Top 10 Halloween Food Ideas!
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We’re at that spooky time of year, a time where it’s acceptable to watch horror movies all night and eat lots of sweets!
Today, Halloween is a bit of a cultural mashup, originating from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
Most people believe that the 31st October is an ancient pagan festival associated with the supernatural, but it does actually have some religious connotations.
Whether you’re staying in, or going out for a few drinks, you’re going to want some tasty food to mark the occasion either way!
We’ve gathered a list of the top 10 Halloween food ideas, so we hope you’re feeling nice and domesticated and ready to cook.
1. Toffee Apples
Who said fruit was boring? These deliciously sweet candy apples are bound to satisfy those with a sweet tooth!
All you need is some red apples, caster sugar, lemon juice, golden syrup and some lolly sticks.
Now onto the fun part! Tip the sugar into a large saucepan, add some lemon juice and simmer until the sugar has dissolved.
Add the golden syrup, then let the mixture bubble until it reaches a ‘crack’ sort of stage.
Test the toffee mix to see if it’s ready for the apples with a small amount of cold water, it should harden instantly and when removed, and be nice and brittle.
Read the full recipe here for more detail, and get ready to dip those apples!
2. Caramel Apple Cocktail
Looking for a tasty sweet drink to mark the seasonal transition? Then look no further!
For the caramel, whisk some sugar and water into a heavy bottomed-saucepan and whisk over a medium high heat until the sugar has completely dissolved!
Next, boil the sugar over a medium-high heat until the caramel turns into a delicious brownish colour and immediately whisk in the butter and the cream until it’s nice and smooth.
Finally, pop it into a jar and keep it nice and cool in the fridge, this can be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks!
For the cocktail itself, dip the rim of your cocktail glass in the caramel sauce and plunge it into some demerara sugar.
Add the warm caramel sauce and then chilled apple cider into the glass, stir well until combined and then refrigerated.
Finish off by pouring in some ginger beer and stir until well combined with a long-handled spoon, garnish with a cinnamon stick and serve immediately!
Click here for the full recipe.
3. Sausage Mummy Dippers
These are more delicious than they sound, we promise!
For this recipe, you’ll need honey, ketchup, French’s yellow mustard, chipolatas and a tub of 6 ready-to-roll croissants (usually near the chillers near pastry in supermarkets)
Firstly, you’ll need to heat the oven to 200C/180C fan and brush 2 baking trays with some oil, mix the honey, ketchup and mustard together and then brush the mix over the chipotle sausages.
Get your croissant dough and divide it into 3 rectangles, pinch together the diagonal perforated seams then cut into long thin strips.
Next is the fun part! Wind the croissant strips around the chipolatas leaving a gap at one end to make a slit for the eyes, place on baking trays and heat for 20 minutes.
Once cooled, grab your mustard dot a pair of eyes on the mummy and serve with your fave dip!
4. Chocolate Spider Cookies
This next recipe from BBC Good Food is absolutely scrumptious, and super easy to make too.
To make these chocolate spider cookies, you’ll need 200g of dark or milk chocolate broken into chunks, a 113g pack or liquorice Catherine wheels (Barratts), two 154g packs of Oreo cookies and a black and white icing pen.
Firstly, melt your chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Once it’s melted, turn off the heat and keep the chocolate warm in the bowl.
Next, you need to make the spiders! Unroll the liquorice wheels and cut them into 2-3cm lengths for the spider legs.
Splodge a small teaspoon of chocolate onto half of the Oreo cookies, arrange eight liquorice legs on top, then sandwich on another cookie.
Spread some more chocolate on top of the second cookie to cover, then put it somewhere cool to set.
Finally, use the icing pens to add eyes by blobbing two big dots of white icing on each, topped with two smaller dots of black icing!
5. Pumpkin Soup
It’s no doubt that there are going to be plenty of pumpkins around at this time of year, whether you grab one from a supermarket or fancy picking your own for a fun activity.
To make this yummy soup, you’ll need onion, carrots, garlic, unsalted butter, olive oil, pumpkin, potato, chicken stock, double cream, and pumpkin seeds.
Firstly, put the onion, carrots, garlic, butter and half the olive oil into a large pan and cook on a low heat for about ten minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Next, add the pumpkin and potato, mix and combine and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Pour in the stock, season and bring to the boil!
Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, half cover the pan with a lid and continue to cook for about 40 minutes until the pumpkin is super tender.
Add the cream and a little more stock if the soup is on the thick side, and add more salt and pepper if required!
For the last step, heat the remaining oil in a pan and fry the pumpkin seeds, sprinkle over the top of the soup and serve with a swirl of cream, delicious.
Click here for the full recipe and happy cooking!
6. Garlicky Pumpkin Risotto
Here’s another delicious BBC Good Food recipe, destined to fill up you and your university friends in an instant.
This one’s a little more complicated, so we’re hope you’re feeling prepared and domesticated!
For the homemade pesto you’ll need basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil and parmesan.
For the risotto, grab yourself some chicken stock, unsalted butter, pumpkin, garlic cloves, onion, arborio rice, pecorino and parmesan!
Check out the full detailed recipe here and get ready to impress everyone.
7. Chocolate Dipped Apples
Granted, toffee apples are amazing, but sometimes it’s nice to mix it up with a bit of chocolate instead!
This particular recipe serves around 12 people, and all you need is 12 dessert apples, 12 wooden sticks, 75g of roasted peanuts, 75g of smarties and 1kg of plain chocolate.
To begin with, insert the wooden sticks into the cores of the apples and set aside.
Grab your chocolate and put it in a metal glass or bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir until frequently melted.
Remove from the heat, and dip your apples into the melted chocolate, then roll the dipped apple into smarties or nuts and place on a sheet of greaseproof paper.
Allow the apples to set at a room temperature until the chocolate is firm before serving, and enjoy!
8. Graveyard Sausage Stew
It’s time to get creative with tortillas to create this spooky graveyard stew, a stew that everyone will remember!
You’ll need some reduced fat sausages, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, chopped tomatoes, butter beans, paprika, oregano, bay leaves, chicken stock and tortillas.
Heat the oil in a large casserole pot and brown the sausages, remove the sausages from the pan and add diced onion, celery and carrots, cooking for 10 minutes until golden.
Next, add the garlic, chopped tomatoes, beans, paprika, oregano, bay leaves and chicken stock then return the sausages to the pot.
Whilst simmering this for 45 minutes, preheat the oven to 180C and cut the tortillas into gravestone and cross shapes, bake for about 8-10 minutes until crisp.
Once the stew has finished, remove the bay leaves, sprinkle over some chopped parsley and arrange your tortilla crisps and serve!
9. Devil’s Double Chocolate Malt Cookies
These cupcakes are super easy and cute, perfect for a Halloween party!
All you need is 12 cooled chocolate cupcakes, 1 tub of chocolate icing, red liquorice laces and some jellybeans or chocolate sweets.
Firstly, ice the cool cupcakes and cut your liquorice laces into 7cm sections.
Use a wooden skewer to poke 3 holes in each side of the cupcake and insert the pieces of liquorice into each hole for the legs.
Finally, place two chocolate sweets or jelly beans for the eyes and one more for the nose, with some icing to make the pupils.
Now all you need to do is eat them, check out the full recipe here!
