I’m very excited because this weekend I’ll be hosting my first party since moving to Florida (I love to entertain), and what better occasion for a get-together than a Halloween costume party!

My boyfriend and I plan to be skeletons, and I can’t wait to see the costumes our friends come up with!

I’ve had a lot of Halloween parties over the years and have made many different appetizers and drinks, but there are a few that I always serve each year.

Here are the recipes for my three favorite “spook-tacular” Halloween treats:

“Pumpkin” Deviled Eggs

12 large hardboiled eggs, cooled and peeled
1/2 cup mayonnaise (plus 1-2 tablespoons more if filling is too thick)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
6 black olives, cut into lengthwise slices

Slice eggs in half lengthwise and remove yolks to a small bowl.  Arrange whites on a serving dish.

Mash the yolks with a fork or pastry blender until no large clumps remain.  Add mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire, paprika, and salt and pepper to taste.

Fit a pastry bag or cake decorator with a star tip and fill bag with yolk mixture.  Pipe the mixture into the egg halves, mounding the filling about 1/2 inch above the flat surface of the whites.  (Or, spoon filling into each egg half.)

Place slices of olives at the top of each egg to look like a pumpkin stem and serve.  (I also decorate the platter with little plastic spiders and skulls!)

Ghoulish Punch

3 oranges
1 64-oz. bottle cranberry juice cocktail, chilled
1 quart orange juice, chilled
1 1/2 cups chilled vodka
1/2 cup triple sec
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Cut oranges into wedges and freeze.

In a punch bowl, combine cranberry juice cocktail, orange juice, vodka, triple sec and lime juice. 

Place frozen orange wedges in the bowl to help keep punch cold.  (I also float some plastic eyeballs on the top for added ghoulishness!)  

Cheesy Witch Fingers with Spicy Mustard Sauce

Fingers:
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons cornmeal
1 egg
30 almond slices

Mustard sauce:
1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on heat preference)
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Combine mustard sauce ingredients in a bowl; cover and refrigerate.

In a food processor or bowl, mix together butter, cheese, flour and cornmeal until it has the consistency of wet sand.  Add egg and stir.

Mound dough onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment.  Top with another sheet of paper, pat dough into a circle, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 15 minutes, or refrigerate up to 3 days.

Preheat oven to 350°.  Keeping dough between the sheets of paper, roll into an 8” x 10” rectangle.  Freeze for 15 minutes. 

Peel off top paper and cut dough into 30 strips, each about 1/2” thick and 5” long: place on baking sheet.  Use your fingers to round the tip of each strip into a fingertip shape and press almond slices into dough for “fingernails.” 

Score shallow “knuckle” lines into each strip with a sharp knife, and bend strips slightly to look like a “knobby” shape.

Bake 15 minutes or until light brown, then transfer to a rack to cool.  Serve with mustard dipping sauce.

Happy Halloween!

To your health,

Sherry Brescia