What You Need:

1 (10 1/2 oz.) pkg. miniature marshmallows

3 T of butter

1/8 t of salt

Red and yellow gel food coloring

6 C of crisp rice cereal

6 Popsicle sticks

3 miniature Tootsie rolls, cut in half

3 miniature green apple Air Head candies, cut into thin strips

Black decorating gel

How to Make It:

Place the marshmallows, butter and salt into a large sauce pan over medium low heat.

Stirring constantly, cook 5 minutes or until completely melted and smooth. 

Remove the pan from the heat.

Stir in the red and yellow food coloring until you have reached a pumpkin orange color.

Fold in the cereal and coat well.

Lightly butter your hands and fingers and form the mixture into 6 equal size balls.

Insert 1 Popsicle stick 1/2 way up into each ball.

Place 1/2 of each Tootsie roll on the top of the ball to represent the pumpkin stem.

Roll the Air Head candy strips between your palms to form a vine.

Press the vine into the pumpkin ball as close to the stem as you can, allowing it vine over the edge of the pumpkin.

Make a face on the pumpkin using the black decorating gel.

Allow the pops to cool completely on a wire rack.

These make fun little treats to give out on Halloween.  Need more than 6 just double or triple the ingredients.  They also make great treats for that Halloween school party or as an after school Halloween snack.

Makes 6 servings

What You Need:

4 qt. popcorn, popped

2 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate

2 C of sugar

1/2 C light corn syrup

1 C of water

How to Make It:

Preset the oven to 200 degrees.

Place the popcorn into a large heat proof bowl and place in the oven to keep warm

Put the chocolate into a heavy saucepan placed over low heat.

Stirring constantly, heat the chocolate for 5 minutes or until completely melted.

Stir in the sugar and the corn syrup until blended in well.

Add the water and stir to blend in. 

Adjust the heat to medium and stirring constantly cook until it comes to a steady boil.

Continue cooking until a candy thermometer reaches 250 degrees or hard ball stage.

Remove the popcorn from the oven and pour the chocolate mixture over the popcorn stirring until the popcorn is evenly coated.

When the mixture cools enough to handle form it into 3 inch balls. 

Place the balls on a wire rack to cool.

These popcorn balls are a fun change from the classic popcorn balls most of us grew up with.  When forming these balls, dip your hands in cold water to keep the popcorn from sticking.  Wrap the popcorn balls in plastic wrap and tie the tops with a spooking Halloween ribbon. 

Makes 1 dozen

What You Need:

8 graham crackers

3/4 C of milk chocolate chips

1 1/2 C of mini marshmallows

How to Make It:

Preset the oven to broil and allow the broiler to preheat.

Break each of the graham crackers into 4 squares.

Place the graham cracker pieces in a 9 inch aluminum pie plate.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the graham crackers.

Layer the marshmallows evenly over the chocolate chips.

Place the pie plate in the oven 6 inches from heat.

Broil 45 seconds or until the marshmallows are lightly browned and puffy.

Watch your smores closely to ensure they don’t burn under the broiler.  Never use a glass pan when making these smores as it may break under the intense heat of the broiler.

Makes 4 servings

Preparation Time:  approximately 10 minutes

Broiling Time:  approximately 45 seconds

Total Time:  approximately 10 minutes 45 seconds

Nutritional Information:  (approximate values per serving):

Calories 340; fat 12 g; sodium 190 mg; carbohydrates 55 g; sugars 40 g; protein 4 g

What You Need:

1/4 C creamy peanut butter

1 t honey

3 fresh strawberries, cleaned and stems removed

24 mini rice cakes

How to Make It:

Place the peanut butter into a small mixing bowl.

Add the honey and stir until well combined.

Cut each strawberry into 4 equal slices.

Spread the peanut butter mixture onto one side of each rice cake.

Place a strawberry onto 12 of the prepared rice cakes.

Top each strawberry with another rice cake peanut butter side down.

These are fun little snacks to set out on a Halloween table for the kids to munch on during the party.  If you prefer crunch peanut butter may be used and bananas may used in place of the strawberries.

Makes 6 servings

Total Time:  approximately 15 minutes

Nutritional Information (approximately values per 2 rounds):

Calories 11; fat 6 g; sodium 75 mg; carbohydrates 10 g; sugar 2 g; protein 3 g

What You Need:

1 (1.75 oz.) bag microwave popcorn

1 C of fruit flavored cereal

1 C of chocolate flavored cereal

1 T of edible glitter

How to Make It:

Microwave the popcorn as directed on the package. 

Dump the popcorn into a large mixing bowl.

Add the cereal and toss to combine with the popcorn.

Sprinkle the glitter of the top and toss again to coat well.

Edible glitter can be found in the cake decorating department of your local craft store. If you cannot find it use colored sugars instead.  Place this fun snack in a plastic pumpkin for the kids to munch on during the party or fill small Halloween bags and give out to those cute trick or treaters instead of candy.

Makes 8 servings

Total Time:  approximately 10 minutes

Nutritional Information (approximate values per 1 C serving):

Calories 70; fat 1 1/2 g; sodium 100 mg; carbohydrates 11 g; sugar 5 g; protein 0g

What You Need:

4 bananas, peeled and cut into bite size chunks

2 t Halloween sprinkles

2/3 C semisweet chocolate chips

2/3 C milk chocolate frosting

How to Make It:

Cover a serving plate with wax paper.

Place the banana chunks, cut side down onto the wax paper.

Place a toothpick into each banana chunk.

Place the banana chunks into the freezer for 20 minutes or until hard.

