“Ghostbusters” Slime Popcorn … And 6 More Halloween Recipes Inspired by Scary Movies (2024)

The Shining: Bloody Knife Cookies

Bloody Knife Cookies! My ode to The Shining: the best horror masterpiece I have ever seen!

Ingredients for knife cookies:

• 1 – stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 – cup sugar
• 1 – egg
• 2 – teaspoons vanilla
• 2 – cups flour
• 1/4 – teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 – teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients for Royal Icing:

• 4 – cups powdered sugar
• 3 – tablespoons meringue powder
• 6 – tablespoons warm water
• Food coloring gel (black, grey, and red)

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer until fluffy and creamy.
2. Add in egg and vanilla, and mix on medium till mixture comes together.
3. In a large bowl combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix with a fork to mix well.
4. Pour the flour mixture into the creamy butter mixture and mix until combined.
5. Remove from mixer and mix with your hands to bring it together. Then divide the dough into 4 equal parts.
6. Wrap each portion of dough in plastic wrap, and smash down into a disk shape. Place in the fridge for 1 hour until cold.
7. Preheat the oven for 325 degrees fahrenheit.
8. Roll dough out on a lightly floured work space. roll to 1/4 inch thickness. Then with a small pairing knife cut out the shape of a knife. Either trace around a real knife or free hand it.
9. Place cookie knives on a baking sheet lined with a baking mat or wax paper.
10. Bake for 11 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheet.
11. Remove from baking mat with a metal spatula.
12. In a bowl combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, and warm water. Still until smooth and well combined.
13. Divide the royal icing into 3 separate little bowls and color one black, gray, and the other red.
14. Place each color of royal icing into a piping bag fitted with a tip.
15. Outline the handle of the knife in black, then fill in the middle.
16. Then with the red outline from the tip of the knife blade to the bottom center. Fill in the red.
17. Last fill the rest in with grey.
18. Let dry completely overnight.
19. Enjoy!

Hocus Pocus | Witches Brew Soup and Cheesy, Garlic Broomsticks
Although considered a family film, we’re not gonna lie: Hocus Pocus still scares the pants off us. And while the bubbling brew in the movie was used by witches to suck the lives out of the children of Salem (eek!), we recommend brewing this soup for a fun (non-life-sucking) All Hallows’ Eve supper.

For today’s Friday night dinner and a movie recipe I’m inspired by one of my favorite Halloween flicks: Hocus Pocus. So I’m stirring my bubbling cauldron (aka, my soup pot) to make this Hocus Pocus Witches Brew Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Cheezy Garlic Broomsticks and witches hats. Grab a spoon and dive into this spooky-delicious, witchy green soup. There are plenty of broomsticks to go around!..

The flavor inspiration for this soup is broccoli-cheddar. The idea is to get the kids to see the bright orange cheese first – and the green stuff second. But once they dive into these savory veggie flavors, I hope they will keep eating until the last broomstick is turned to crumbs. Or as the witches say. “to dust.”

My meal was made vegan using Daiya dairy-free cheddar cheese, Earth Balance vegan butter and soy based creamer for the soup. You can make your meal vegan, or sub with similar ingredients that you keep in you pantry. Happy witching season!

Witches Brew Broccoli Cheddar Soup
vegan, makes 6-7 cups

6 cups broccoli florets – steamed
2 cups veggie or mushroom broth
1/3 cup soy creamer, plain
1 cup white potato, baked with skin
1 cup white cannellini beans
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup Daiya cheddar cheese shreds
2-3 Tbsp olive oil + salt to taste OR melted vegan butter
2 Tbsp maple syrup (optional for a sweet accent)
2-4 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
garnish: roasted broccoli florets coated in melted Daiya cheddar cheese

Cheezy Garlic Broomsticks and Witches Hats
1 ball pizza dough
garlic granules
1/4 cup vegan butter, melted
1/2 cup Daiya cheddar cheese shreds

Prepare soup in a high speed blender like a Vitamix (or use immersion handstick blender).

To Make:

1. First steam 6 cups of broccoli florets. Add 3 cups to a blender. Also add in the potato, beans, cheese, creamer, optional oil/butter and veggie broth. Blend until smooth. Add in the remaining broccoli and either pulse to keep the soup “chunky” style or puree smooth for a creamy soup. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on stove top until ready to serve.

2. For the broomsticks, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough to 3/4 ” thick. Slice into long strips (the broomsticks). Then using about 1/4 of the dough, cut out triangle shapes. You can make these into witches hats as well as use them for the broomstick bristles. Slice the triangles into a broom shape. The dough will rise as it bakes, but still resemble the brooms. Lay the brooms and hats on a greased baking sheet. Brush with melted vegan butter and sprinkle with garlic and cheese. Bake for ten minutes, Broil on high for an additional minute until the cheese bubbles.

Serve the brew!

