Halloween treats can be spooky and delicious

NORTH COUNTY – Halloween parties can feature frightful decorations and spooky lighting, but a good Halloween party also features food that plays up the theme of the evening. Therefore, Halloween party hosts will need to get creative with the type of foods they serve to ensure a “spook-tacular” time.

With a little ingenuity, otherwise mundane foods can be transformed into something worthy of a second look. Here are some creative ways to turn ordinary food items into Halloween-inspired fare for your next get-together.

Ghosts in the Pumpkin Patch

Using bananas and clementines or small oranges, you can create the appearance of ghosts haunting a field of pumpkins. Peel both the oranges and the bananas and place small chocolate chips into the rounded “head” of the banana to create a ghost face. Use a piece of green gummy candy or something that will hold its shape to create “stems” for the orange pumpkins. Place the ghosts and pumpkins on a platter or in a bowl for a healthy and festive snack.

Witches’ Brew

Create a punch recipe that bubbles and looks like a witch’s evil concoction. Put two quarts of lime sherbet for a green punch (or orange sherbet if you prefer an orange punch) in a punch bowl. Add a two-liter bottle of ginger ale and one can of pineapple juice. Feel free to float “eyeball” peeled grapes or gummy worms in the brew for a more authentic effect. If available, add a piece of dry ice to the punch so it bubbles and fizzes.

Sugar Spider webs

Spiders and their sticky webs go hand-in-hand with Halloween. Create spider webs that can be used to adorn cookies and cupcakes and give them an extra scary flair.

Use a template of a spider web and place this template under a piece of waxed paper to serve as your guide. Use store-bought or homemade royal icing to pipe out the shape of the spider web on top of the waxed paper. Allow to dry until completely hardened, then peel off the paper. Repeat the process for as many spider webs as you need. You can use these spider webs as garnish for a variety of baked goods, or they can be eaten on their own.

Ghoulish Graveyard

What would Halloween be without a haunted graveyard? With a few tasty ingredients, you can recreate this classic look in a rich dessert.

Crush graham crackers and mix with melted butter and sugar to create a cookie crust. Press into the bottom of a baking pan. Prepare some chocolate pudding to pour on top of the crust and allow it to grow firm. Then sprinkle crushed chocolate cookies on top to create the appearance of soil. Push some rounded-edge, oblong cream-filled cookies into the pudding to serve as tombstones. Decorate with candy worms, gummy skeletons and any other candy items that can add to the look. Black licorice sticks poked with black licorice strings can look like dead trees.

Scary Grin

Turn a whole watermelon into a jack-o’-lantern and fill with fruit salad. This makes for a refreshing treat and provides an alternative to candy. Cut the watermelon same as a pumpkin and hollow out the insides to use for the salad. Add sliced berries, grapes, apples, pears, and any other fruits that are available.