Other 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 the cloth off under the balloon to create flying ghosts.

Here are some other Halloween-inspired ideas from www.cookedandloved.com.

 

 

Mummy Chicken Pot Pies

1 double pie crust recipe or a 15-ounce box refrigerated pie crusts with two 9-inch crusts

2 cups cubed, cooked chicken

2 tablespoons salted butter

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 medium carrots, diced

3 to 4 celery ribs, chopped

8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced

3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 flour

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped

1 large egg beaten

12 large candy eyes

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery and cook five minutes, until the onion starts to turn translucent.

Add cremini mushrooms and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, three minutes, until mushrooms are tender and any liquid they give off evaporates.

Stir in flour until vegetables are coated. Carefully pour in chicken broth and heavy cream. Whisk together until combined. Simmer three to four minutes, until thick.

Season with thyme, salt and pepper. Stir in cooked chicken, frozen peas and parsley.

Remove skillet from the heat and cool slightly. 

Cut six 4-1/4-inch circles from the pie crust and place in the bottom of six four-inch ramekins coated with cooking spray. Cut four-inch strips out of the remaining pie dough.

Fill ramekins with filling until it just reaches the top. Use dough strips to create a mummy-like weave on top of the filling, overlapping pieces every so often. Press the sides down so they stick.

Whisk egg in a small bowl with one teaspoon water. Brush over top of the dough. Add coarse sea salt on top of the egg wash for additional texture and flavor, if desired.

Bake in a 425-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until dough is golden brown and the filling is thick and bubbly.

Allow to cool slightly before adding candy eyes on top to look like a mummy peeking through the dough.

 

 

Halloween Monster Burgers

For burger patties: 

1 pound ground beef

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 large egg

2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

For frying:

4 tablespoons cooking oil

For mayo sauce:

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

4 teaspoons ketchup

For burger monsters:

4 hamburger buns

Baby romaine lettuce (2 leaves per bun)

4 cheese slices

4 tablespoons ketchup

4 slices dill pickles, sliced lengthways

8 large green olives, without pits

In a mixing bowl, combine ground beef, salt, pepper, thyme, egg and breadcrumbs. Using your hands or fork, mix thoroughly. Divide into four equally-looking pieces. Roll into balls and place on a parchment-lined tray. Press down to create large, thin patties. Press each in the middle to make a slight dent.

Heat oil in a large skillet, add patties and cook to your preferred doneness, three to four minutes per side.

In a small bowl, mix together mayo and ketchup.

Take a bun bottom, spread with a tablespoon mayo sauce, two slices lettuce and cooked burger.

Top with a slice of dill pickle sticking out front to look like a tongue and a slice of cheese with triangles cut out to look like teeth. Spread about a tablespoon of ketchup on tip to resemble blood and cover with bun top.

Stick two large green olives onto two toothpicks and stick these into the bun to look like eyes. Serve.

 

 

Spooky Halloween Carrot Soup

2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

2 onions, peeled and cut into chunks

1 potato, peeled and cut into chunks

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 cup water

2-1/2 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground paper

For garnish:

1/4 cup heavy cream

Set a pot over medium heat and add water and chicken stock.

Add carrots, onions, potato and garlic and simmer 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft.

Season with salt and pepper and stir. Turn off the heat and use a hand blender to puree soup. 

Once soup is your preferred consistency, split it into three cups. Drizzle heavy cream in a spiral on top of the soup. Draw eight lines from the center to the edge of each cup with a skewer to create a spiderweb.

 

 

Mini Spider Pizzas

1 pound pizza dough

For pizza sauce:

15 ounces tomato sauce

6 ounces tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

For toppings:

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

6 ounces pitted large black olives

Roll out pizza dough and use a three-inch round cookie cutter to cut out mini pizzas. Place dough on a baking sheet that’s coated with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk together sauce ingredients, then spread a little bit of sauce on top of each mini pizza. Top with shredded mozzarella, then bake in a 450-degree oven about 8 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden.

Arrange olives on top to create the spiders, cutting olives into strips to make legs.

 

 

Mummy Hot Dogs

10 hot dogs

1 Roll crescent dough

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut hot dogs from bottom about halfway up to create legs and from top one-third down  to the sides to create arms. Set aside.

Roll crescent dough out on a cutting board. Cut into thin strips.

Wrap hot dogs with strips so the arms and legs are separated slightly from the body. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake 15 minutes, until the crust is a golden brown.

Let cool slightly before serving.

 

 

Creepy Prosciutto Face

For cheese ball:

16 ounces cream cheese

1/4 pound salted cod 

2 teaspoons dried onion

1 teaspoon garlic powder

For topping:

1/2 pound sliced prosciutto or sliced sausage like salami

For eyes:

2 teaspoons cream cheese

2 olives or blueberries

Soak salted cod in cold water for about an hour, changing the water every 15 minutes to remove the excess salt.

Strain cod, removing as much water as possible. Break into small pieces.

In a large bowl, mix softened cream cheese, shredded cod, garlic powder and onion powder. Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

Mold cheese mixture on a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper into a rough skull shape — an oval that is wider on the top. Create indented, rounded eye sockets on both sides. Add a nose shape and an indentation at the mouth.

Lay slices of salami or prosciutto over the face, overlapping the slices to create the effect of the skin. Tuck the ends of the meat slices under the face to hide any seams.

Add eyes by placing some cream cheese in the eye sockets and sticking olives or blueberries into the cream cheese. Refrigerate at least one hour to let the flavors meld and the shape set.

When ready to serve, place face on a platter and surround it with a variety of meats and cheeses. To make it even more festive, add cheese molded into shapes or cheese cut with cookie cutters.

 

 

Spooky Baked Halloween Chips

4 flour tortillas

Spray avocado or olive oil

Salt

Use a cookie cutter to create ghost shapes from one tortilla at a time. Transfer shapes to a lightly greased baking sheet. Lightly mist the chips with a little olive oil spray or avocado oil spray, then sprinkle with salt.

Bake in a 375-degree oven for five to seven minutes. Serve with salsa, guacamole or pumpkin soup.

 

 

Halloween Mozza Eyes Appetizer

12 bocconcini mozzarella balls

4 to 6 slices prosciutto

10 to 12 sliced black olives

Use a sharp knife to carve out a space into each mozzarella ball for a black olive slice to rest. Tear the prosciutto into strips and wrap one around each ball. Place a black olive slice into each cheese eye ball.

Serve in a small dish with skewers for picking up each ball.

 

 

Mini Pumpkin Cheese Balls

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup finely chopped roasted red peppers, drained and patted dry

3 green onions, finely chopped

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt

Pepper to taste

Crushed Nacho Cheese Doritos, paprika, and/or black sesame seeds

For garnish:

20 pretzel sticks

Fresh flat-leaf parsley

Assorted crackers for serving

Place cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, roasted red peppers, green onions, garlic powder and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until evenly combined. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill for about an hour.

Add crushed Doritos, paprika and black sesame seeds to a bowl. Measure out a tablespoon of the cheese mixture, roll into a ball and set on a plate. Continue until all of the cheese mixture is rolled into balls.

Roll each  ball in coatings and set aside.

Use a wooden skewer to make marks up the side of each ball and across the top to achieve a pumpkin look. Place half of a pretzel stick into the top center of each mini cheese ball, then garnish with a small leaf of parsley.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.