Halloween Party Foods

Halloween party foods make a spooky party more fun.

Kids as well as adults love to eat fun and creepy food. While not all Halloween party foods are scary, they are traditional and are fun to have around. So whether you are serving up worm infested cupcakes or good old popcorn balls be sure to have enough snacks on hand. When throwing a Halloween party have some traditional snacks on the table. The kids love them and the adults love the nostalgia of them. Candied apples and popcorn balls are the most popular Halloween party foods.

Candied apples on your table are a sure sign that autumn has arrived. They are covered in shiny red candy and inside is a tart and juicy treat. Red candied apples are most common, but for a cool Halloween party food consider changing the color a bit. The recipe for candied apples is as simple as simple syrup, which is what you start with to make the coating. This recipe is good for about 12 apples or more if you use smaller apples. Use Fuji, Pippin or Cripps Pink if you can find them. To make this recipe you will need:

• 12 apples (more if they are small)
• 12 wooden sticks (one per apple)
• 2 cups of water
• 5 cups of sugar
• ¾ cup of corn syrup (to help prevent the sugar from crystallizing)
• 1 teaspoon of orange food coloring (2 drops of yellow food coloring and one drop of red) *Adjust as needed or to suit the color you like best)
• Parchment paper or if you have them Silpats.

1. Wash and dry your apples.
2. Insert the stick into the bottom of the apple so that the stick is at least half way into the apple.
3. Put the sugar, water and corn syrup into a saucepan.
4. Once the mixture becomes very liquidy start to add the food color until you get the desired shade of orange.
5. Bring the syrup to a boil and cook until the syrup reaches 290 degrees. If you do not have a candy thermometer you can scoop a bit of the syrup out of the pan with a spoon and drop it into cold water. If the syrup turns into threads that are really firm but still flexible when removed from the water (soft-crack stage) then you are good to go.
6. Remove the syrup from the heat and dip the apples into the syrup one at a time. #Work rather quickly.
7. Place the apples on the parchment paper or silpat and let cool.
8. For a very cool looking arty effect make a half recipe of the candy syrup above and color it black.
9. When it gets to the soft crack stage remove from the heat and use a fork to drizzle the black coloring over the orange candied apples.
10. Get as abstract as you like.

Popcorn balls are as traditional as you can get. If part of this recipe looks familiar it is because we are going to use syrup this time to bind the popped corn kernels together.

You will need:

• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ cup corn syrup
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 ½ quarts of popped popcorn (unpopped kernels removed)

1. Mix the sugars, the corn syrup and the water together in a saucepan and heat over a medium flame until sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Add the butter.
3. Continue to cook until the syrup is 240 degrees or at the softball stage.

Note:The softball stage is when a small amount of the syrup is added to cool water and it forms a soft, malleable ball.

1. Put the popped popcorn into a large bowl
2. Add salt
3. Pour the syrup over the popcorn
4. While wearing gloves or after buttering your hands toss the popcorn with the syrup and then form into balls.

Halloween is a time for tasty treats both traditional and new. With new food colors that are now available, like black food coloring, we can add a new twist to the old stand bys.

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