Eight Legged Freaks | Spooky Spider Crackers
We could literally feel eight little legs crawling all over our bodies as we watched this spider-infested horror flick. But these spooky crackers are the types of spiders we have no problem taking down!

The first time I made this recipe, it was for a kids Halloween partyeight years ago. It was a huge hit and the Mom appreciated a non-sweet treat.

If you think the kids will gawk at the noodle legs, you can always use….

The recipe uses items that you probably have in your pantry except for the noodles and you can always use pretzel sticks for the legs if you do not want to go buy chow mein noodles. I love the noodles because of their wiry shapesso they as a bit of dimension and spookiness to the ‘spiders’. BOO!

Ingredients (per ‘spider’)
2 round crackers
peanut or any nut butter
8 chow mein noodles
2 raisins

Smear a small amount of peanut butter onto the inside of one cracker. Place 4 chow mein noodles on one side of the cracker followed by 4 more on the other side. Place the remaining cracker on top. To make the ‘eyes’: dab two spots of peanut butter near the top of one crackers to ‘glue’ the raisins into place.

Jaws | Sand and Sea Beach Cupcakes
Da nuh, da nuh, da nuh,… da nuh. These beach-themed cupcakes make a tasty treat while you watch Spielberg’’s 1975 classic, Jaws. We recommend steering clear of the beach for at least 72 hours after watching …and eating.

I’m usually not one to do themed cupcakes unless they are really easy, and these are. I made lemon flavored cupcakes just by using store bought cake mix and then a simple homemade buttercream. You don’t even need a pastry bag to frost the cupcakes, this recipe only requires a butter knife. I first saw these cupcakes on Martha Stewart, and instantly fell in love with them. This isn’t the same recipe as on the Martha site, but they look very similar. For the shark fins, I thought my son had some darker blue or grey colored construction paper, but all I found was this light blue. I thought it was cute, but a darker color for the fins would have been more striking.

Don’t forget to bring the kids in the kitchen for these easy cupcakes. They can cut out the shark fins, add the little umbrellas and dip the frosted cupcakes in the brown sugar

Sand and Sea Beach Cupcakes {Lemon Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting}

Ingredients

For the cupcakes
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box instant lemon pudding mix
all other ingredients according to package directions on cake box, including one extra egg

For the frosting

1 stick butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 lb powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 – 3 tablespoons milk

Other ingredients

blue food coloring
brown sugar
blue construction paper
paper umbrellas

Method

1. Prepare cupcakes according to package directions on cake mix box, adding lemon pudding mix and one additional egg.

2. Add butter, shortening and sugar to stand mixer. Mix until well blended. Add vanilla and milk and mix on high until light and fluffy.

3. Frost half of cupcakes with this frosting, Add about 1 cup brown sugar to a bowl and dip frosted cupcakes in to coat. Garnish with umbrella.

4. Take the remaining half of the frosting and add blue food coloring. Mix on high until well blended.

5. Frost the other half of the cupcakes and use a butter knife to make a wave pattern in frosting. Cut shark fins out with construction paper and insert into blue frosted cupcakes.

Batman | Batty Brownies
From the psychotic, disfigured Joker to the notorious criminals that plague Gotham City, the flicks from the Batman franchise can be surprisingly frightening. Enter batty brownies – the perfect bat-themed comfort food to keep nightmares at bay.

‘Tis the season for bats and ghouls and goblins which is where the inspiration for this recipe came from. My daughter was having a playdate last week and her friend told us he is going to be Batman for Halloween. He has never seen Dark Knight or anything like that, but he has read the kids comic books and seen the cartoon. That inspired me to bake these fun brownies frosting with orange cream cheese frosting and dotted with little bats. They seem like just the thing to eat when watching Batman, which happens to be on cable television all this coming weekend. You better believe we’ll be enjoying these while watching our movie after someone goes to bed tomorrow night!

Batty Brownies

1 cup sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes

2 eggs

1 pinch kosher salt

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup all-purpose flour, sifted

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 t. vanilla

2 c. confectioners’ sugar, sifted

For the bats:

Chocolate wafers

Reese’s Pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 9×9 square baking dish, set aside.
2. Fit the food processor with a metal blade and add the sugar and butter. Pulse until the butter is thoroughly combined. Then, add the eggs and salt. Process continuously until mixture is smooth, about 30 seconds. Do not overbeat. Then, add the cocoa and flour, pulse until there is no visible cocoa or flour remaining. Stir in chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

3. Spread batter into baking dishes and spread to make sure top is even. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is set. Cool on rack and cut into bars.

4. For the frosting: Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar and beat again until smooth.

5. To Make the Bats: Cut the wafers in half and cut out little bat wings with a paring knife. Alternatively, use a knife to cut bat wings out of chocolate graham crackers. Wedge the wings into the frosting so they are tilting up out of the frosting and place a Reese’s Piece in the middle.

Source

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