You Will Need
Halloween cookie cutters: BOO, EEK and ghost shapes Tube of black icing gel, to outline BOO and EEK cookies and add features to ghosts
Orange and black paste food colors to color dough

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• Egg yolk for solid orange cookies

What to Do

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. Add baking powder and then flour one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be very stiff. Blend last flour in by hand. (If necessary add a little water to dough if crumbly.) Do not chill dough.
4. Divide dough into three balls. Set one aside and leave uncolored. Knead or mix orange food color in the second ball and black food color into the third. Cover each ball with plastic wrap and keep covered when not working with it.
5. For all cookies, roll dough slightly thinner than the cutter.
6. To make uncolored cookies, roll dough and cut various shapes.
7. To make striped cookies, roll sections of colored and uncolored dough together, side by side, and then cut out cookies. (They will look like the orange, black and white BOO and EEK cookies in photo, above.)
8. For the orange BOO and EEK cookies, use uncolored dough. After cutting out shapes, mix orange food color with egg yolk and “paint” cookies with pastry brush before baking.
9. Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack. Recipe makes 3-4 dozen cookies.
10. To decorate BOO and EEK cookies, outline baked cookies with black icing gel as shown in photo.
11. For ghost cookies, leave uncolored and add features with black icing gel or color white with Royal Icing made as follows:3 egg whites, 1 pound confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar. Beat all ingredients at high speed for 7 to 10 minutes or until icing forms stiff peaks. To thin, add 3 to 4 tablespoons water, a small amount at a time until icing is the consistency of heavy cream.

“Paint” icing on ghost shapes with a pastry brush.

Recipe will ice 2 dozen cookies.

Author Notes:

This is a wonderful example of how to make an ordinary food festive, with just a little imagination. Kids just love these, but you might be surprised at how much big kids like them too!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds ground beef
(you could also use veggie burgers)
6 slices cheese
red or green bell peppers
pitted olives
6 lettuce leaves
6 hamburger buns, split

Instructions:

Serves 6 Kids (4 adults)

Cut cheese, olives and bell peppers into desired shapes. A metal cookie cutter works well for the cheese. If you find it sticks, coat the cutter with vegetable oil first.

Lightly shape ground beef into six 1/2″-thick patties (or 4 larger patties). Choose a cooking method.

To broil, place patties on rack in broiler pan so surface of beef is 3 to 4″ from heat. Broil 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are no longer pink, turning once.

To panbroil, place patties in preheated nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are no longer pink, turning once.
Season with salt and pepper, if desired, after turning. During last few minutes of cooking, top with cheese, bell peppers and olives to make faces. Serve in lettuce-lined buns.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• salt
• 1 (12 ounce) package white chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup multicolored candy sprinkles (jimmies), as desired
• add to recipe box Add to Recipe Box
• add to shopping list Add to Shopping List
• Customize Recipe
• add a personal note Add a Personal Note

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease or line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter in a mixing bowl until light colored and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Add food coloring, if desired. Gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar, flour, and salt to make a smooth dough.
3. Place dough into cookie press cylinder fitted with 1 inch sawtooth ribbon disk. Press dough into long strips on prepared cookie sheets. Use a paring knife dipped into flour to score the strips every two inches.
4. Bake in preheated oven until edges are slightly golden, about 6 minutes. Remove from oven, cool slightly, and cut along score lines while they are still warm. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt white chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler placed over medium heat, or in the microwave. Add food coloring, if desired. Spread white chocolate icing on the bottom of one cookie and place the bottom of a second cookie into the icing to form a sandwich. Place cookie sandwich onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat to assemble remaining cookies, and refrigerate on the baking sheet 10 minutes to set icing. Remove and dip ends of cookies into white chocolate, then into candy sprinkles. Place cookies on wax paper until white chocolate is set.

Prep Time: :
Cook Time: :
Ingredients:

• Ritz Crackers
• creamy peanut butter
• white chocolate, melted
• orange sprinkles or multicolored Halloween sprinkles

Preparation:
Take Ritz Crackers and make sandwich cookies out of them using peanut butter for the filling. Then coat each one in melted white chocolate or almond bark. Place on wax paper. Put some orange sprinkles on top and put in the refrigerator to cool and set.
Store in air-tight container for up to one week.

