Spooky & Playful: The Best Halloween Treats for 2011
It’s Halloween — which means we’re all supposed to pull out vats of Jell-O and light ’em with black lights, and scrawl spiderweb icing over elaborate cakes. Right? Well, if you’re short on time for such undertakings, or if you want to avoid the sugar overload of too many Halloween treats, check out this roundup. I’ve pulled together my favorite Halloween treats for this season, with a selection of health(ier) yet cute options, as well as a few spooky ideas, and some just plain cute treats for grown-ups and kids alike.
The best part: These are all actually do-able — nothing too challenging here for those of us who aren’t great with a piping bag!
HEALTH(IER) TREATS
Here are some treats that are playful and cute and yet not overloaded with sugar.
• 1 BOO Halloween Milk Shooters at Babble – Just milk in a glass, dressed up with a drip of chocolate and some sprinkles. Cute, and so much more child-friendly than a bag of candy, I think!
• 2 Frozen “Boo”-nana Pops at Gina’s Skinny Recipes – Frozen fruit, dipped in white chocolate. Easy and not too sweet.
• 3 Egg Skeleton at Cute Food for Kids – Get all the directions from Tiffany; she has really smart directions for doing this easily.
• 4 Cheese Pumpkin Appetizers at That’s So Michelle – Skip the sugar and have some cheese — these are cuter than any sweet treat!
• 5 Apple Cider in Apple Cups at Babble – Another cute idea from Kelsey. Warm apple cider in an apple cup, with a marshmallow “eye”.
SPOOKY GOODIES
But if spooky is your thing, then these are my favorites this year!
• 6 Chocolate Spider Web {Cake in a Jar} at I Am Baker – Such a smart idea! And could do this with really anything in a jar. (via not martha)
• 7 Tentacle Pot Pie at not martha – One of my favorite Halloween projects ever, especially since it can be savory and not sweet.
• 8 Skeleton Cut Out Cookies at Our Best Bites – Cute, simple even for the icing-challenged (like me), and repurposes the Christmas gingerbread men cookie cutters. (via Curbly)
• 9 Creepy Coconut Kiwi Panna Cotta at Kitchen Table Scraps – I am not usually one for the bloody gory stuff at all, but this panna cotta is just such a good recipe, so tasty — and so easy to make into something spooky. (also via not martha – she finds the best stuff!)
• 10 Bloody Eyeballs with a side of Worms at The Back Burner – CREEPY. (via Chez Us)
FOR KIDS OLD & YOUNG
And here are five more playful treats that all look very easy to pull off.
• 11 Devils Food Whoopie Pies at Heather Christo Cooks – Who can’t slap googly eyes on a whoopie pie, I ask you? Major bang for the buck, here.
• 12 Grown-Up Peanut Butter Cups at Gilt Taste – We have a larger roundup of homemade candy coming later this week, but for now, let’s look at these. Smoky, caramelized peanut butter cups? Reese’s, goodbye.
• 13 Sugared Candy Corn Cookies at A Little Bit Crunchy, A Little Bit Rock n’ Roll – I simply find these adorable and irresistible.
• 14 Halloween Ghost Meringue Cookies at The Secret Life of a Chef’s Wife – Again, easy to make, easy to do. Big bang for the effort.
• 15 Owl Smores at Living Locurto – Easy and quick to do.
OK, your turn. What’s the cutest (or spookiest!) Halloween treat you’ve seen so far this season?
Related: Feast On These: Favorite Halloween Treats
(Images: Kelsey of The Naptime Chef/Babble; Gina of Gina’s Skinny Recipes; Tiffany of Cute Food for Kids; Michelle of That’s So Michelle; Kelsey of The Naptime Chef/Babble; Amanda of I Am Baker; Megan of not martha; Sara of Our Best Bites; Renee of Kitchen Table Scraps; Denise of Chez Us; Heather of Heather Christo Cooks; Victor Sizemore/Gilt Taste; A Little Bit Crunchy, A Little Bit Rock n’ Roll; Tammie of The Secret Life of a Chef’s Wife; Amy of Living Locurto)