Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog
With Halloween just around the corner, children are getting all excited about dressing up and getting delightful treats. In your own home, you can make your own Halloween goodies that your children will surely love. Don’t be surprised  if they’d rather not go trick-or-treating since the treats you have at home are more than enough to fill their tummies and senses.
Halloween is coming up, so here is a simple and delicious recipe that you can serve to family and friends. It is derived from the Italian insalata caprese, which is made of olives, mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. Visit the Evil Mad Scientist website for more information and photos on how to make this spooktacular dish.
Ingredients:
Castelvetrano olives or any bright green olives
Black olives
Small balls of fresh mozzarella
Standard drinking straw
Plum tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Slice the ends of the green olives thinly. You will have a disk like shaped piece. Next, use the drinking straw to cut a hole at the center by pushing it down on the olive disk with a light twisting motion. Remove the cut portion using a toothpick.
With the same straw, create a hole in the black olive. Remove the piece and place it on the hole of your green olive. It should fit perfectly. Do this for the remaining olives.
Place the olive irises on the small mozzarella balls. Make sure that two mozzarella balls will fit on top of a tomato slice.
Assemble the caprese by placing a basil leaf and then top it with a tomato slice. Put the mozzarella eyeballs over the tomato. Drizzle it with olive oil and season it with salt and pepper. Serve chilled.
Photo Courtesy Of: Â oskay
Everyone’s favorite holiday is coming up, and I bet you are up to your neck in preparations. Okay, maybe Halloween is not everyone’s favorite holiday, but it still gets a whole lot of attention, especially in the United States.
I am willing to bet that one of the main reasons for the popularity of Halloween is the loads of candy that one can bring home. Sure, there are the costumes. It is the one time in a year that people can let their hair down, and dress up as anyone – or anything – they want. But at the end of the day, I really think candy plays a huge role. And speaking of candy, we have found a nifty infographic about the history of Halloween candy, which you will love if you have a sweet tooth. If nothing else, you might get a good idea of what to stock up on for trick or treat night.
So here’s the infographic. Enjoy the eye candy!
The History of Halloween Candy by Recipe Finder
You never outgrow Halloween. You just change the trick and treats.
Decorating the venue is a big area to make the difference. Make it spookier, rather than cute like you would for a childs party. Try to get enough small tea-light candles, and not use the main electric lights. Of course, be careful with these, you don’t want to burn it down though!
You can get Candle Holders with spaces for Plastic to give the lights a spooky orange or red glow – these are great for different events throughout the year – blue and white around Christmas, and all sorts of bright colours at New Years and Birthdays.
Of course, decorations will look out of place if the music isn’t right. Some spooky organ music would fit in perfectly, but a quick online search comes up with plenty of free results.
Let loose your creative side. Turn donut holes into Eyeballs, decorated with Jam and icing sugar, Pumpkin Pies can easily be made into spiderwebs or pumpkins, Pizzas can be made using French breads and transformed into broken-off arms or legs! You could have bowls of popcorn or crisps with small suprises in them (but not too small people wouldn’t realise if they ate a big handful!)
The main part for an Adult Halloween Party. Create a range of different cocktails, which are easy and quick to make, or have a dedicated bar-person for the night!
You could try some of these, or create something completely random:
White Witch
½ cup Vanilla Ice Cream
30ml Vodka
30ml White Crème de Cacao
Add all of the ingredients into a blender, and blend for at least ten seconds, until they’re smooth and creamy. Serve in a tall glass, with a spooky straw.
Black Cat
30ml Vodka
30ml Cherry Brandy
Cranberry juice
Ccola
Pour the Vodka and Brandy into a highball glass filled with ice and gently stir together, before topping the glass up with Cranberry Juice and Cola.
Bull Frog
30ml Vodka
12.5ml Crème de Menthe (Mint Liquer)
1½ Shots of Cream
1½ Shots of Milk
Shake all the ingredients together over Ice. Strain into a fresh Glass over fresh Ice.
Photo courtesy of Rusty BoxCars
This menu is to give you an idea of what you could prepare and serve if you have a party to prepare for. All of the dishes serve 6 people, and are relatively easy and simple to make – meaning that you should be able to get the help of any children around.
An alternative to an ordinary punch, which looks great and is fun to make! Using the cranberry juice for ice cubes gives a different taste, and also freezes clear so you can still see the Gummy Worms
2 Packages of Gummy Worms
1 litre Cranberry Juice
1 litre Strawberry Smoothie
500ml Orange Juice
3 Cans Lemonade
1.      Put a gummy worm into each ice cube space, with half hanging out. Pour the cranberry juice into the trays and freeze for at least 2 hours.
