Halloween Foods Cooking Club

We had a great time sampling all these great & creative Halloween treat ideas; and of course just getting together to enjoy each other's company! Sorry, everyone, these did not get posted before Halloween, but then again, who says we can only enjoy these treats in October? Have fun and enjoy the following recipes!

Colored Popcorn Balls

Submitted by Heather Sheehan

Official recipe pending...

Basic idea: Pop popcorn of choice. Melt marshmallows and butter together in a "rice krispy" style way. Add a packet of jello (color and flavor of choice: orange used here for Halloween). Pour over popcorn and with buttered hands, form into balls, and allow to cool.

Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispy Eyeballs

Submitted by Janet Schlosser

Box of Rice Krispies
Bag of marshmallows
Block of butter
White chocolate chips/block for melting
Red chocolate chips/block for melting
Brown M&Ms/Cocoa Puffs/Other small round dark candy for pupil of eye

Make rice krispy treat according to recipe on box. Butter hands and form into small balls, instead of pressing into a pan.

In a double broiler, melt the white chocolate. Dip the krispy balls in the white chocolate and set on sheet of wax paper to cool/harden. Melt the red chocolate and drizzle over eye balls using a pastry bag or sandwhich bag with a tiny corner clipped out. Add the pupil candy to top.

Halloween/Fall Rice Krispy Treats

Submitted by Nicole Sizemore

Box of Rice Krispies
Bag of marshmallows
Block of butter
Reeses Pieces

Make rice krispy treats according to recipe on the box. Add Reeses Pieces at the same time as the rice krispies to make them fall/Halloween colored. Enjoy!

Fun & Icky Halloween Snack Ideas

Submitted by JoDee Leahy

Finger Dogs

Slice 3 cuts for each knuckle, and shave off the tip for the nail. Broil in the oven until hot, toasted, and all cuts bulge. Serve with sourkraut (brains) and catchup (blood).

Lunch Meat Skull (not for the squeemish)

Wash a plastic skull decoration really well. Cut a dime sized hole into the center of the eyes.

Use very thin sliced lunchmeat of choice to cover the skull with meat. Tip: Be patient and apply meat one slice at a time, overlapping in a patchwork fashion. It will stick better to the skull this way. Insert a stuffed green olive into each eye hole (pimiento pointing out) for the eyes.

At this point you can cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate till later or serve immediately. Serve with crackers cheese and a relish dish.

Ghoul Aid (from recipezaar.com)

Submitted by Sarah Terry

Ingredients
1 package grape kool-aid
1 package orange kool-aid
3 quarts cold water
2 cups sugar

1 (1 liter) bottle ginger ale

Directions
1Mix all together, will be dark brown, black in color.
2Refrigerate.

Crescent Mummy Dogs (from allrecipes.com)

Submitted by Sarah Terry (Sarah used refrigerated biscuit dough so that they would be less "poofy". They were quite tasty!)

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) can Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations™ refrigerated flaky dough sheet
2 1/2 slices American cheese slices, quartered
10 large hot dogs
Cooking spray
Mustard or ketchup, if desired

Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Crescent Rolls: Unroll dough; separate at perforations creating 4 rectangles; press perforations to seal. Recipe Creations: Unroll dough; cut into 4 rectangles.
With knife or kitchen scissors, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough. Slice cheese slices into quarters (1/2 slice cheese, cut in half).

Wrap 4 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." On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped hot dogs (cheese side down); spray dough lightly with cooking spray.

Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are hot. With mustard, draw features on 'face.'

Footnotes
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Bake 15 to 19 minutes.

Snake Strombolli

submitted by Tricia Schroeder

1 refrigerated pizza crust, tube style
favorite pizza or spaghetti sauce
pizza toppings
shredded cheese
1 pepperoni or bell pepper strip for tongue
2 olives for eyes

Preheat oven to 425. Grease baking stone or cookie sheet. Divide pizza crust in half. Roll into rectangle, about 5" x 18". Place toppings, then sauce, then cheese on middle third. Fold sides over to enclose toppings. Roll over so seam is down and shape dough into snake. Taper one end for tail and shape opposite end for head. Using a sharp knife or kitchen scissors, cut a strip of pepperoni or pepper into forked tongue shape. Insert into "mouth" and press dough to keep in place. Add olive slices or other leftover topping for eyes. Bake at 425 for about 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Baked Pumpkin Seeds

INGREDIENTS
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 tablespoon olive oil

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until dry and toasted. Larger seeds may take longer.

In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of white sugar, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar melts, about 45 seconds. Pour seeds into the bowl with the spiced sugar and stir until coated. Allow to cool before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.