Place the Halloween sprinkles into a small cup and set aside.

Dump the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl.

Microwave the chips on high for 60 seconds.

Remove the melted chips and stir until smooth.

Place the frosting into the bowl with the melted chip.

Stir the mixture until blended together well.

Place in the microwave on high for 15 seconds.

Remove and stir until the mixture becomes a dip consistency.

Remove the bananas from the freezer.

Dip each banana into the melted chocolate mixture until completely covered.

Sprinkle each dipped banana with the Halloween sprinkles.

Place the banana chunks back onto the wax paper.

Put the all the dipped banana chunks back into the freezer for 1 hour or until the chocolate has completely hardened.

If the chocolate frosting mixture begins to harden before you have all the bananas coated place it back into them microwave and heat on high for 10 to 15 seconds or until soft.  Be sure to stir the mixture before you resume the dipping process.

Makes 10 servings

Preparation Time:  approximately 15 minutes

Freezing Time:  approximately 1 hour 20 minutes

Total Time:  approximately 1 hour 35 minutes

Nutritional Information (approximate values per 2 chunks)

Calories 190; fat 8g; sodium 0 mg; carbohydrates 30g; sugars 23g; protein 1g

What You Need:

1 (4 oz.) pkg. German sweet chocolate

1/4 C of butter, cubed

3/4 C of sugar

2 eggs

1/2 C of flour

1 t vanilla extract

24 (3 inch) ice cream cones

24 scoops orange sherbet

Black sprinkles

How to Make It:

Preset the oven temperature to 350 degrees.

Place the chocolate and butter into a microwave safe bowl.

Microwave on high for 1 minute then stir until very smooth.

Cool the mixture for 5 minutes.

Pour the chocolate mixture into a large mixing bow and add the sugar.

Break the eggs into the mixture and mix until completely blended together.

Fold in the flour until well blended.

Add the extract and stir well.

Place the ice cream cones, standing straight up, into muffin tin cups.

Fill each cone 2/3 full of the batter.

Bake 20 minutes or until the brownies are set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs, being careful not to over bake.

Remove the cones from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature.

Place one scoop of sherbet on top of each cone.

Sprinkle the top of the cones with the black sprinkles and serve immediately.

What a fun twist to an ice cream cone.  Kids will love this special Halloween treat.  If you can’t find black sprinkles use chocolate sprinkles instead.

Makes 24 cones

What You Need:

8 individual graham cracker tart shells

8 scoops of vanilla ice cream

16 chocolate cream filled cookies, crumbled

16 red M&M candy pieces

16 pieces of black shoestring licorice

How to Make It:

Place the shells on a baking sheet.

Add 1 scoop of ice cream to each of the shells.

Crumble the cookies into a mixing bowl.

Sprinkle the cookies over the ice cream to cover it well.

Place the filled shells in the freezer for 30 minutes or until the ice cream has hardened.

Remove the shells and press 2 M&M’s into the front of each scoop of ice cream to resemble eyes.

Cut the licorice strips into fourths.

Press 8 strips of licorice into each ice cream scoop to form the spider’s legs.

Return to the freezer until ready to serve.

These simple little spiders are so easy make and the kids will love them.  Use any flavor of ice cream you like and use different colors of M&M’s for the eyes if you prefer.

Makes 8 servings

Preparation Time:  approximately 10 minutes

Freezing Time:  approximately 30 minutes

Total Time:  approximately 40 minutes

Graveyard Snack – Take a cup of plain or buttered popped popcorn; add a half cup each of mini pretzels, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, goldfish crackers and raisins.

Spider Snack – Taking two round crackers, such as the ritz, put peanut butter in the middle. Take 8 small pretzels and stick all around, 4 on each side to make the legs. Add raisins for eyes.

Salty Bones – Making breadsticks for your spaghetti tonight? Here’s a Halloween twist. Unroll a tube of refrigerated breadstick roll and separate the triangle pieces. Stretch each individual piece to make a long bone like figure. Cut about a 1 and a half inch slit in each end with your kitchen scissors. Roll the remaining 4 flaps into what would make the end of a dog bone. Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake as directed.

Goblin Tongues – Using mini bagels, spread cream cheese or mayonnaise, your preference, onto bagel. Cut slices out of circular pieces of bologna lunch meat to look like tongues and put into the top center of the bagel, leaving it to hang out like a tongue.

These are just a small sampling of things you can do to impress the kids or grandkids. Nothing fancy, quite simple for you but they’ll love them. Presentation and excitement is part of children accepting new and different things. Let them help you when creating these treats and they may just be a little more receptive to the new Halloween changes in foods they already love.

It’s Halloween! With just a few little changes or additions to things that you probably already make, you can put the spirit of Halloween on your table.

Scary Eyeballs – Add a little more mustard into the egg centers or a thin dollop under where you will lay a black olive into the creamy center.

Ghost Sandwiches – Cut your bread into ghosts, add the filling of your choice and your children will have a ghostly treat for their school or after school sandwich.

Wormy Hot Dogs – Thinly slice your hot dogs and then microwave. This will make them curl to look like worms. Put them on a hamburger bun and dress with mustard, catsup and pickles to make a slimy swamp underneath.

Ghostly Toast – Toast your bread. When it is cool enough to cut, with a gingerbread girl cutter or a plain knife, cut to make a ghost body. Top with whipped cream cheese or flavored yogurt with raisins or dates cut for eyes.

Orange Jack O Lantern – With a toothpick, gently carve a face into the orange. Careful not to injure the meat/pulp of the orange, your child will have a small version of the Jack O Lantern that is healthy and edible.