What You’ll Need

• Make this unique glowing
• Make this unique glowing “window”
• for your Halloween celebration.
• 35 x 231/4-inch chalkboard
• 3-inch wood star
• 2 wood strips, 1 inch wide: 36 inches long, 24 inches long
• Acrylic paint: purple, white, orange, glow-in-the-dark
• Paintbrush
• Two wood picket fences, 9 x 5 inches each
• 2 wood pumpkins, 4 inches each
• Glow-in-the-dark items: stars, moon, snakes, insects, lizards, etc.
• Iridescent purple glitter glue
• Tacky craft glue
• Sheet green craft foam
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Green moss
• 10 wood autumn leaves
• Hot glue gun, glue sticks
• Ultra-thin wire or nylon
• 2 yards black tulle
• Orange raffia

1. Paint chalkboard frame, wood star, and wood strips purple. Paint fences white and pumpkins orange. When dry, paint a coat of glow-in-the-dark paint on fences and pumpkins.

Outline shapes with purple glitter glue.

2. Outline glow stars, moon, and wood star with purple glitter glue; let dry. Use purple glitter glue to make squiggly lines on wood strips and around chalkboard frame. Let dry.

Crisscross the wood strips slightly askew on the chalkboard.

3. Place wood strips in crisscross on chalkboard, placing them slightly askew. Glue star on top of where strips intersect.

Cut the green foam strips with a jagged edge as shown.

4. Cut foam into 21/2-inch strips. Cut a jagged edge on each strip to look like scary grass. Glue grass along bottom, above frame. Glue fence and pumpkins to bottom of window. Glue moss to front bottom of each fence, and glue leaves on top of moss.

5. Glue stars and moon to chalkboard. Glue snakes, bugs, and creatures around window. With thin wire, hang a few snakes and lizards in random heights from top of window.

Tie the raffia at the sides to finish the creepy curtain for your window.

6. Loosely twist and glue black tulle on each top corner of frame. Tie raffia at each corner and along sides. Your spooky window scene is ready to hang.

What You’ll Need

• 26 inches purple felt (from bolt)
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Hot glue gun, glue sticks
• 10-inch-diameter cardboard circle
• 151/2-inch tall foam cone, 16-inch base
• Glitter glue: iridescent purple, gold
• Paintbrush
• 20 yellow wood stars, 1 inch each
• 3 yellow wood stars, 2 inches each
• Small plastic snakes
• 1 yard black maribou
• 32 inches gold ribbon, 3/8 inch wide
• 11/2 yards sheer gold ribbon, 11/2 inches wide

1. Cut a 10-inch square from felt; glue felt to cardboard circle for brim. Trim. Cut a piece of felt tall enough and wide enough to fit cone. Wrap and glue felt to cone, trimming top and bottom of felt if necessary.

Wrap and glue the felt to the cone.

2. With iridescent purple glitter glue, paint circles on hat and brim. Let dry. Outline circles with gold glitter glue. Glue cone to middle of brim.

Outline the purple circles you painted with the gold glitter glue.

3. Paint 1 side of all stars with gold glitter glue; let dry. Glue small stars and small snakes around hat and brim (leave bottom 4 inches of cone free of snakes and stars).

4. Glue maribou around outside edge of brim. Cut 3/8-inch ribbon in half, and tie pieces together in middle (ends don’t have to be even). Glue ribbon knot to top of hat. Cut ribbon ends on a diagonal.

Glue the star to the tip of the wizard’s hat.

5. Glue a 2-inch star to top front of hat. Wrap sheer gold ribbon loosely 3 times around base, and make a loose knot in front. Glue a large star to each ribbon end, and wind ribbon ends around hat once more, bringing stars to front. Your wizard’s hat is now ready to adorn your Halloween table!

What You’ll Need

73/4-inch glass ceiling globe fixture with base
Assorted removable star stickers
Glass frost spray
Acrylic paint: light blue, yellow, purple, teal
Small paintbrush
Adhesive-backed craft foam stars
Silver glitter spray
2mm craft foam
Ruler
Scissors
Stapler, staples
3 party glow sticks

1. Remove glass globe from base. Place stickers randomly over outside of globe. Following directions on can of frost spray, spray a light, even coat of frost over entire globe. Let dry.

Evenly apply the glass frost spray to the globe.

2. Remove star stickers. (If stickers don’t come off easily, use a blow dryer to warm them. They should come off easily.)

Using the small paintbrush, paint dots around each star.

3. Using handle end of small paintbrush, dip end into paint and dot around each star; let dry.

Spray the base with the glitter spray and allow it to dry.

4. Attach foam stars around edge of base. Spray base with glitter spray; let dry.

Group the activated glow sticks together and push them through the hole in the base.

5. Place globe on base, using provided screws. Cut a 11/4 x 7-inch strip of craft foam. Create a ring, with a 21/2-inch overlap, and staple shut. Activate 3 glow sticks according to package directions right before party starts. Cluster sticks together, and slide foam ring over sticks until just above base of sticks. Push glow sticks through hole in base. (The foam protects sticks from metal’s sharp edge and keeps them secure.) Replenish with fresh glow sticks as needed.

