Halloween Party Treats

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween, and I hope you still have some candy left to hand out, if anyone comes by. We ate through our first batch (a bag of Reese’s peanut butter pumpkins and one of Twix), which I foolishly bought a week ago. Either they don’t put as many in the bag as they used to, or we all ate more than we realized. Probably some of both.

[Photo by Maddy Baker on Unsplash ]

If you know your neighbors well enough, you might invite them in for some candy alternatives that are almost equally unhealthy but at least have the merit of being homemade!

Toffee Dip with Apples

Dip:

3/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

8 ozs cream cheese, softened

Combine the dip ingredients and beat with a mixer on medium until smooth. Add 3/4 c toffee bits and stir well. Cover and chill.

When ready to serve, slice up to twelve apples, thickly, and combine them with 1 c pineapple juice. Toss well. Drain and serve.

Actually, once you serve your slices with toffee dip, no one will notice a lackluster presentation. [Photo by 90 jiang on Unsplash ]

The recipe above has the added bonus that it doesn’t glue your teeth together. Therefore, you may also want to serve this one:

Maple Popcorn

1 c maple syrup

3 Tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

8 cups popped popcorn

Lightly butter a 9x13” pan and set aside. In a heavy saucepan, combine maple syrup and butter. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer reaches 275F (syrup separates into hard, but not brittle, threads, when dropped into very cold water). Remove from heat, add vanilla. Pour over popcorn. Pack the mixture lightly into the prepared pan; let cool completely. Cut into small squares. Makes about 16 pieces.

Of course, if you become known as the house that offers homemade treats, you may have to up your scare game to get people to leave!

Have a good evening, and my no one blow out or kick over your pumpkin.