Can you create a Halloween menu for fifty people?

Answer 1

Awful Arachnids
Eerie Eyeballs
Freaky Witches' Fingers
Brittle Merangue Bones - new!
Savory Brain Shrimp Spread - new!
Thick Sugar Cookies
Professional Buttercream Frosting
Pumpkin Pie
Salami and Cream Cheese Wraps
Jack O'Lantern Cheese and Crackers
Tricky Crab Triangles
Spooky Sandwiches
Creepy Crispy Crunchies
Deviled Eggs
Decayed Corpse Chips with Entrail Salsa
Spicy Bat Wings
Dried Cherry Scabs
Tooth Decay Fodder
Oddly Orange Oreos
Witches' Brew (alcoholic)
Haunted Human Heart




And now for the recipes...




Edible Spiders

These are very fragile, but enough stayed intact to give the desired effect...I used a deocrating tube to pipe the icing into spider shapes on waxed paper. They are made from Royal Icing, which needs to be used right away since it hardens to a rocklike texture very quickly!

Royal Icing
16 oz powdered sugar (icing sugar)
3 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Beat until peaks firmly hold their shape, and the more you beat it, the firmer it gets.

I only made a third of this recipe and I still had tons of icing left over after making two dozen spiders. I used black paste food coloring to get it as dark as I could...




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Eerie Eyeballs

Yields approximately 9 dozen bite-sized eyeballs

3 oz lemon gelatin (can be sugar-free)
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup pineapple juice
8 oz cream cheese (can be lowfat/Neufchatel)
1 cup mayonnaise (can be fat-free)

Dissolve lemon gelatin in 1 cup water in double boiler, add marshmallows and stir to melt. Remove from heat. Add pineapple juice and cream cheese. Beat until well blended. Cool slightly. Fold in mayo. If you have a truffle candy mold or round ice cube trays, pour the mixture in the molds and leave to set in the fridge. Otherwise pour into a deep ceramic dish and chill until thickened or firm enough for scooping into eyeballs. Using a melonballer, scoop full balls of the mixture and set aside for decoration. To decorate, use liquid food coloring and an old detail paintbrush and get creative. You will need black food coloring for the pupils. Also, if you are in a hurry, instead of painting the colored irises, you can carefully dip the ball in a small pool of food coloring to approximate the iris, but still paint on the pupils.

For 1999, I found rubber ice cube trays that worked beautifully with much less waste than the melonballer technique. I sprayed the rubber trays with non-stick cooking spray beforehand like you would any gelatin mold, let the gelatin mixture sit in the refrigerator to set, then I was able to carefully pop the eyeballs out to paint them. Some of the eyeballs did break, and they do have one flat side, but that actually works, since then they don't roll around while you are trying to paint them. Since 2001 I have found that Wilton truffle candy molds are even better, since the swirl design on the top is the right size for the cornea shape on the eyeball. When using the truffle molds, one recipe makes about 9 dozen eyeballs - plenty for a party crowd!


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I found this recipe on the Searchable Online Archive of Recipes...

Creepy Witches' Fingers

Yield: 5 dozen

1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Icing sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Almond extract
1 tsp Vanilla
2 2/3 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Almonds, whole blanched
1 Tube red decorator gel
(optional, not pictured)

Gross everyone out with these creepy cookies.
In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla. Beat in flour, baking soda, and salt. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Working with one quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remainder refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoonful of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press almond firmly into 1 end for nail. Squeeze in centre to create knuckle shape. (Accompanying picture showed long rolled shape with bulge at centre for knuckle; you puff it out rather than squeeze it in.) Using paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle.

Place on lightly greased baking sheets; bake in 325F (160C) oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for 3 minutes. Lift up almond, squeeze red decorator gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place, so gel oozes out from underneath. You can also make slashes in the finger and fill them with "blood."
(ed. note - I opted not to go for the bloody effect as you can see in my picture above, and my guests were still grossed out! - Britta)

Remove from baking sheets and let cool on racks. Repeat with remaining dough.

