COLORADO, USA — Need a last-minute idea for festive food to make for Halloween this year?
We've got five super easy ideas that will take only minutes to put together.
These cute, spooky and gross food ideas are sure to impress your family or party guests!
> Watch the video below to see how each of the treats is made. There are written instructions for each below the video.
Jack-o-Lantern peppers
Carve an orange bell pepper to look like a jack-o-lantern, then stuff it with whatever you want!
Instructions: For these adorable guys, simply pick out some orange bell peppers from the grocery store and then carve a face into them. Larger peppers that sit evenly work the best.
First, cut off the top of the pepper and clean out the seeds and membrane. Then use a small, sharp paring knife to carve out whatever face you want. I thought this was going to much harder than it was! I did not draw the face on first and just freehanded it so the pepper would still be safe to eat, but you could if you wanted to.
Then, stuff the pepper with whatever you want! Mine are stuffed with mac and cheese because I wanted to keep the orange theme going and I like the flavors together. You could also stuff them with a veggie dip or a stuffed pepper filling and then bake.
You can also blanche the peppers in boiling water for about a minute after carving if you prefer cooked peppers to raw.
Severed finger hot dogs
A little creative knife work makes a hot dog look like you're eating a severed finger.
Instructions: This is another one where you'll just need to do a little carving to turn a normal hot dog into something disgusting for Halloween.
Start with a raw hot dog and a small, sharp paring knife. I find it easiest to start with cutting out the nail bed at one end of the hot dog. You'll want two parallel lines on either side, a straight line across the top and a curved line at the bottom. Then, use the tip of the knife to scoop out a couple centimeters of the meat.
Next, I did the middle knuckle. I think it looks best with one straight line in the middle and two curved lines on either side of that. You'll need to dig out a little bit of the top layer of hot dog for each line. On either side of that, I did just two curved lines for the smaller knuckles near the top and at the very bottom of each finger.
Once your hot dog finger looks the way you want it, boil it for 4-5 minutes (this will make the lines you carved stand out even more), stick it in a bun and strategically squirt on some ketchup.
Strawberry ghosts
Delicious chocolate-covered strawberries get a spooky upgrade for Halloween
Instructions: These aren't too different from making normal chocolate-covered strawberries, with just a little extra decoration.
Start by melting some white chocolate chips to dip your strawberries in. The safest way is in a double-boiler, but you can also use the microwave as long as you're careful and only heat it a little bit at a time. You can also add a little oil to the chocolate if you'd like to thin it out slightly, making the strawberries easier to dip, but it's not necessary.
Dip each strawberry, then place on a tray covered in wax paper. After you set it down, pull it back slightly to create the ghost tail.
I used mini chocolate chips for my ghosts' eyes and squeezable chocolate frosting for drawing on the mouth. You could also use melted chocolate chips in a piping bag for either or both.
If you're using mini chocolate chips, make sure to put them on right after you dip each strawberry so that the chocolate doesn't start to harden.
Hand-shaped ice
A creative and creepy way to keep your punch cold
Instructions: This may be the easiest one on the list but is arguably also one of the most effective.
If you're going to have a bowl of punch out, you also need a way to keep it cold. So why not make your ice Halloween-themed as well?
To get a giant hand that you can have floating in your drinks, just fill a rubber glove up with water, tie it tight and place it flat in the freezer. After it's frozen solid (it'll take awhile so make sure you give it plenty of time), carefully cut and peel the glove off the ice and then drop it in!
An extra bonus is that the giant-sized ice cube will melt slower than a bunch of small ice cubes so it'll take longer to water down your punch.
Bloody band-aid cookies
Adding a little decoration to store-bought cookies turns them into something disgusting on the surface. Perfect for Halloween!
Instructions: Start with white or vanilla wafer cookies from the grocery story.
To make the padding of the band-aid a squeezable vanilla frosting works well and is easy to work with. Seedless raspberry jam is the perfect color for the drop of blood left behind on the band-aid. Put some jam in a squeezable bottle, if you have one, and squeeze a drop onto each cookie. If you don't have a bottle, a small spoon or toothpick would probably work as well.
Adding some real band-aids to the serving tray helps to complete the effect.
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