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5 Spooktacular Halloween Treats & Party Fun Foods
Tracy Metro
Air Date October 5th  - October 18th
Show # 19.05
Watch Community Cooking Daily at 11:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. only on CitiCABLE 3

Pumpkin Seed Trail Mix

Ingredients:

  • ½ C hulled raw pepitas
  • ½ C toasted pumpkin seeds
  • ½ C roasted & salted pepitas
  • ½ C dried cranberry
  • ½ C sugar
  • 1 1/3 C honey
  • 6 Tbs cold unsalted butter (plus more for brushing)
  • Candy wrappers and/or mini muffin paper cups

**makes approx. 30 pieces of candy

Instructions:

  1. Heat large skillet over high.  Add pepitas and toast, stirring constantly.  They will become golden and begin to pop about 3 minutes.  Transfer to bowl to cool.
  2. Bring honey and sugar to a boil in a small pan.  Add pepitas and monitor temperature with a candy thermometer. Once mixture reaches 285 degrees, remove from heat, add butter, pumpkin seeds, cranberries and salted pepitas.  Stir to combine.  Let cool.  Brush candy wrappers with butter.  Once candy is cooled to 240 degrees (about 6 minutes), drop scant TBS to each cup and wrap as desired.

Gravestone Dessert

Ingredients:

  • Pudding mix
  • 3 C milk
  • Box chocolate cookies/wafers
  • White icing.

Instructions:

  1. Prepare chocolate pudding as described on box. 
  2. Put in individual bowls.  Make sure the pudding is heaping up to make it look like a mound in the ground. 
  3. Pulverize cookies to a fine "soil" texture. 
  4. Generously sprinkle over pudding mound and cover completely. 
  5. Using icing, write: RIP and your guests name on cookie. 
  6. Stick it in the pudding mound.

Meringue Bones

Ingredients:

  • 4 large eggs
  • ½ C sugar
  • 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • Dash vanilla or other flavoring
  • Yellow food coloring (optional)
  • Pastry bag (or a re-sealable bag)
  • Parchment paper or Silpat
  • Baking sheet

Makes approx 25 small to medium bones

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees.  Separate eggs and place whites only in a mixing bowl.  Using an electric mixer set on medium, whisk for approx 6 minutes gradually adding sugar, tartar and salt.  The egg whites will become fluffy and shiny.  As they get firmer, increase speed to high being careful not to let eggs get dry.  For flavored bones, add a dash of vanilla or other flavoring.  For "aged" looking bones, add a few drops of yellow food dye to make them look old.  Once firm peaks appear, the eggs are ready to be piped.
  2. Fill a pastry bag (or a re-sealable bag with the tip cut off) with egg mixture.  Onto parchment covered baking sheet, begin to pipe egg mixture into the shape of bones.  An easy way to do that is to make to dollops next to each other and then two more dollops next to each other about 3-4 inches below the first set.  Then, draw a line connecting the four dots.  To smooth out peaks, dip a finger in water and press gently on peak.
  3. Place in oven for about an hour keeping a close eye on the bones to ensure that they don't begin to turn brown.  If they begin to color, turn heat down to 200 degrees.  After an hour of baking, turn oven off and let bones sit inside oven over night to cool.  They should be crispy and crunchy.  If they are somewhat mushy, place them back into the over at 200 degrees for a few more minutes to firm them up.

Ice Hands in Punch

Ingredients:

  • Cornmeal
  • Water
  • Cranberry juice or other dark red juice
  • Ginger ale, Sprite or 7-Up.
  • 2 Powder-free non-latex rubber gloves
  • Rubber bands
  • Baking trays

Instructions:

  1. Rinse rubber gloves both inside and out.  Fill each glove with water making sure finger tips are full of water.  Close end with rubber band.  Pour cornmeal on baking sheet so hands don't stick.  Place hands on baking sheet with fingers separated.  Place in freezer until frozen.
  2. In clear bowl pour juice and soda.  Remove hands from freezer and peel off the gloves.  Drop hands in bowl.

Bloodshot Pina Goulada

Ingredients:

  • 3 Tbs corn syrup
  • > 1/8 tsp red food coloring
  • 8 oz pineapple juice
  • 6 oz cream of coconut (from can)
  • ¼ C heavy cream
  • ½ C orange juice
  • 4 Nonpareil candies
  • Ice

**can be made frozen or straight up
Serves 2-4

Instructions:

  1. In small rimmed dish add corn syrup and food coloring.  Stir to incorporate.  Twirl martini glass rim in colored syrup allowing a few drops to drip down side of glass.  It creates an icky bloody effect!
  2. In a martini shaker put remaining ingredients.  Shake to chill.  Or, place in blender with ice and blend.  Adjust ingredients to achieve desired thickness.  Pour into martini glass.
  3. Drip 3 drops of red food coloring in center of Gouldada.  Using a toothpick, draw lines ("veins") from the center of the red toward the edge of the glass.  Repeat to create a bloodshot eye.  Once there are approx. 20 red "veins" turn one nonpareil candy upside down and gently place in center of glass.  The drink should look like a bloodshot eye!