Halloween is the time of year people get their favourite costumes of their favourite pop culture characters, or any big moment or meme of the year, to not only look good or scary but also to enjoy themselves.
The history of Halloween is a mixture of costumes and food however the reason it’s marked worldwide on 31 October is because of the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounce it “sow-en”). It is when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts, according to history.com.
For Halloween food and recipes we have compiled a list that will spook your guests and satisfy their tongues.
1 pkg (8 oz or 250 g) refrigerated seamless crescent dough
1/4 cup (50 ml) pizza sauce
4 oz (125 g) block of mozzarella cheese
12 black olives
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F (200C).
Remove dough from the package (do not unroll). Cut dough into 12 even discs. Press discs evenly into the wells of a brownie pan.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.
Spoon about one teaspoon of sauce over each crust.
Shave thin ribbons from the side of the cheese using a serrated peeler.
Layer cheese at angles over the sauce to form the “wraps” of the mummy’s face. Slice olives into rounds using an egg slicer and place them on each pizza to make the eyes.
Preheat your oven to 350°F (180C). Spray your 13 inch x 9 inch (30cm x 22cm) pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water, and oil, and beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes. Pour into your sprayed cake pan.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, use your hands to crumble the cake until no large chunks remain. You can crumble the cake easily with two forks.
Add frosting and mix with fingers until well combined.
Form mixture into cake balls.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours to let harden.
Melt Candy Melts in 30-second intervals in the microwave (at 50% power) or on a stovetop.
Dip sticks into melted Candy Melts and insert into cake balls; let set, you can place them in the freezer to speed up the process for about 20 minutes.
Wait until the candy is completely firm before dipping the pops completely in melted Candy Melts.
Sprinkle on your decorations (chopped-up candy, nuts, sprinkles, etc)
Add chocolate sandwich cookies to a food processor or blender and crush into crumbs.
Mix together the cream cheese and cookie crumbs in a bowl until well combined. You should be able to form balls easily with the cookie mixture.
Form balls from the cookie mixture about 1 inch (2.5cm) in size. I used about 1 tablespoon of the mixture per ball.
Put the balls in the fridge for about one hour to firm up a bit.
While the balls chill, remove the filling from the Oreos and cut the cookie part into halves for the wings. You’ll want about 30 pairs of wings.
Dip the chilled balls into the melted chocolate and set them on parchment paper. NOTE: If you chill the cookie balls for longer than an hour prior to dipping them in chocolate, you might want to let them warm up a bit. If the balls are too cold, the chocolate will harden too quickly and it’ll be harder to attach the wing. You want the balls to be just chilled enough that they are easy to dip into the chocolate.
Quickly add the wings to the cookie ball and hold them there for a few seconds until they stay in place. It’s best to place the wings just behind the centre, so they have enough support but aren’t too far forward.
Add the eyes and the mini chocolate chips as ears, using a little extra chocolate to attach them, if needed.
Store cookie balls in the fridge. Cookie balls should be good for about one week.
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar, highly recommended if you’d like a regularly-sweetened cookie
1 large (50 grams, out of shell) egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups (334 grams) all-purpose flour or white wholewheat flour (or a mix of the two)
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (105 grams) blanched almonds
1/2 – 1 cup (118 – 236ml) strawberry jam
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and icing sugar (and granulated sugar, if using) together until fluffy. Add the egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract and mix. When well combined, add the flour and salt.
When thoroughly combined, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 40 minutes or up to two days.
Preheat your oven to 325°F (165°C) and line a baking sheet with a piece of paper.
Take about a quarter of the dough out of the fridge and begin rolling out the fingers. I recommend baking one test finger, to begin with. Then you can make sure all the fingers come out the way you want them to. That way you don’t spend all your time rolling out all the cookies only to find out that you should have made them thinner or done the wrinkles a different way.
I rolled them out the thickness of my pinkie, but a bit longer than my pinkie.
Add an almond to the tip of the fingernail, and press down to make sure it’s secure.
Form a knuckle by squeezing around the middle.
Use a sharp knife for the wrinkles in the knuckles and vary the length (which I forgot to do myself). That’ll create a more realistic finger.
Place on the prepared cookie sheet, leaving about a centimetre between them. Repeat with the rest of the dough until the cookie sheet is full.
Bake for 17 – 22 minutes or until slightly golden.
Let the cookies cool on the sheet, and then remove the almonds from the cookies. Add some jam in the cavities and then put the almonds back, making sure you used enough jam for them to ooze a little. Also, add some jam around the knuckles for extra nastiness. I used about 1/2 cup of jam and used the rest as a “dip.”
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to one week.
