Hello! So for this one, I thought I would share some ideas on what you can do for Halloween. If you looked up this blog then you either are a foodie or lean toward being one so with that being the case, I will show you how to celebrate Halloween like a true foodie.
Foodies are people that love cooking and enjoy trying out the latest recipes. So how does a foodie celebrate Halloween? Scary movies and delicious desserts! And which desserts fit in with Halloween? Candy!
Yes, it’s true, you could just buy candy from any store. However, that is something that anyone could do. We however, are not just anyone! We are food and cooking enthusiasts. We will celebrate Halloween the right way, with homemade candy.
Before we dive into the ocean that is homemade candy, let’s talk about the movies part of your Halloween party. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best parties involve movies so you will want to show one.
Personally, I do not care much for the scariest of all horror movies; for reasons that are not fit to disclose here. However, I do enjoy a good horror comedy. I also enjoy zombie movies during Halloween.
A horror comedy that I do enjoy watching is ‘Army of Darkness’ starring Bruce Campbell. If you want to watch a movie that is awesome and fun then go with this one.
If you prefer a horror comedy with more action and gore as well as comedy, then watch ‘Zombie Land,’ starring Jesse Eisenburg, Woody Harrelson, and Emma Stone. And again, this one combines both horror, action, and comedy.
If you want to see just horror and little or no comedy, go with the ‘Dawn of the Dead’ or ‘Land of the Dead.’ Zombie gore galore!
Now that we have established the entertainment part of celebrating Halloween like a foodie, let’s talk about the food! That is why you are here, after all.
For drinks, you will want to go with homemade apple cider or apple orchard punch. Eating apples during fall is one of our traditions, after all.
When making apple cider, some recipes recommend adding a little caramel sauce to your cider. Fellow foodies, do not merely add one pump of caramel. Instead, add two. Yes, double the amount of caramel that recipes recommend. Trust me, you will like it.
Apple orchard punch is another good Halloween drink. It uses apples and keeps with tradition and, it’s quite good. If you think it needs to be more Halloween related, try adding green food coloring and calling it strained slug punch.
If you want to garnish your Halloween desserts and candy, use a box of the latest, trendy Halloween cereal. You can’t go wrong with edible ghost marshmallows or spider web crunchies. These garnishes are just one of many ways to add a Halloween flare to your food.
Speaking of cereal, Rice Krispy Treats will help you celebrate Halloween like a true foodie. They are a homemade candy and can be modified for Halloween.
To alter the Rice Krispy Treats, add the garnish from the latest Halloween cereal or top them with chocolate chips. Also, add some food coloring to the marshmallows. You can use either orange food coloring – strictly a Halloween color – or, use red food coloring and call it blood pie (Klingon style).
Caramel popcorn is also a viable homemade Halloween candy. If you do have a popcorn popper, use it (duh). If you do not however, make popcorn the old fashioned way.
Put the raw kernels and some butter on a frying pan and cover the pan. Turn the burner on and once you hear the first pop, start moving the pan. Actually, start shimming and shaking the pan! Do not let the pan sit still or you risk burning the popcorn. Keep it moving and shaking until all of the kernels have popped.
Next, put the popcorn into a bowl and add butter. Do not add salt however, seeing as we are making candy. Instead, add some caramel syrup.
Try melting down some caramel candies as well and putting them on top of the popcorn. So now we have homemade popcorn with butter, caramel syrup, and melted caramel candy. Put the corn on some wax paper and let it harden or, just go ahead and start eating.
A Halloween flare for caramel popcorn? Refer to it as Carnivorous Corn Experiment #2244. Or just add some red food coloring.
Red food coloring is good.
Chocolate covered bananas make for a good homemade treat as well. These are very easy to make, just melt down the chocolate and hand dip the bananas.
To melt your chocolate, use a Bain Marie or just microwave melt it. I prefer the microwave method, seeing as the chocolate will take longer to harden after it first melts.
The best way to hand dip food for a chocolate covering is to use Korean chopsticks (the ones made of steel) to pick up the food while you dip. Place your food on wax paper then refrigerate so it can harden.
Sliced bananas can also be described as runes, if you want to go that route.
Homemade fudge will accommodate you on Halloween. I use a simple recipe using Eagle Brand, marshmallows, and chocolate chips.
Homemade fudge however, is also a traditional Christmas dish. Do not feel bad about making it for Halloween, seeing as it is a homemade candy. If you want to make egg nog for Halloween however well, you’re just odd.
A Halloween flare for fudge would be to refer to it as mud or somewhere specific, like Transylvanian mud.
If you want to really make it look like mud, try adding some Oreo powder.
Oreo powder also works well if you want to simulate gunpowder, a great dessert ingredient for Guy Fawkes Day.
Should I write about Guy Fawkes Day?
On the subject of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk, you can also use that to make coconut macaroons. The Halloween flare for coconut macaroons would be, to refer to them as zombie hair.
English Toffee is another homemade candy that you are sure to love! Fun fact: English Toffee has nothing to do with England.
To make English Toffee, you will need to use real butter. Do not settle for any of that fake stuff. Then spin the butter on a frying pan, add the sugar and chocolate chips and let it harden. One of the best homemade candies of all!
To make English Toffee related to Halloween, refer to it as bricks of an ancient Roman tomb.
If you do want a Halloween treat that actually does have to do with England, try British style toffee apples. I however, have not made these before so you will be going at it on your own. What happened was, I tried to make them without using a candy thermometer (shameful!) and well…it failed miserably (serves you right)…
Some toffee apple recipes recommend that you brush your teeth after eating these apples. Friends, you will want to heed that warning seeing as a lot of these recipes call for an entire kilogram of sugar. Yes, really.
This recipe also recommends adding red food coloring to the mix. Red food coloring is the traditional color for any type of candied apples and it looks like blood. What could go wrong?
Well, provided that you use a candy thermometer that is.
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So there you have it! Everything you need in order to celebrate Halloween like a foodie would! Fellow foodies, let me know if you decide to try any of these.
Also, please consider checking out the donations page, seeing as it’s pumpkin spice now!
Norris Cafe 