Horrifying Hint: You can also use a small flashlight to light your crystal ball by standing flashlight on end. Wrap the flashlight in foam to keep it snug inside the hole.

Next, we’ll show you how to make another wicked Halloween centerpiece — a wizard’s hat. Go to the next page for the step-by-step directions and the materials you will need.

Which is why we concocted this Halloween party, one that no ghoul or goblin will ever forget. So round up your little creeps, dim the lights and join in this frightfest that will leave everyone howling with delight.

CRAFTS
Spooky Bats
Slinky Spiders
Spider Pops

ACTIVITIES
Grab the Ghost
A Gift from Mummy
Meet Mr. Kreeps
Witch’s Stew

FOOD
Creepy Cupcakes
Worms on a Bun
Putrid Punch

Green Pumpkins
Great idea! Carve green peppers as jack-o-lanterns! You can have a whole row of them, and there are yellow and red peppers to try as well. Have a whole army of scary faces to greet goblins at your door. They will never recover from the fright!

Ghosties
Crumple up a piece of tissue paper into a ball. Place it into the center of a flat piece of tissue paper. Pick up the corners of the flat tissue and twist it around the ball. Tie a twist tie or a piece of string around the ghosts’s neck. Draw a face with a felt pen. You can hang them up all over the house! You can also glue on yarn, and make a black hat and cape from colored paper to make a witch!

Wicked, wicked witch
1. Cut the top off of a cardboard milk carton and discard.
2. Cover the carton with black construction paper and tape at the back.
3. Cut a strip of white paper 3 inches wide and tape around the top over the black paper.
4. Draw a scary witch’s face on the white paper. Glue on some yarn for the hair.
5. Make a cone-shaped witch’s hat with black paper and glue to the top.
6. Cut out arms and hands from white paper. Cut out feet from black paper. Tape them to the witch.
7. Glue a popsickle stick to one of the witch’s hands.
8. Cut out two small pieces of yellow paper and cut a fringe on the bottom. Glue one on each side of the end of the popsickle stick for the broom.
9. You can give these to your friends if you are having a Halloween party!

Bobbing Ghosts
Start with a piece of cheesecloth 2 yards long and 1 yard wide. Place a helium filled balloon (white is best) in the middle of the fabric and gather loosely around balloon. Draw a horrid mask on the cloth with a felt pen. You can put some ghosts in a box and when people open the box the ghosts will float up and scare everyone! Or, you can place them on string in front of an open window or a fan and watch them gently move in the breeze.

Icky Cobwebs
Cut some string into 4 foot lengths and tape them to the ceiling. You should have a very dim room for this. Just before the victim arrives you can hold a bowl of water up to the string and get it wet. When people walk in the wet, slimy string will brush across their foreheads and scare them!

Body Parts
This is a good decoration for a dimly lit room at party time. Have several bowls of body parts displayed to horrify your friends. Cut up a bunch of hot dogs lenghwise for severed fingers.Cook some spaghetti noodles and add some red and blue food coloring for veins. A bunch of cocktail onions rolling around in a bowl looks like eyeballs. Fill a red balloon with warm water and spread it with strawberry jam. Invite your guests to touch your brain!

Body Parts
This is a good decoration for a dimly lit room at party time. Have several bowls of body parts displayed to horrify your friends. Cut up a bunch of hot dogs lenghwise for severed fingers.Cook some spaghetti noodles and add some red and blue food coloring for veins. A bunch of cocktail onions rolling around in a bowl looks like eyeballs. Fill a red balloon with warm water and spread it with strawberry jam. Invite your guests to touch your brain!

Crunching Bones Underfoot
Spread some dried bread and pretzels under a rug. When your guests walk across the rug it will sound like crunching bones underfoot!

Sound Effects
You can record several scary sounds and play it back during the festivities. A very large sheet of poster board or sheet metal makes great thunder. Uncooked rice poured onto a cookie sheet sounds like rain. Crinkle a handful of cellophane for a roaring fire. To get a good scream you can, well — scream. Snap carrots in half for the sound of breaking bones. Flap a plastic bag in front of the microphone for thesound of bats. Slowly blow bubbles with a straw into a bowl for that bog sound. Hunt around your house and the garden to find a squeaky hinge somewhere and tape it before someone gets to it with a can of oil.

Lighting
When you have everything so dimly lit it’s a good idea to have some reflective tape over the Exits. A black light bulb is always a good effect, especially if you are dressed as a skeleton!