It’s HALLOWEEN, guys! Time to fling open our doors and welcome all the ghosts and vampires and Elsa’s and all sorts of others creatures in and treat them to some goodies.
Want to skip the store-bought sweets this year? Rustle up some of these pretty, quick and easy recipes, and you are BOUND to impress your callers.
1. Halloween Compost Cookies
Not familiar with compost cookies? They’re essentially the most brilliant combination of sweet and salty all wrapped up into one baked good. Hel-lo best-of-both-worlds, in other words!
The ingredient combo may seem a little odd (yes, they call for ground coffee), but rest assured: tonight’s callers will be blown away and hail you as the neighborhood Nigella.
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup (or agave syrup or honey)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cups flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups black and orange m&ms
- 2 cups potato chips
- 2 cups caramel rice cakes, broken into small pieces
- 2 tsp ground coffee (optional)
Instructions
1. Combine the butter, sugars and corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg and vanilla, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.
2. The batter should be very light and fluffy. While it’s beating, in a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together, no longer than 1 minute. (Do not walk away from the machine during this step, or you will risk overmixing the dough.) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
4. Still on low speed, add the m&ms and coffee, and mix just until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the potato chips and rice cakes, and paddle, still on low speed, until just incorporated. Again, be careful not to overmix!5. Cover the dough with saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature—they will not bake properly.
6. Heat the oven to 225°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. Take your chilled dough out of the fridge and scoop out spoonfuls to create balls. The dough will break apart a bit- that’s ok.
8. Just gather the bits together to create a ball that’s about 2 inches across in size (roughly 3 generous tablespoons of dough).
9. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 3 inches apart on as these cookies spread. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are very faintly browned on the edges yet still very light in the center. They should still look quite underdone.10. Let them set for 5-8 minutes into mostly cooled so they can finish cooking, then carefully move to a tray to cool.
10. Transfer to a plate or an airtight container for storage. Serve to creepy callers – they will LOVE these!
Recipe via GlitterGuide.com
2. Caramel Popcorn
This recipe is SO good, almost healthy (well, compared to the other stuff kids eat at Halloween!) and actually tastes like autumn. All in all; the perfect treat to make, bag up and hand out to all your little (and big!) callers tonight.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 10 – 12 cups plain unsalted popcorn
- 1 cup pecans, broken into large pieces
- 1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
- pinch of course salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
- Spray a foil-line baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Pour popcorn and pecans into a very large bowl.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter with sugar, salt, and 2 tablespoons water. Stir until it comes to a boil, then working quickly, drizzle popcorn with the butter and sugar mixture. Use a large spoon to toss everything together.
- Spread popcorn out onto the baking sheet, and bake, tossing once or twice middway through, for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Popcorn will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Recipe via CamilleStyles.com
3. Gourmet Caramel Apples
Caramel apples are a fall classic, and one of those sweets that will forever be linked with this time a year and Halloween. The beauty of this recipe is that you can customize the apples, once you have dipped them in the caramel sauce, and sprinkle and decorate with whatever you want. Chocolate sauce, crunchy nuts, mini-marshmallows; it’s only your imagination stopping you now.
This recipe makes six apples, so double or triple of you want apples for the whole street.
Ingredients
- 6 wooden craft sticks
- 6 small apples, any variety, stems removed
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup dark corn syrup
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Directions
-
Insert sticks into tops of apples. Prepare an ice-water bath.
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Bring cream, sugar, corn syrup, and butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to pan, and continue to cook until mixture reaches 125 degrees, 10 to 12 minutes.
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Place pan in ice-water bath to stop the cooking. Dip bottom of each apple in caramel. Using a spoon, coat apple halfway to three-quarters of the way up sides. Prepare bowls with whatever you want to dip your apples into next. Nuts are always a winner. You can also have a bottle of chocolate sauce (while and regular chocolate) ready to squirt over your apples. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes (or overnight).
Recipe via MarthaStewart.com
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