Halloween began as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, when the Celts believed spirits of the dead returned to earth.

Halloween, celebrated each year on October 31, is a mix of ancient Celtic practices, Catholic  and Roman religious rituals and European folk traditions that blended together over time to create the holiday we know today. Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. Halloween has long been thought of as a day when the dead can return to the earth, and ancient Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off these roaming ghosts.

The Celtic holiday of Samhain, the Catholic Hallowmas period of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day and the Roman festival of Feralia all influenced the modern holiday of Halloween. In the 19th century, Halloween began to lose its religious connotation, becoming a more secular community-based children's holiday. Although the superstitions and beliefs surrounding Halloween may have evolved over the years, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people can still look forward to parades, costumes and sweet treats to usher in the winter season.


Fun Halloween Recipes

Eyeball Candy



Ingredients

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
12 ounces white chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons shortening
2 drops blue food coloring
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
red food coloring (optional)

Directions

1. Beat the peanut butter and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the sugar and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll chilled dough into small, eyeball-sized balls and place on 2 baking sheets lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes.

2. Melt the white chocolate and shortening in a microwave-safe glass or ceramic bowl in 30-second intervals, stirring after each melting, for 1 to 3 minutes (depending on your microwave). Do not overheat or chocolate will scorch. Dip each eyeball into the white chocolate and transfer to the waxed paper until the chocolate has set. You can chill them in the refrigerator.

3. Stir a few drops of blue food coloring into the remaining melted white chocolate. Make a round "iris" on the top of the cooled eyeball and press a mini chocolate chip in the center for a "pupil." For an extra spooky bloodshot eyeballs take a toothpick dipped in red food coloring and make squiggly lines on the eye.




Skeleton Bone Cookies



36 Servings/ Prep: 45 min. Bake: 10 min./batch + cooling
Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons 2% milk

Directions

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. gingerbread boy cookie cutter. Place on greased baking sheets.

Bake at 375° for 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool for 1 minute before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For icing, in a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Cut a small hole in the corner of a resealable plastic bag; fill with icing. Pipe skeleton bones on cookies. Yield: 3 dozen.


Witch Finger Cookies


Makes about 5 dozen witch fingers
Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup icing sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup whole blanched almonds
1 tube red decorator gel

In bowl beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla; beat in flour; baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Working with one-quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remaining dough refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoons full of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press an almond firmly into one end for nail.

Squeeze in center to create knuckle shape. Using a paring knife make slashes in several places to form knuckle. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet in 325 degree over for 20-25 minutes or until pale or golden. Let cool for three minutes.

Lift up almond; squeeze red decorator gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place so gel oozes out from underneath. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool. Repeat with remaining dough.



Pumpkin Bread



Makes 2 loaves
Ingredients

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
3 cups sugar
4 eggs beaten
2 cups of fresh pumpkin
1/2 cup water
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine flour, soda, salt cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs, water, oil and pumpkin. Stir until blended. Add nuts. Mix well. Pour into two 9x5" loaf tins. Bake for one hour. Cool slightly and take out of tins to let cool on a rack. This tastes best if you wrap and refrigerate it and wait a day to eat it. It keeps well in the refrigerator and can be frozen.



Night crawlers



Ingredients

12 large apples
Boysenberry jam
4 tbsp butter
12 gummy worms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Core apples from stem end to * inch from bottom. Stuff each hole with 1 tsp jam and butter. Place in a pan and bake uncovered for 35-45 minutes. Remove apples let stand for 15 minutes. Set each apple in a bowl and spoon syrup from baking pan around it. Insert a gummy worm with half its body protruding.



Creepy Spiders Candy



4 cups semi-sweet chocolate baking chips

Melt chocolate chips in top of double boiler. Let stand over the water until water is cool, about 10 minutes. Place wax paper on cookie sheet. Pour chocolate into a pastry bag that is fitted with a 1/8-inch or 1/4-inch tip. Squeeze chocolate onto wax paper in the shape of spiders. If chocolate is runny it needs to be cooled longer. Chill the spiders for about 10 minutes. When hard peel off wax paper. Store in refrigerator laid flat.



Vampire Punch



Makes 14 cups
Ingredients

8 cups cranberry juice
6 cups sparkling apple cider
6 orange slices

Put all ingredients in a punch bowl. Add floating hand ice cubes just before serving.



Witches' Brew



Ingredients

4 cups cranberry juice
4 cups apple juice
1 cup chopped candied ginger
3 oranges
2 large bottles ginger ale
2 cups grapes

In your "cauldron," bring one cup of cranberry juice and candied ginger to the boil over a high heat. Boil, uncovered, for about two minutes and set aside.

With a vegetable peeler, peel the zest from the oranges and cut the peel into thin 2-inch-long worms. Add the peel to the cranberry mixture. Cover and chill for at least four hours or overnight.

Juice the oranges and put juice into a large pan or heavy bowl. Sir in the cranberry-ginger mix, the remaining 3 cups of cranberry juice, apple juice and grapes. Cover and chill for up to two hours.



Floating Hands

Make the punch of your choice. Fill washed & clean plastic or latex gloves with the punch. Tie off the top of each glove tightly with rubber bands. Freeze completely. Add the floating hands to your Halloween punch for a cool effect.