Get into the spirit of Halloween with a neighborhood party to cap a night of trick-or-treating.
For your trick-or-treat drop-in party this Halloween, serve a little something for everyone, an orange witch’s brew punch, finger sandwiches, homemade caramel corn, festive banana bites and pumpkin cookies that the children can help you decorate.
Orange Witch’s Brew
Makes 4 quarts
- 1 14-ounce can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
- 1 46-ounce can pineapple juice, chilled
- 1 2-liter bottle orange soda, chilled
- Orange sherbet
In a punch bowl (or large plastic jack-o-lantern or plastic witch’s cauldron) stir together Eagle brand milk and pineapple juice. Add orange soda and stir
Top with scoops of sherbet and serve over ice.
For a fun, Halloween effect, make ice cubes for your punch by placing a small plastic spider in the center of each ice cube.
Finger Sandwiches
Cut the crusts off of thin slices of pumpernickel bread. Spread all bread slices with cream cheese. On half of the slices, sprinkle with shredded carrot, green onion slices and finely chopped red pepper. Top with another slice of cream cheese bread and press together. Cut into triangles or cut out with a pumpkin cookie cutter or other Halloween shape.
Caramel Corn
- 8 cups popped popcorn
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup butter
- 6 tablespoons dark corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place popcorn in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. In a medium pot, heat brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt until it simmers, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add baking soda and stir. Pour mixture over popped popcorn, and stir until coated well. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
Banana Bites
Cut bananas into thick slices. Using a toothpick, dip each banana slice into melted chocolate. Tap lightly to allow excess chocolate to drip off. Dip the chocolate-covered banana slice into orange sprinkles to cover. Allow to chill before serving.
Pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern Cookies
- ½ cup butter
- 1½ cups packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2½ cups sifted flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- Butter cream frosting
- Orange food coloring
- Candy corn pieces
Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in pumpkin, vanilla and lemon juice. Sift flour with baking powder, salt and spices. Blend into butter mixture. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes. To decorate, spread cookies with your favorite butter cream frosting to which you’ve added orange food coloring. Place candy corn pieces on top of frosted cookies to make jack-o-lantern faces.