(Collected by Bert Christensen, Toronto, Ontario)


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Brittle Merangue Bones

3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line cookie sheet with brown paper bag or parchment. In a medium sized bowl at high speed, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt till fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Add vanilla. Place in pastry bag fitted with a medium plain piping tip. Pipe 3" bone shapes onto parchment or brown paper bag. Bake 1 hour until set. Turn off oven, dry in oven 1 hour. Makes 4 to 5 dozen small bones.


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Savory Brain Shrimp Spread

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 (.25-ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin, softened in 1/4 cup water
1 bunch green onions, chopped
3 pounds cooked shrimp, coarsely chopped
(or 1 pound crab meat)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
Tabasco or creole seasoning to taste

Heat soup, undiluted, and mix in the cream cheese. Stir in softened gelatin and blend well. Fold in remaining ingredients and pour into a lightly-oiled mold. Chill until firm and serve with your favorite crackers.

(I originally found this recipe for MardiGras 2000, which was quite yummy. When I got a brain mold for my birthday - can you tell my friends know I love Halloween? - I started thinking of what I could use for making a brain. Since the brain mold is only about 3 cups, I halved this recipe except for the amount of gelatin, left out the green onions, and finely chopped the shrimp into more of a paste for the sake of making it look more smooth-textured like a real brain.)


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Thick Sugar Cookies

2 cups margarine or butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. milk

Divide dough in half (or sixths). Chill 1 hour. Roll out half of dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Use greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit/190 degress Celsius for 12 minutes. These can be frosted. Makes about 5-6 dozen standard-sized cookie cutter shapes.


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This was the frosting used on the sugar cookies for 1998...
(...also on the gingerbread cottage...)

Kathy Henricks' Buttercream Frosting

1 1/4 cup Crisco shortening (only use Crisco)
2 lbs. powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp Karo light corn syrup
1 tsp butter flavoring
1 tsp vanilla

Beat 5 to 10 minutes with a power mixer until very smooth. Water down a small amount for a crumb coat if frosting a cake. After 20 minutes (when set), frost with remainder of frosting. When set, use paper towel or typing paper to set desired surface texture. This is fluffy enough to frost easily, yet stiff enough for keeping its shape for decorating.


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Pumpkin Pie

2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 1 lb. can pumpkin(2 cups)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cloves
1 2/3 cups evap. milk(1 can)
1/2 tsp. allspice

One 9 inch pie crust, slightly cooked. (or 10 1/2 inch). Bake in hot oven (425 degrees) for 15 minutes. Keep oven door closed and reduce temp to moderate (350 degrees F/180 degress Celsuis) and continue baking for 45 minutes or until table knife inserted in center of pie comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. May be eaten cold or at room temperature and can serve with whipped cream.


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Salami and Cream Cheese Wraps

miniature sweet pickles
cream cheese
sliced salami
toothpicks

Cut the miniature pickles into fourths lengthwise, so that the pickle slices are still roughly the same length as the salami slices. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on a slice of salami, wrap around a pickle slice and close with a toothpick.


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Jack-O-Lantern Cheese and Crackers

your choice of cracker (Ritz is pictured)
orange cheese, preferably already sliced
a contrasting layer (I used white cheese slices)

Cut the slices of cheese into cracker-sized squares. Cut the orange cheese into jack-o-lantern shapes by hand, or use a miniature cookie cutter if you're lucky (I wasn't lucky, so I cut all of these by hand). Lay the contrasting layer on the cracker, then top with the jack-o-lantern slice.

For 1999, I used a cookie stamp on melted American cheese while it was cooling in a flat cookie sheet. After it cooled thoroughly, I trimmed away the edges and had what you see above with the purple background.


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Tricky Crab Triangles

one stick (1/2 cup) melted butter
one 6 1/2 oz can crab meat
1 small jar (approximately 5 oz) Kraft Old English cheese
1/2 cup mayo 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
one package split English muffins

Combine first 5 ingredients, spread on muffins, put on cookie sheet and freeze. When frozen, cut into triangles (eighths). Put in plastic bag, return to freezer. When ready to use, put under broiler until bubbly.
(as you can see, these really aren't so tricky)



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Spooky Sandwiches

sliced bread of your choice
sandwich filling of your choice
condiments of your choice
Halloween cookie cutters

Make your sandwiches however you'd like, but try to have ingredients that will stick together and not fall apart after the sandwiches have been cut. The metal cookie cutters work best, since not all the plastic ones are as tall to cut through all the bread and fillings.

