3 Easy Halloween Treats

We're in the final stretch to Halloween which means the parties are in full swing! I've heard of small towns in rural areas holding Halloween parties for the kids at the community centre since its a little more difficult to trick-or-treat when your closest neighbour is 5 miles away. I personally LOVE this idea. I mean, I loved trick-or-treating as a kid, and Roman loves it now, but I love the feeling of community a party like this would give to the families in the area.

 

Today was the Halloween party at playgroup for all the kids. Roman had a blast running around as Nemo and playing with his friends, and of course indulging in all of the delicious treats. Today I'm going to share 3 recipes with you (2 of which I made for the party) that are super easy to whip up and are sure to be crowd pleasers!

Halloween Sugar Cookies
These cookies may look intimidating but I promise they are super easy! Start with a batch of sugar cookie dough and divide it into 4, or as many colors as you would like in your cookies. Roman decided to go with orange, teal, purple and green for his cookies. Once divided we mixed some Wilton gel color into each of the batches. You could also use liquid food coloring but this is what I had on hand. Once all your dough is colored, wrap it in plastic wrap, or pop it into a sandwich bag, and let it chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

 

Once the dough has chilled it's time to assemble the cookies! I did this super randomly and just grabbed a glob from each pile, squished them together and rolled them into a ball. To get a more swirly appearance, roll it into a log and give it a couple twists, and roll it back into a ball. Once all the balls were down I squished them down with the bottom of a glass. Bake the cookies at 400 for 7-9 minutes. You want to pull them out just before the edges start to brown. They'll look a little underdone but if you take them out now they'll have a slight crust of the outside and still be soft on the inside.

Monster Rice Krispie Treats
Roman had a blast making these! Start with a batch of Rice Krispie treats and press them into a parchment lined cookie sheet. Allow them to cool and cut into 2" squares and set them aside. Melt some chocolate wafers in any color you like (Roman decided on orange, green and pink) over a double boiler. Dip half of each treat into the chocolate and lay them on a piece of parchment. While the chocolate is still soft, decorate with candy eyes and/or sprinkles. Roman decided to put a bit of everything onto the treats, although I managed to keep a couple looking like monsters. Allow the chocolate to set and then enjoy!

Skeleton Spinach Dip Bath
I decided last minute to bring some veggies to the Halloween party and wanted to take a dip along as well. I recently received a package of spinach dip mix in my last Steeped Tea order so I decided to give it a try. Dip in a regular bowl isn't very exiting or very Halloweenie (is that a word?) so I had to come up with something different. I bought a loaf of sour dough and hollowed it out and filled it with the dip. Now here comes the Halloween! I picked up a plastic skeleton, cut off his legs and pelvis, and stuck him in the dip so it looked like he was taking a bath. Now who doesn't want to bathe in spinach dip?!

Since all of these recipes are easy to make, they are a great way to get the kids involved in party prep and get everyone in the Halloween spirit. Our family isn't too big on Halloween (we're more Christmas people), but since the kids came along we've been getting into it a little more. Does your family have any Halloween traditions? Any treats you just have to have this time of year?