Some of the food offerings
Baked Brie with Puffed Pastry, Fig Jam, and Pecans (recipe already listed on blog)
Armadillo Eggs
Jalepeno Popper wrapped in Sausage Ball Dough
There are many different recipes out there for this but I like the sausage cream cheese mixture in mine. Take 1 dozen jalepeno peppers. Slice them in half and de-seed and de-vein them. Blanche them in boiling water for 8 minutes and cool them down. Stuff eatch half with as much cream cheese as will fit in the cavity. Wrap Sausage Ball Dough (2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, 1 tube of raw country sausage I prefer Dean's hot, and 2 cups Bisquick mix. Mix together until a stiff dough forms.) around the popper and seal the edges. Bake in an oven at 350 until the odd shaped ovals are golden brown (about 15-20 minutes).
Sugar Snap Pea Dip
1 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup sour cream, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tsp powdered ginger, 1 tsp wasabi paste, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and juice from half a lemon. Mix and let refrigerate overnight. Taste and add more wasabi/ginger/soy to your taste. Blanche Sugar Snap Peas and Ice them Down. I got a large bag from Costco and boiled for about 6 minutes. You want them to still have their crunch. Some peas your guests may need to de-string, others are very tender and can be eaten whole.
Carmel Pecan Cream Cheese Dip for Apples
1 pkg. softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla flavoring, 1/4 cup toasted pecans. Mix together and let refridgerate overnight. Let come to room temperature before you serve or mix in 3 tablespoons of cream or it will be too hard to scoop apple slices in. I used Granny Smith.
Carmelized Onion Dip with Kettle Chips
1 lg. container low fat sour cream, 1 envelope Lipton French Onion Dip, 2 lg Vidalia onions sliced thinly and caramelized on low heat (45 minutes). Mix together and let refrigerate overnight to meld flavors. Serve with thick cut kettle chips.
Bloody Broken Glass Candy (From Jessica)
Two cups regular sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup (karo)
2 tbs water
Boil all together 5-7 minutes or until it looks SLIGHTLY gold - if it turns all the way gold your glass will be brown. You can add food coloring here to tint your glass any color you like or add a bit of flavoring if you like. Once it's ready, pour out onto a parchment paper lined pan and let it cool around 10 minutes.
At this point you have a couple of options: one, break sheet into shards to make broken glass; two, heat up a knife in a flame and carefully cut glass into shapes, i.e. a microscope slide, stained glass shapes for an intricate design, anything really...then toss them in the fridge to harden thoroughly (about 10 more min.) Done!
Then I just painted the edges red so they looked bloody. I am thinking about pouring the molten mixture into some cookie cutters or plastic/rubber jello molds to make little shapes, like legitimate vintage candies. It's actually really tasty, and you can pop in little sticks to make them lollipops. Very versatile and it looks impossibly difficult when it's really super easy.
1/3 cup light corn syrup (karo)
2 tbs water
Boil all together 5-7 minutes or until it looks SLIGHTLY gold - if it turns all the way gold your glass will be brown. You can add food coloring here to tint your glass any color you like or add a bit of flavoring if you like. Once it's ready, pour out onto a parchment paper lined pan and let it cool around 10 minutes.
At this point you have a couple of options: one, break sheet into shards to make broken glass; two, heat up a knife in a flame and carefully cut glass into shapes, i.e. a microscope slide, stained glass shapes for an intricate design, anything really...then toss them in the fridge to harden thoroughly (about 10 more min.) Done!
Then I just painted the edges red so they looked bloody. I am thinking about pouring the molten mixture into some cookie cutters or plastic/rubber jello molds to make little shapes, like legitimate vintage candies. It's actually really tasty, and you can pop in little sticks to make them lollipops. Very versatile and it looks impossibly difficult when it's really super easy.
Cheesy Fingers (From Jessica)
String Cheese with Cuts with Fake Fingernails
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting and Milano Cookie Gravestones
These were so much fun to make and sooooo easy. I used Krusteaz brand pumpkin bread mix and followed directions and added 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk to make it more cake-like and less bread like. Frosting: 1 package softened cream cheese, 1 stick softened butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 tablespoons maple syrup, and 1 box of powdered sugar. Mix first 4 ingredients together until all is combined and whipped well. Add powdered sugar in slowly on a low mixing speed or you will cover your kitchen! I colored all but 4 tablespoons of frosting green and piped it on the cupcakes for grass. The rest I added black food coloring to and piped party guest names onto milano cookies and shoved them down into the icing. The disturbed dirt is crushed up gingersnap cookies ( I used Voortman Ginger cookies with almonds) and cup up small plastic skeletons to use for body parts. I had two cake plates covered, I really need to invest in a tiered cupcake stand.
Amontillado Punch (non-alcoholic)
2 jugs of apple cider, 1 2L Ginger Ale, 1 concentrated orange Juice, 1 box red hots
Melt the box of red hots into one container of apple cidar in a pot on the stove top until the red hots are dissolved, stir constantly. Let cool and combine with all other ingredients. I served mine with a skull ice cube and mismatched punch cups.
For alcoholic version I recommend pouring in a half bottle of apfelkorn or some hard apple cidar in place of one of the bottles of apple cidar.
Next year I am thinking Sleepy Hollow, Sweeny Todd, or Anne Rice..... all would have delicious foods! Best trick to planning a great themed Halloween party on a budget is to pick your theme by 8am the day after Halloween the year before. Go to Target, Walmart, Pottery Barn, and Williams Sonoma and snap up halloween goodies and decor at 50-90% off the orignal price!
