Spooky Sweets and Halloween Treats

The air is getting crisper by the day, leaves are rapidly changing, and people are pulling out their sweaters and scarves. Pumpkins are appearing on porches and stores are stocking their shelves with candy. Yes, Halloween is definitely around the corner!

Not feeling the spooky mood just yet? These easy-to-make treats are sure to get you pumped for the season. I know it’s shocking, but I didn’t come up with these myself–I compiled them from websites for your eating pleasure!

Zombie Fingers (gandcjohnson.blogspot.com)

Ingredients:
Pretzel Rods
White Chocolate (or green chocolate, if you can find it!)
Green food coloring (if you can’t find that ever-elusive green chocolate)
One toothpick
Sliced Almonds

These are somewhat disturbing, yet delicious and super simple to make. Just place the chocolate in the microwave until melted, then add the food coloring in to make it the right color, if necessary. Stir the chocolate until it’s a solid color. Dip a pretzel rod in the chocolate, then use the toothpick to add “knuckles” and add a sliced almond for the “fingernail.” These might not be for the squeamish, but these are sure to be a hit at any Halloween party.

Low-Cal Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread (www.sundaybaker.net)

Fall means pumpkin-flavored everything, right? This recipe might be a bit more complicated than the last one, but if you love pumpkin bread and want to express that love without having to buy bigger clothes, listen up. This pumpkin bread is a healthier alternative—even with that glorious ribbon of cream cheese in the middle.

Batter:

1-1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1 whole egg
3 egg whites
1 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. Stevia Cup For Cup sweetener
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg

Cream filling:
8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 T. all-purpose flour
2 egg whites
1 t. vanilla extract

This will yield two loaves, yum. According to blogger Tanya (www.sundaybaker.net), the recipe is as follows:

To make the batter, use an electric mixer to beat the pumpkin, applesauce, egg, and egg whites on medium speed until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, Stevia, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture. To make the cream cheese filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, egg whites and flour until creamy and smooth.

Grease  two 8x4x2″ loaf pans. Divide half of the batter between the two pans. Pour half of the filling in one pan and the other half in the second pan and smooth with the back of a spoon. Top with the remaining batter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool and remove from pans. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Tanya knows what she’s talking about because this recipe is delicious. Check out her blog to see some more low-cal recipes. If you want to make it even more low-cal, use fat-free cream cheese!

Autumn Sangria (titled “It’s a Wonderful Sangria” on www.cookingchanneltv.com)

Ingredients:

1 bottle chilled dry white wine
1 bottle chilled champagne
3 oz. Damiana liqueur
2 freshly sliced pears
2 apples, sliced and cored
20 whole cloves
1 tsp. ground nutmeg

For those of our readers who are over 21, sip on this autumn-inspired Sangria to celebrate the season.  Make sure to prep for it the day before to give it time to sit and chill. In a large pitcher, add the pears, apples, cloves and nutmeg. Add the liqueur and stir, then add the wine and stir. Refrigerate overnight, then add the champagne when you’re ready to enjoy!

Glow-in-the-Dark Cupcakes!! (recipesnobs.com)

Ingredients for frosting:

24 already-made cupcakes
7 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
5 tablespoons tonic water 

Have some cupcakes you want to make spooky but don’t know how ? Yeah, the whole Halloween-sprinkle thing is kind of overdone…so why not make them glow under black light? Personally, I just think this is the coolest idea ever. After experimenting a few times, a blogger from recipesnobs.com discovered a simple way to make icing glow under black light. The recipe is as follows:

Prepare desired cupcakes and allow to cool. Begin frosting by adding confectioners’ sugar, shortening, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons tonic water into a large bowl. Beat on low speed until no loss of sugar is visible. Add remaining two tablespoons as needed to bring frosting to piping consistency. Mix at high speed for about a minute to allow frosting to become light and fluffy. Apply frosting and place cupcakes in freezer for at least an hour, adding gelatin mix to 1 cup boiling water. Stir for about 2 minutes then add 1 cup chilled tonic water. Transfer to a container that will let you easily dip frosting into and place into an ice bath to cool. Keep gelatin in ice bath stirring occasionally until gelatin is cool but not yet set (about 5 to 10 minutes). When gelatin is cool to the touch take cupcakes out of the freezer a couple at a time. Dip into gelatin upside down, submerging the frosting, but not the cake. Rotate dipping and then returning to the freezer for a few minutes to set gelatin, then re-dip. Dip 4 to 6 times for best results. The cupcakes will glow under a black light!

Halloween Snack Mix (yours truly!)

Ingredients:
1 cup candy corn
1 cup M&M’s (whatever flavor you like)
1 cup Reese’s Pieces
1 cup peanuts
1 cup pretzels

If you are in a pinch and don’t have any time for any of these other recipes, here’s the easiest one yet. This isn’t a terribly creative one, but hey, it’s delicious and simple. Take the above ingredients, throw them into a big bowl, and mix. That’s it! You can adjust the amounts accordingly, and if you think you have some better ingredients in mind than the ones I came up with, I suppose you can throw those in . I won’t be too offended.

Happy baking!