Halloween Food Ideas

It is nearly Halloween, a day when children love to get dressed up and go knocking on doors trick or treating to get sweets. I used to enjoy taking my son when he was younger, it was lovely seeing all the kids in different costumes walking the streets. A lot of households made a big effort with pumpkins round the door and different decorations in the windows. I always have fun carving pumpkins and have made a dragon pumpkin in the past. Pumpkin soup is always a great thing to make with the left overs. Now my son is older he does not go trick or treating any more but still enjoys answering the door to the younger children and giving them treats. He also loves eating the treats himself.

He is planning to have a friend to stay over on Halloween night, I think the two of them are planning to watch some scary movies together as well as playing video games. When he has a friend to stay they love having different snacks to eat together late at night. I usually provide popcorn and crisps but as it is Halloween wanted to think of a few more exciting idea. LoveBrands came to the rescue, they sent me a hamper of products along with a few Halloween food ideas.

This weekend I got busy making up some of the recipes.

Witches hand on a bed of dirt

First of all I made a witches hand on a bed of dirt. The hand was made from strawberry jelly poured into a rubber glove and left to set. I think it looks really effective as well as rather gruesome.

The idea of putting the jelly in a rubber glove is a good one, although I did have problems with the jelly trying to leak out. It is a good idea to have a few rubber bands available to secure the top of the glove tightly until the jelly has set. You also need to be very careful removing the jelly from the glove, my witch lost a finger but luckily this is easily hidden. The bed of dirt is made from boiling sugar to make a caramel and adding nestle crunch chocolate.

I advise caution when boiling the sugar as it gets really hot and can give you a nasty burn if you spill it on yourself.  The resulting chocolate mixture is really tasty when cooled and does look like a bed of soil.

Witches hand on a bed of dirt

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Ingredients

  

• Witches hand
• 2 packs jelly
• 500 ml boiling water
• oil or spray oil
• Bed of dirt
• 100 g caster sugar
• 75 g plain crunch milk sharing bar

Instructions

 

• Tear the jelly into cubes and add to a bowl. Add 250ml boiling water and stir with broomstick
• When the jelly has dissolved add 250ml cold water
• Oil the inside of a clean rubber glove then pour in the jelly mix. Secure the end of the glove with a rubber band and leave in the fridge until set.
• Carefully cut away the rubber glove
• Crush the plain crunch milk sharing bar
• To make the bed of dirt boil the caster sugar in a cauldron with a splash of water until it lightly boils and turns brown.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the crumbled chocolate.
• Place on a baking tray and add the witches hand to the top

Squeamish Squares

These are squares make from a mix of Shredded wheat cereal, chocolate, jelly tots, jelly laces and marshmallows decorated with white chocolate. They are really simple to make and the mixture of different flavours is sure to be a bit at any Halloween event.

No baking is required, just melting chocolate and mixing then leaving to set in the fridge. These are the ideal recipe for kids to help with, although you may find a large number of the sweets vanish before they make it into the mixing bowl.

They were great fun to make and taste great, the addition of the jelly sweets takes them to another dimension. You can tell the kids that the cakes contain worms and watch their faces as they eat them.

Squeamish Squares

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Ingredients

  

• 150 g Shredded Wheat
• 6 Yorkie bars
• 50 g white marshmalllows
• 200 g golden syrup
• 1 pack strawberry laces
• 1 pack jelly tots
• 1 bag Milky bar buttons

Instructions

 

• Grease a 20cm square tin and line with baking parchment
• Melt the yorkie bars and golden syrup together in a bowl over a cauldron of simmering water
• Chop the jelly laces into smaller bits
• Mix the shredded wheat, ½ the jelly tots and ½ the jelly laces together in a bowl then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and leave in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour
• Cut into bite sized pieces.
• Melt the milky bar buttons over a bowl in a pan of boiling water and spoon the melted mixture over the bars
• Scatter the remaining jelly tots and jelly worms over the top before the milky bars set

Spooky Spiders

If you are looking for a simple craft idea for children to make this Halloween, why not try some spooky spiders. All you need are empty smartie tubes, pipe cleaners and googly eyes. First you will need to empty the smartie tubes, which is obviously the best part.

Chop the smartie tube in half and carefully wrap a couple of pipe cleaners tightly around it until it is covered. Take another pipe cleaner and fold it in half. Cut into two halves. Wrap each half of the pipe cleaner around the front and back of the spider to make legs. Finally stick on the two googly eyes using some glue.

Simple but effective. You can hang them from doorways, hide in cushions or place in a web of cotton wool to help create a spooky effect in the house.

Thanks to LoveBrands for the ingredients and recipes to make these items.

Read more: Bacon and Egg Bagels – Halloween eyeballs