Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

With Halloween just around the corner (if you're counting down, you know the number is 6) it's time to start preparing some spooky meals and desserts. Grocery shopping, and names like "Ghost Chocolate Double" and "Sausage Mummy Dippers" fill restaurant menus. The good thing is, whether you're throwing a party for kids or adults or attending one yourself, these recipes are sure to kill!

Appetizers 

Sausage Mummy Dippers
This is sure to creep your friends out! If you're a baker you'll find it easy to make and if not, don't worry, it's really not that hard. Some of the ingredients can be found at any local bakery or import stores in Pune and Hyderabad. Your friends will LOVE this!

1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon ketchup
Oil for greasing
Yellow Mustard (to taste)
12 Sausages
5-6 Ready to roll croissant dough





Heat oven to 200C/180C and brush 2 baking trays with a little oil. Mix the honey, ketchup and mustard together in a bowl, then brush over the sausages.Unroll the croissant dough and divide into 3 rectangles.

Pinch together the diagonal perforated seams, then cut into long thin strips – you should get about 16 per rectangles.Wind or wrap the little croissant strips around the sausages, leaving a little gap at one end to make a slit for the eyes. Place on baking trays and bake for 20 mins. Cool a little, then, using the mustard, dot a pair of little yellow eyes on to each mummy. Serve warm with glow-in-the-dark if you can and with your favourite dip (optional).

For Kids

Hocus Pocus Witches Brew Soup and Cheesy Broomsticks
Let your kinds enjoy their Halloween and give them a free hand in the kitchen. Invite a few of their friends or you can bond over cooking with your children. Give your children a healthy, vegan twist to their otherwise, candy-filled and sugar-heavy day. It'll be fun and hopefully in the spirit of Halloween, spooky!

6 cups broccoli florets – steamed
2 cups veggie or mushroom broth
1/3 cup soy creamer, plain
1 cup white potato, baked with skin
1 cup white cannellini beans, or any beans, really!
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup Daiya cheddar cheese shreds - mozzarella cheese is a great substitute
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil and salt to taste OR melted vegan butter
2 Tablespoons maple syrup (optional for a sweet accent)
2-4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
Garnish: roasted broccoli florets coated in melted Daiya cheddar cheese

1 Ball pizza dough
Garlic granules
1/4 cup vegan butter, melted
1/2 cup Daiya cheddar cheese shreds - or mozzarella cheese! 

Prepare soup in a high speed blender. First steam 6 cups of broccoli florets. Add 3 cups to a blender. Also add in the potato, beans, cheese, creamer, optional oil/butter and veggie broth. Blend until smooth. Add in the remaining broccoli and either pulse to keep the soup “chunky” style or puree smooth for a creamy soup. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on stove top until ready to serve.

For the broomsticks, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough to 3/4 ” thick. Slice into long strips (the broomsticks). Then using about 1/4 of the dough, cut out triangle shapes. You can make these into witches hats as well as use them for the broomstick bristles. Slice the triangles into a broom shape. The dough will rise as it bakes, but still resemble the brooms. Lay the brooms and hats on a greased baking sheet. Brush with melted vegan butter and sprinkle with garlic and cheese. Bake for ten minutes, Broil on high for an additional minute until the cheese bubbles.

Serve the brew!

Deadly and Terrifying 

Spooky Olive Spiders
Some eat it as an appetizer, others prefer to decorate their tables with it. Either way, it's sure to creep your guests out!

1 Olive
9 Rosemary leaves, you can substitute it with whatever grows in your garden
1 caper

1. Use a wooden skewer or toothpick to make 4 holes on 2 opposite sides of an olive. Insert a rosemary leaf in each hole. Use another rosemary leaf to secure a caper at one end of each olive. Use olives in different sizes and colors. (Pick out the rosemary leaves if you want to eat the olives). It's that simple. You can create and come up with your own recipe!

Desserts

Hairy Daddy Long-legged Cupcake

These easy to make cupcakes and a big hit everywhere. Most people suffer from arachnophobia, making your evening just that much more memorable. I'd keep a camera around to take some pictures of your guests' expressions! 

Chocolate cupcake (body)
Canned chocolate icing
Chocolate sprinkles (hair)
2 pieces of eye-type candy - you can make this easily with icing sugar and food colouring
Clean scissors
Ruler
1 package of black string lace licorice (legs)

Frost the cupcake with chocolate icing and cover with sprinkles - The more, the hairier! 

Press the eyes into place. If you are making the ice, take some icing sugar and mix it up with butter, refrigerate it for 10 minutes and make lumps of the icing so that they look like balls, add some food coloring or food paints on top for some extra drama. You can also buy the eyes at party stores or simply just print them out!

Use scissors to cut eight 4-inch pieces of licorice for the legs. Holding all of the legs together in a bunch, bend them in half and crease. Push the end of each leg into the cupcake as shown.

Drinks

Dracula's Blood 

A refreshing drink that attracts a lot of vampires. Beware! You're night might get super spooky. Did someone say Edward Cullen? 

Serves 12

2 Liters cherry juice

Orange peel - 3 oranges will suffice

1 Chili - pierce it a few times but will it as a whole

3 Cinnamon sticks

10 Cloves

6 Ginger slices

Mix the cherry juice, orange peel, chilli, cinnamon sticks, cloves and ginger into a large saucepan. Simmer for 5 mins, then turn off the heat. Leave to cool, then chill for at least 4 hrs, or up to 2 days – the longer you leave it the more intense the flavours. If serving to young children, take the chilli out after a few hours.When you’re ready to serve, pour the juice into a jug. Serve in glass bottles or glasses and pop a straw in each. Go crazy tonight!