For 1999 I used turkey and cheddar cheese, ham and swiss cheese (with just a little mayonnaise to moisten the bread), and herbed cheese spreads for my variety of sandwiches. I used a pumpkin cookie cutter for the ones shown above.


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Creepy Crispy Crunchies

3 Tbsp margarine
4 cups miniature marshmallows
(or 10 oz large marshmallows, about 40)
6 cups rice crispy cereal
orange and brown Halloween M&Ms (about 6oz)

Melt margarine in a large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add cereal and stir until well coated. Add the candy and mix until candy is evenly mixed. Spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with waxed paper. Using a buttered spatula or waxed paper, press the mixture evenly into a 9x13" pan. Cut into squares when cool.

For 2000, since I got a jack-o-lantern lollipop pan for my birthday, I made the KrispyPops pictured above instead...


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Deviled Eggs

hardboiled eggs
mustard (can even be dijon or other flavored mustards if you like)
mayonnaise

To hardboil the eggs, put the eggs in a large saucepan, and fill with water until the eggs are fully covered. Put the full pan on the stove and bring to a boil over meduim heat. As soon as it reaches a rolling boil, remove from heat, still covered, and let stand covered for 20 minutes. As soon as the 20 minutes is up, run cool water over the eggs so they stop cooking. Once cool, refrigerate until ready to use.

Peel the hardboiled eggs and slice in half lengthwise. Gently pop out the yolks into a separate bowl. Once all the yolks are in the same bowl, add some mustard and a little mayonnaise to taste just so the mixture sticks together. Blend with a fork, then put the yolk mixture back in the hollows of the egg halves. Refrigerate until ready to serve.


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Decayed Corpse Chips with Entrail Salsa

blue corn tortilla chips
coffin
salsa

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a creative display. Arrange the blue corn chips in a coffin in the shape of a long-dead corpse. The natural blue corn chips have almost a dusky shade of brown in them that hints of decayed skin. Serve with a nice blood-red chunky salsa as accompanying entrails.

For 1999 I got more elaborate. I found a larger coffin that happened to fit a rubber skeleton I have had for years. I lined the coffin with crushed velvet, propped up the skeleton, arranged the chips around him, and set the crystal bowl of "entrails" between his calves...yummm...

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Spicy Bat Wings

barbecue chicken wings (buffalo wings)

This is another creative description of a familiar dish. Since I am not one for extremely spicy food, I got honey BBQ wings, but they sure are yummy...


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Dried Cherry Scabs

dried cherries
(could adapt and use dried currants or dried cranberries)

Yes, another nasty name for an otherwise mediocre dried fruit...but call them "scabs" and all of a sudden no one will eat them!


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Tooth Decay Fodder

assorted candy

This is my attempt to make even one of the best parts of Halloween scary by naming it with the possible consequences of overindulgence...bwah-ha-ha-ha...!


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Oddly Orange Oreos

Halloween Oreos (orange cream filling vs. the standard white)

I usually don't have any purchased cookies around, but I couldn't pass these up when I saw them...


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Witches' Brew (1998)

500 ml (5 parts) Midori
800 ml (8 parts) vodka
2 liters (20 parts) ginger ale
200 ml (2 parts) water

(or)

Witches' Brew (2000)

(this one pretty much fills a 12-quart cauldron)

four 48 oz cans pineapple juice
one 96 oz bottle orange juice
four 2 liter bottles lemon-lime soda
one 1.75 liter bottle vodka
one 1.75 liter bottle rum

All measurements are approximate. Adjust to your own taste.
Mix well. Pour into your cauldron, preferably with chunks of dry ice to create the bubbling steam effect.
(Be careful NOT to drink or eat or in any way come in direct contact with skin with any chunks of dry ice -
you can get burned by the extreme cold!)



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Bleeding Human Heart
(inspired by Penn & Teller's Bleeding Heart)



First of all, find your mold. I found mine a couple years ago at Spencer's Gifts around Halloween season. It came with a very similar recipe, but not any instructions to make it bleed. Second, thoroughly wash your mold, especially all the detail where the veins are. When completely dry, spray the mold with non-stick cooking spray. You'll see below that Penn & Teller used a Valentine's Day-style heart-shaped cake pan...I think using the human heart mold improves on their concept one-hundred percent...!



