Traditional Halloween recipes are just as much fun to make as they are to eat. The traditional recipes are more likely to be sweet treats rather than spooky looking desserts, but you can make a combination of the two if you like.
Traditional Halloween Recipes
Traditional Halloween recipes come in many forms from fun tossed salads to old school candied popcorn and apples.
The Salad Has Eyes
You know your guests will notice the food when the food is looking back at them. Frog eye salad is a classic that uses Anci de Pepi pasta. Anci de Pepi translates to peppercorns, which is what this pasta looks like. When the Anci de Pepi is mixed in with the other ingredients, they take on the appearance of tiny eyes.
Frog Eye Salad
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup Anci de Pepi
- 1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 can crushed pineapple, drained, save the juice
- 1 can of pineapple rings, drained save the juice and cut the pineapple into bite sized pieces
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of flour
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1 cup of the saved pineapple juice
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 1 beaten egg
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
- Rinse with cold water.
- Mix the sugar, salt, pineapple juice, lemon juice, and beaten egg in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- Once the mixture starts to get warm, drizzle the flour into the mixture.
- Let the mixture come to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Once the mixture becomes thick, remove from the heat.
- Toss the pasta in a bowl with the pineapple, orange pieces, and the dressing.
Caramel Apples
Apples are an autumnal fruit and caramel apples are one of the oldest traditional Halloween recipes you can find. The basic recipe for caramel apples is about as simple as you can get and it leaves lots of room for creative ideas. Once you get the apples coated with caramel, you can then roll them in crushed peanuts or pistachios if you want a hint of green.
Ingredients
- 8 medium apples
- 1 cup of sugar
- ¾ cup of corn syrup
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup of cream
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Wash the apples and make sure that they are completely dried.
- Remove the stems from the apples.
- Insert Popsicle or craft sticks into the stem part of the apple.
- Mix together the corn syrup, sugar, butter and ¾ cup of the cream in a heavy bottomed saucepan over high heat.
- Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Then, do not stir the mixture at all until it reaches 280 degrees.
- If you do not have a candy thermometer, you can drop a small amount of the mixture into a cup of ice water. If it quickly forms a firm ball, your caramel is ready.
- Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract and the remaining cream. The mixture will bubble up, so be very careful.
- While the caramel is still hot, dip the apples into the mixture and place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with a sheet of parchment or wax paper.
- While the caramel is still soft, you can roll the apples in crushed nuts or any other topping that you happen to like. Black and orange sprinkles work nice.
- For a creative spin, some chocolate melted in a Bain Marie can be drizzled over the apples.
Halloween Popcorn
With a little food coloring, this popcorn can be a festive black and orange.
Ingredients
- 5 cups of popped corn, un-popped kernels removed
- 1/2 cup of butter
- ½ cup of sugar
- 1 3-ounce pack of flavored Jell-o (orange is a great color and flavor)
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 tablespoon of light corn syrup
Instructions
- Place the popcorn in a 9x13 pan and keep in a 300-degree oven to keep warm.
- In a 2-quart saucepan, mix together the butter, sugar, Jell-o, water, and corn syrup over a medium heat.
- Cook while stirring constantly until the mixture comes to 255 degrees or a small amount dropped into ice water forms a hard ball.
- Pour the syrup over the popcorn and mix to coat.
- Bake the coated popcorn in the 300-degree oven for 5 minutes.
- Turn the popcorn out of the pan and onto a sheet of foil or a silpat.
- Let the popcorn cool completely and break into clusters.
- For a holiday color combo, make two batches, one black and one orange, and combine the colored popcorn before final baking.
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