With Halloween coming up, it's a good and responsible idea to see if you can't tempt your kids with some nice home-made treats that may be a little more healthy than some of the store-bought sweets they crave. And Chef Jerry Pellegrino of Schola Cooking School has come up with a list of ideas for treats that will delight your kids.
Here are two very witty recipes that will be fun to prepare.
Candy Corn Rice Crispy Treats
(taken from the Kraft Website)
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 pkg. (10 oz.) JET-PUFFED Marshmallows
6 cups KELLOGG’S® RICE KRISPIES® cereal
4 drops red food coloring
24 drops yellow food coloring, divided
Microwave butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 45 seconds or until melted. Add marshmallows; toss to coat.
Microwave 1-1/2 min. or until marshmallows are completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after 45 sec.
Add cereal; mix well. Pat 1 cup cereal mixture into 3-1/2-inch circle on center of large cutting board sprayed with cooking spray.
Add red food coloring and 12 drops yellow food coloring to 2 cups of the remaining cereal mixture; mix well.
Tint remaining cereal mixture with remaining yellow coloring. Pat orange-colored cereal mixture into 1-1/2-inch-wide ring around cereal mixture on cutting board.
Repeat with yellow-colored cereal mixture. Cool completely. Cut cereal mixture into 12 wedges.
Insert wooden popstick into rounded end of each wedge.
Spooky Witches Finger Cookies
(Taken from allrecipes.com)
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 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
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, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
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.
Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
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.