My human heart mold isn't large enough to handle the whole Penn & Teller recipe, so I halved the following recipe...I also altered the blood by using raspberry syrup and Chambord raspberry liqueur instead of the grenadine, since I was using raspberry gelatin. After the mold is set, I turn out the heart and set it on a crystal pedestal plate and use food coloring and a small brush to accent the veins. I even use red food coloring to shade the contours (it really does make a difference). I use my large Psycho-style butcher knive to sever and serve, as they suggest below.



Otherwise, I have left the original Penn & Teller recipe intact below...it's rather long, but VERY descriptive and detailed...



Penn & Teller's Bleeding Heart
Penn & Teller's How to Play With Your Food© 1992 by Buggs & Rudy Discount Corp.



The title says it all. It's the perfect coup de grace for your intimate dinner at home. As your guests sip their coffee, you unveil a glistening pink gelatin heart on a pedestal cake stand. Then you whip out a carving knife and stab it. Dark, gooey blood issues majestically from the wound. You cut dainty slices off the lobes of the heart and flip them onto dessert plates. You hold each portion under the oozing gash until it is nicely sauced with gore, add a dollop of whipped cream, and serve.



INGREDIENTS



4 cups of water
four 3-oz. boxes or two 6-oz boxes of peach (pink; think of lung tissue)
or strawberry (redder; think of livers and hearts) gelatin dessert mix.
4 envelopes unflavored gelatin
one 12-ounce can unsweetened evaporated milk

1/2 cup grenadine syrup
1 cup light corn syrup
one small bottle (0.3 fl. oz.) red food coloring
3 drops blue food coloring
one 1-gallon food-storage bag (the plain kind without the zip closure)
6 1/2 cup heart-shaped gelatin mold or cake pan



PREPARATION



Boil the water. Put the packaged gelatin dessert and unflavored gelatin in a bowl and pour the boiling water over it, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature (very important or the next step may present problems). Stir in the condensed milk. Note how it already is acquiring the color of freshly skinned flesh.


Pour the mixture into the gelatin mold. Cover the bottom of the mold (this will be the top when you serve it) with a layer about half an inch think. Refrigerate until it gels firmly.


Meanwhile, prepare a nice bladder of blood. Stir together the corn syrup, grenadine, and food colorings (we do it right in the measuring cup to save dish washing--every erg saved in preparation is an erg one can use to enjoy the Payoff). For the bladder (the bag that keeps the blood together inside the mass of gelatin) take the gallon-size food-storage bag and turn it inside out. Pour the blood mixture into one corner of the bag and twist it closed so that no air bubble is caught between the sauce and the twist. Tie a knot in the twisted plastic. Adjust the position of the knot so that when the bag lies on the counter, it's about 1 1/2 to 2 inches high, and tighten the knot. With a pair of scissors, snip off the frilly extra plastic outside the knot.


When the gelatin on the bottom of the mold is stiff and firm, position the bladder of blood in the mold, with the point of the bag just inside the point of the heart. Make sure there is at least 3/4" of space between all sides of the bag and the walls of the mold (this will ensure that your guests don't see clues ahead of time). Pour in the remaining gelatin until the mold is as full as you can handle. Don't worry if you see a little of the blood-bladder grazing the surface of the gelatin, as longs as it doesn't project too much; the side you are looking at now will be the bottom when you serve it.
Refrigerate until gelled firmly to the texture of fine, lean organ meat. It takes about 4 hours.


To unmold, put about 2 1/2 inches of hot, but not boiling water in your sink. Set your mold in the water so that the water comes just below the edge of the mold for 15 to 20 seconds; the time depends on the thickness of the mold pan. Remove the mold from the water, and run the blade of a knife around the edge of the gelatin. Invert your serving platter, ideally a white pedestal cake plate, on top and hold it firmly in place. Then use both hands to turn over the mold and the plate. Remove the mold; you may need to tap or shake the mold slightly to free the gelatin.



