For kids Halloween is all about the candy and the costume, but once you hit a certain point, your costume falls down in rank to some of the more important things. Your older body just can’t handle that special prostitute outfit as well as it used to, and your taste for candy fades when the sugar starts to give you a headache. Halloween for many like me is a warm up of sorts for Thanksgiving. There are many traditional foods (most of them falling under the “treats” category) for Halloween participants to enjoy, many of which get neglected because candy is so easy to come by. Halloween is all about the food, and to celebrate this we have determined our favorites (listed in order best to worst below), how to make them, and why they are just so good to eat.

I’m going to try and stay away from candy in general because there is trash bags full just waiting to be picked up, but some Halloween treats, like Candy Corn, just can’t be ignored. And hey, give me a break; candy apples are not considered candy. They are a fruit!

Candy Apples
Candy apples have always been popular around Halloween as a celebration of the annual apple harvest. They are usually rolled in something like caramel and then rolled in nuts creating a yummy candy outside with the healthy apple in the center. These are my favorite Halloween treat, and the kids love them too, even though it is mostly fruit (still has the word candy in it). Just as a warning from my own personal experience these should be avoided if you have braces.

This makes about 10 apples.

Step One: Making Candy Apples also happens to be extremely simple. First,
- gather these ingredients.
- 3/4 cup water
- Apples (your favorite kind)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. Vanilla extract (can be optional but highly recommended)
- 1/2 cup light corn syrup
- 5 drops red food coloring (or black if you are going for a more spooky Halloween look)
- 1/2 cup red cinnamon candies, like Red Hots
- Popsicle sticks
- spoons to stir with
- saucepans
- greased baking sheets
Step Two: Next, wash all the apples making sure to remove the stem and then dry with a towel.
Step Three: Push the Popsicle sticks into the apple (the hole where the stem used to be works best) making a nice handle for our apples.
Step Four: Mix sugar, water, and corn syrup in the saucepan and set the burner to medium heat. Continue to stir the mixture until all the sugar has dissolved.
Step Five: Continue to cook mixture for 30 minutes, or until it reaches around 250 degrees. Then add the vanilla, food coloring, and red hots. Stir the new ingredients in and make sure the mixture is the right consistency. A drop should instantly turn hard when you put it in water.
Step Six: Remove from heat and stir until you get a smooth consistency.
Step Seven: Dip apples in mixture and then roll in peanuts. Sit aside on greased baking sheets for 15 minutes or until apples are room temperature.
Thats it! Now you have yourself a full set of apples everyone can enjoy. This recipe is easly modified to your liking. Some people like to use actual cinnamon instead of the candy, and really I like it either way.

Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkins are one of those vegetables people spend more time smashing and decorating than cooking and eating, but this is really a shame. I love a great Jack-o-lantern just like anyone, but perhaps if we spent more time cooking and eating the large orange strange looking things we would have more food in the world today that used the great pumpkin.
I really just love pumpkin pie, and I can’t get enough. Why don’t we have pumpkin cereal, pumpkin milk; we came up with pumpkin beer! Pumpkin gasoline and pumpkin fabric can’t be that far off. All hail the grand pumpkin and it’s tasty pie!
Before we get started making a pumpkin pie I want to warn you that my pumpkin pie recipe is easy, and doesn’t taste as good as if you had made it using a fresh pumpkin. If you want to make it with a fresh pumpkin, I suggest the fantastic detailed instructions at http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/pumpkinpie.php.
This makes 1 deep dish pumpkin pie.
Step One: Gather the following ingredients:
1 unbaked deep dish pie crust (any brand will do)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 can Pumpkin (15 ounce)
1 can Evaporated Milk (12 fluid ounce)
large bowl

Step two: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Step three: Combine salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, pumpkin, sugar and eggs in the bowl. Then slowly add the milk, stirring as you go.
Step four: Pour combined mixture into pie crust.
Step Five: Bake for 14 minutes, then reduce temperature to 345 degrees. Back for another 30 – 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Step Six: Let cool for two hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Candy Corn
This one is hard for me, because I really don’t like candy corn. I know that many people do, and every year over 9 billion candy corns are consumed (from http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/candy-corn.htm), but I just don’t, and so I am never going to spend the time to learn how to make the treat. I do however know of a drink, or a shot rather, that all the local bars love to serve up this time of year. It is called the Candy Corn (more because of the look than the taste).

- 1 part Licor 43® liqueur
- 1 part Orange Curacao liqueur
- 1 part cream

Layer each liqueur on top of each other to resemble Candy Corn. First the Licor 43, then the orange Curacao, then the cream on top to finish it off. If drinking isn’t really your thing (which I don’t blame you) there is always this fantastic make your own Candy Corn recipe at http://theurbanhousewife.blogspot.com/2007/09/
homemade-vegan-candy-corn-happy.html.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
The best thing about getting a pumpkin and turning it into some kind of art on your front porch is that you get a massive amount of large seeds, which you can roast in the oven and eat for weeks. There is nothing like their spicy taste, and they are rich in fiber!

Making them is easy.

Step One: Take out seeds from pumpkin and clean.
Step Two: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Step Three: Toss seeds in a bowl with melted butter. Add seasonings like salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and Cajun.
Step Four : Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown, stirring a few times before they are done.

It is that simple and everyone will love them.

Enjoy Halloween! (editors note: if you do in fact want to fit into a prostitute outfit this next Halloween, perhaps you should not eat anything above, except maybe the pumpkin seeds. Those might help.)

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