Halloween Treats that are Kid Friendly

If you’re planning a Halloween themed birthday or just a Halloween get together for your kids, here are some tasty kid friendly Halloween treats that you might include on your menu. They’ll be a big hit with the kids–not only will they enjoy eating these yummy treats, but they’ll love helping you make them too!

Halloween Witchy Cup Cakes
Here’s a recipe I found at Parents.com with a few tweaks I added.

Ingredients
12 plain white or chocolate cupcakes, removed from paper liners (buy them from the store or make them using Duncan Hines cake mix–super easy!)
1   1/2 cups milk chocolate frosting (canned is fine)
chocolate cones
Orange nonpareils or colored sugar crystals
1  16 ounce can cream cheese frosting, divided
Neon-green food coloring (if you can’t find neon green, get as close as you can by mixing yellow with green)
Milk chocolate chips
Green tube icing
Red tube icing
Mike and Ike Tangy Twister candies
Chocolate sprinkles

Place chocolate frosting in a freezer-weight zip-top bag and snip off a small corner. Pipe base of cones, dip in orange nonpareils (orange colored sugar crystals) and set aside. Place 1/2 cup cream cheese frosting in a another zip-top bag and snip off a small corner. Tint remaining frosting green and frost cupcakes. Turn cupcakes on sides (so the front is facing you), then place decorated cones on top. Using cream cheese frosting, pipe eyes on cupcakes. Attach chocolate chips for pupils and pipe a dot onto chips. Use red icing for mouths, green icing for warts; shape candies into noses. Pipe chocolate icing onto cupcakes for hair and sprinkle with chocolate jimmies.

No Bake Spooky Eyeballs
Here’s a recipe I found at Epicurious.com that I think my son will LOVE! It’s made with peanut butter so beware if your child has a peanut allergy.

Ingredients
1  1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 (1-pound) package confectioners’ sugar (C & H powdered sugar is great!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips ( about 2 cups)
2 tablespoons Crisco vegetable shortening
About 3 ounces of miniature M&Ms

Blend the peanut butter with the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl. It may be easiest to use your hands (kids love doing this). Line a rimmed baking sheet with wax paper. Roll the peanut butter mixture by teaspoons into small balls and place on the baking sheet. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up the eyeballs. Put the chocolate chips and shortening in a microwave-safe bowl and melt the chocolate in the microwave: Heat on high for 60 seconds, and then stir well. If it’s not quite smooth, heat in two or three 10-second bursts, stirring well after each burst. (Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate, stirring frequently, in a double boiler, over just-simmering water. Avoid overheating, which can cause chocolate to seize up into a stiff mass.)

Take the sheet of balls from the refrigerator; use a fork or a toothpick to dip each one most of the way into the chocolate, leaving a round or oval opening of undipped peanut butter on top. (This opening in the chocolate will be the cornea.) Hold each ball over the chocolate to catch the drips, and then return to the wax paper, cornea side up. Place an M&M in the center of the peanut butter cornea to make an iris. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Store the eyeballs in the refrigerator or freezer and serve chilled.

Meringue Ghosts
Here’s a recipe I found at Myrecipes.com. It involves a lot of work, but how cute are those ghosts?

Ingredients
6 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon semisweet chocolate mini morsels
String licorice (optional-these are used to hang the ghosts, but they’ll look just as cute on a plate!)

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves (2 to 4 minutes). Add extract; beat until blended. Spoon mixture into a zip-top plastic bag; snip a small hole in 1 corner, and pipe mixture into ghostly shapes on parchment paper-lined baking sheets (here’s where the kids can get creative helping you!). Add mini morsels for eyes. If desired, cut licorice into 2-inch pieces. Firmly pinch ends together. Insert 1 in top of each ghost for a hanger. Bake at 200° Fahrenheit for 2 hours. Turn oven off, and let meringues stand in closed oven with light on 8 hours.

Hope you enjoy making these cute, kid friendly Halloween treats for your family. Come back and tell me how they turned out for you, or if you tweaked them to come up with your own modified versions!

Mina Frannea is a Mom to eight-year-old twins and enjoys writing about life in general, family friendly activities around town, favorite recipes and crafts that keep her children busy and happy. For more posts by Mina, visit her blog at www.themomsjournal.com.