Halloween Favorites

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, we've decided to include some great ideas for your Halloween parties this year.

Cupcakes are a party classic, and these are simple decorations that will bring your cakes from spectacular to SPOOKtacular!

Simply adding sprinkles and candy to your cupcakes can give them that spooky feel! Just be creative and you can turn your cupcakes into spiders or an entire cupcake graveyard.

You can turn simple deviled eggs into scary eyeballs with the use of a little green food coloring, as seen below.

To top off our Halloween treat ideas, we've included a free recipe for Witch Finger Cookies. This simple recipe will be the talk of the party.

Quick Tip:

To make your cookies more horrifying, try adding green food coloring to your dough!

Witch Finger Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole almonds
• 1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt mixture, continually beating; until a dough forms. refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets with butter or cooking spray.
3. Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of waxed paper. Use the waxed paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie for a bloody effect.

Have a great Halloween!!!