2.      In a large punch bowl, pour the Strawberry Smoothie, Orange Juice and Lemonade, and stir.
3.      Before serving, add the ice cubes to the punch bowl, and fill glasses with a ladleful.
A healthy snack, which looks lovely and gruesome! Just what’s needed at your party! Great idea, especially if you have any vegetarians at your party, just be careful with Nut Allergies
1 bag of peeled baby Carrots
Enough sliced Almonds for 1 per Carrot
Cream Cheese
Bottled Ranch dressing
1.      Put a bit of cream cheese on the end of each carrot, and place an almond face-down on top of it- little hint, it should look like a fingernail!
2.      In a bowl, pour the Ranch dressing in it – just enough to allow you to stand four or five carrot fingers in it. On a small platter, lay the other carrot-fingers out.
Very easy, simple and great fun to decorate! You can use tomato Puree to add extra blood, or bits of meat to be cuts and scars, Sweetcorn for pupils, and virtually anything else you can get your hands on really! You can make 1 parge pizza for everyone to have slices of, or even 6 small individual ones
Sliced Cheese
Tomato Puree
Sliced Green Olives
Vegetable or Olive Oil
1.      Add extra Tomato Puree to the pizza bases, before cooking the pizzas for 10 minutes less than needed
2.      Lay the sliced cheese out so it looks like bandages, leaving a small space where you can put two bits of sliced Olive to look like eyes. Brush with oil
3.      Cook for the remaining 10 minutes.
4.      Allow to cool before serving
No, they aren’t made from Pumpkin. Ordinary Nachos, but cut in the shape of Pumpkins, so you’ll need a cookie cutter (or similar) in the shape of a pumpkin. If you can find another spooky shape, then you can use that, and mix and match them
1 pack of Soft Corn Tortillas
¼ cup Vegetable or Olive Oil
Chilli powder (optional)
Red and Yellow food Colouring
Salt
1.      Use the cookie cutter to cut out Pumpkin shapes from the tortillas
2.      Pour the oil into a small bowl, and add some food colouring to a bowl to get the desired colour – should be a bright orange. You may have to leave it a one or two minutes before mixing the oil to make sure it doesn’t separate
3.      Dip the shapes (or use a brush) so the tortillas are well coated on both sides
4.      Lay the Shapes out on an ungreased tray, and sprinkle with salt (and chilli if you would like). Bake at 175 C/ 350 F for 10 minutes, or until crispy.
Using a range of small cupcakes, you can decorate these in a wide variety of ways, depending on the age of your helpers. The younger they are, the more basic patterns (i.e., Pumpkins, bats, moons), and for the older, you can go for more delicate patterns – spiders webs, bats, haunted houses, skeletons – the list goes on!
Try different decorations depending on the shape of the cake – for example, if you’ve got a large oval cake, look at getting a Pumpkin decorated onto it, or if you’re particularly creative, try a haunting scene!
Photo Courtesy of Ivanx
A great use for the inside of those pumpkins you’ve turned into Lanterns. For best results, use ‘Pie Pumpkins’ – usually available from late September through to mid December. They’re smaller, sweeter and have a more edible texture (less grainy than the lantern type). If you do want to use the Lantern type, add 25% more sugar, and blend for much longer after cooking.
Serves 8
Pumpkin
1 cup Sugar
1.5 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 tsp ground Cloves
1 tsp ground All Spice
½ tsp ground Ginger
½ tsp Salt (optional)
4 large eggs
3 cups pumpkin puree (that you’ll be making!)
1 ½ cans of Evaporated Milk
½ tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)
Pie base
1.      Wash the exterior of the Pumpkin in cool or warm water – with no soap, before cutting the pumpkin in half. For cutting the pumpkin, use a blade that’s serrated – a bread knife, or a handsaw (as I’ve seen happen for large amounts of pumpkins!)
2.      Remove the stringy substance and the seeds (keep the seeds for this recipe: roasted pumpkin seeds)
3.      Cook the Pumpkin. You can steam it, microwave it or bake it until soft. I’d recommend microwaving it – the simplest way of doing it. Start off with fifteen minutes, and add more time in small increments – it might take twenty or thirty minutes
4.      Scoop out the cooked pumpkin. It should be soft enough to scoop with a large smooth spoon (like a tablespoon). If cooked well enough, and in large enough chunks, it should be able to be peeled off with just your hands. If there’s any standing water, you might want to let it set for thirty minutes, before pouring any excess off of the pulp.