PRESENTATION



The blood looks prettiest when it flows over white plates, doilies, and table linen, which it may stain permanently--but what the hell, it's the effect that matters. To serve, use a nice, big Psycho-style chef's knife and stab the side of the gelatin about one third of the way up from the pointed end of the heart. Twist the knife slightly, and blood will start to ooze out. Bare your teeth like a Marine jabbing with bayonet, and widen the wound. When the blood is coming at a good slip, grab a dessert plate, and cut a slice from one of the lobes of the heart. Flip it onto the plate, and drizzle it with blood by holding it under the edge of the pedestal. Add whipped cream and serve.


This dish delights all five senses:

Sight: red, glossy, and elegantly surreal when the blood starts to flow.
Taste: sweeeet.
Smell: classic artificial-fruity
Touch: cold and wiggly.
Hearing: the screaming of guests.

Answer 2

Do you want me to give you an actual menu or do you just want to know if I could make a menu? Sure I could create one, but I'd have to know the tastes of the guests and if you wanted gross-looking food or just colored for Halloween.

Answer 3

Vampire Blood Drink
1 gallon cranberry juice
1 gallon orange juice
1 cup raspberry sorbet
1 quart seltzer
Body Part Ice Cubes, recipe follows

Mix the juices together. Add the sorbet, softened, and stir until it disappears. Add the seltzer.
Before serving, chill with the Body Part Cubes of floating hands.
Pour into glasses and stir with glow stick swizzle sticks.
Body Part Ice Cubes:
12 cups cold water
2 to 3 drops green food coloring
Special Equipment:
2 plastic gloves
Color the cold water with enough green food coloring to make it stand out against the background of the punch.
Fill 2 food service gloves with colored water and twist and knot opening closed to make a tight seal. Freeze gloves for 12 to 24 hours. When frozen, cut plastic gloves off. Carefully float the hands in the punch.

Spider's Nest DipYield: 20 to 25 servings
2 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 (1.25-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 (16-ounce) can black refried beans
1 (12-ounce) package shredded Mexican cheese
1/2 cup fresh chunky salsa (from your grocery's deli section)
1 (2.25-ounce) can chopped black olives
1 cup guacamole (from your grocery's deli section)
1 (15-ounce) can whole black beans, drained and rinsed
4 to 6 bags blue tortilla chips

In a small bowl, mix cream cheese and 1/2 packet of taco seasoning with 1 cup of the sour cream (hold the rest of the sour cream to decorate). Set mixture aside. Spread a thin layer of refried beans in the bottom of a microwaveable serving dish. Add a layer of shredded cheese. Heat dish in microwave for 1 minute, until cheese is slightly melted. Drain the salsa and layer it over the cheese. Drain the olives and layer over the salsa. Add a layer of the sour cream mixture. Add a layer of guacamole.
To decorate the top, spoon a medium sized dollop of sour cream in the center. This is the spider's "nest." Spoon the rest of the sour cream into an air-tight bag. Cut a very small piece out of 1 of the bottom corners of the bag and, starting at the outer edge of the dip, pipe a thin circle around the perimeter. Create another circle half way between the perimeter circle and the center dollop, creating 3 circles. Using a knife blade, toothpick or skewer, drag a thin line of the sour cream from the "nest" outward toward the edge of the dish. Continue making lines all around the "nest" to complete the spider web design. Position whole black beans onto the sour cream "web." Embellish with plastic decorative spiders. Serve with a bowl of blue tortilla chips.

:)

Answer 4

Put together a menu that's stress-free for you. Think finger-foods. Pigs-In-A-Blanket, Deviled Eggs, Chicken Strips, Meatballs, Chips and Dips, Cheese Cubes, etc.

Don't forget the music!!!!!

Answer 5

On the supermarket checkout lanes Betty Crocker has a great Halloween book out now or go to Bettycrocker.com

Answer 6

If you want to make one, what you can do is have some different colored food, chocolate eyeballs, and Halloween based meals. Mabey you can have Devil Red punch, or somthing like that.

Answer 7

YES FORGET FIFTY THINK OF WHAT THEY LIKE WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD AND WRITE IT DOWN THERE YOU GO A MENU

Answer 8

sure, that would be fun. can you?