Edible Halloween decorations

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 7:00 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

By Katie Scarvey

kscarvey@salisburypost.com

Halloween is a great time to experiment and have fun in the kitchen, especially if you're having a party where you can show off your creativity.

There are a lot of cute things you can do beyond sugar cookies cut into pumpkin shapes and topped with orange frosting.

Actually, you don't have to tax yourself creatively when it comes to recipes because there are so many great sources now for Halloween novelties. Women's magazines this time of year feature plenty of ghoulish goodies to grace your party table.

A great online source for Halloween food is FamilyFun.com, which offers a lot of recipes and includes pictures of the finished product — which is important when you're trying to create skulls and hands and whatnot.

All of the following recipes came from FamilyFun.com, and this is the kind of cooking most kids will love.



Carrot-Finger Food

This is a clever way to serve vegetable dip. Make sure to have plenty of baby carrots on hand; you probably don't want guests to eat the actual "fingers."

vegetable dip

4 long carrots

1 medium carrot

softened cream cheese

sliced almonds

baby carrots

Fill a serving bowl with your favorite dip. Wash and peel four long carrots for fingers and one medium carrot for a thumb.

With a paring knife, cut a flat, shallow notch in the top 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.



Pizza Mummies

If you're looking for a hearty snack for your Halloween spread, try these Pizza Mummies.

English muffins

pizza sauce

black olives

scallions

red or green pepper

cheese sticks or slices

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. For each mummy, spread about a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half an English muffin — toast it first, if you like.

Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils.

Lay strips of cheese — pulled-apart cheese sticks work well— across the muffin for the mummy's wrappings.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty.



Sweet Skulls

If you're looking for a fun, cupcake-based dessert, Sweet Skulls fit the bill.

12 marshmallows

Confectioners' sugar

24 unfrosted cupcakes, white or yellow work best

White frosting

Junior Mints, chocolate chips and slivered almonds for facial features

Cut the marshmallows in half widthwise.

Carefully pull each cupcake liner partially away from the cake and tuck half a marshmallow between the paper and the cupcake to create the skull's jaw.

Frost each cupcake and marshmallow, then add Junior Mints with white frosting dots for eyes, a chocolate chip nose and slivered almond teeth.



Mini Witch's Brooms

Who doesn't like a little sweet/salty combination once in a while?

Roll of Fruit by the Foot

Thin pretzels

For each one, cut a two-inch length from a roll of Fruit by the Foot.

With the shorter ends on the side, fringe the bottom of the strip (leaving a 1/4 inch border uncut along the top) to create thin broom bristles.

Then moisten the upper edge of the fruit with a drop of water and tightly wrap it around one end of a thin pretzel-stick broom handle.