5.      Puree the Pumpkin. This is where you need to add any extra sugar (if you’ve used a Lantern Pumpkin). Use a handheld blender to make sure that there are no lumps, and that it’s a constant, smooth satiny texture. It should take around two or three minutes, depending on the amount of Pumpkin.
6.      Make the pie crust. You can either make a shortbread pie crust, or buy one from the store. Pre-heat the oven to 210 C or 425 F
7.      Mix the remaining ingredients using a hand blender or mixer.
8.      Pour the pie mix until it’s 1cm (1/2 inch from the top of the dish). Don’t worry if it looks very runny.
9.      Bake the pie at 210 C for the first fifteen minutes, and then turn down to 175 C or 350 F, and bake for another forty five  to sixty minutes – until a clean knife inserted into the centre of the pie comes out clean.
10.  Enjoy! Serve warm or chilled. Whipped Cream, Ice Cream or on it’s own, it’s a beautiful pie – and goes very well with coffee!
Photo courtesy of Maggie Hoffman
1. Combine all the ingredients in a large punch bowl, and stir well
2. Refridgerate until needed to serve
1. In a blender, add the Frozen Strawberries, Ice and Fruit Punch and mix on pulse. You may have to do this in several batches, depending on the size of the blender!
2. As you finish blending the batches, pour into a large Punch Bowl. When all the mix is in the bowl, mix in the Limeade.
3. Add in the Raisins, and serve
A whole host of different ideas for what you can offer Trick or Treaters. These can be used as treats at a party, as treats to give away to Trick of Treaters, or as little suprises in Games.
This recipe makes little cookie treats that are easy enough to use as prizes in games, or as suprises for Trick or Treaters.
You will need:
40 Vanilla Wafer Cookies
1 1/2 Cups of Dark Chocolate Icing
40 Gummy Worms.
1. Mix up the Icing, and spread onto twenty of the cookies.
2. Lay out 2 Gummy Worms on each Cookie
3. Add some more of the icing onto the cookie, before laying the second Cookie on top.
Okay, not too menacing or scary on their own, but let loose whilst decorating them! Use green icing to make them into tombstones, orange to make them into Pumpkins, or black and green for bubbling cauldrons.
To Make 6 cakes:
50g/2oz self raising flour
50g/2oz Caster sugar (superfine)
50g/2oz Butter or margarine (shortening)
1 Egg
1. Add the butter and sugar together, and mix until they stick together on their own. Add the egg, then the flour. Alternatively, place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, and use a food processor or blender to mix thouroughly.
2. Spoon into cases, making sure you don’t fill the case more than 2/3rds full.
3. Place in the oven at 190 C/ 375 F or Gas Mark 5, and cook for 15 minutes. To check that they’re cooked through, push a toothpick or knife through it and make sure that it comes out clean. If not, cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Before decorating, allow them to cool completely by placing them on a wire rack.
5. Mix any toppings together, and then let loose!!!
Something different, quite a useful addition to any games which involves lucky dips (or not so lucky dips!)
1 Pack of Jelly Cubes
Gummy Sweets
1. Make the jelly up as per instructions on the packet.
2. Before letting it set, you need to pour into plastic cups or Ice cube trays, with a Gummy sweet in the cup or tray, and leave to set in these.
3. Serve either on a tray, or as suprises in Lucky Dips.
Photo Courtesy of Scott Van Der Chijs/
There was a big storm yesterday, and hardly anyone came trick-or-treating at our house. Sad, but what might be even sadder is the amount of leftover candy we have! We’re packing up most of it to give away to needy children, but keeping some to make some Halloween leftover candy treats- and for decorating our gingerbread house next month.
Of course, I’m here to share what might possibly be my favorite leftover Halloween candy recipe: Candy Corn Fudge! It’s so good that even if you don’t have leftover candy corn, you might want to go out and buy a bag just for this.
Leftover Candy Corn Fudge
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups mini marshmallows
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
20 oz. candy corn (about 2 and a half cups)
2 cups roasted peanuts or pecan pieces
Prepare a brownie pan by rubbing some butter all over it. Set aside.
In a skillet over very low heat, melt together the butter and marshmallows, stirring constantly so the bottom doesn’t burn. You want to melt the marshmallows. Add peanut butter, and mix until combined well. Add powdered sugar, stir ’til smooth. Add candy corn and nuts (peanuts or pecans- or both!), stirring until nicely combined.
Transfer to your buttered pan, evening it out with a rubber spatula. Allow to cool. If it’s hot where you are, refrigerate until firm.
Cut into small (these are sugary little suckers!) squares, and enjoy.
