Halloween Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Holiday Celebrations) [Paperback]

Donata Maggipinto (Author), Richard Jung (Photographer)

Book Description

Series: Holiday Celebrations | Publication Date: September 1, 1998

These days, Halloween is the most popular holiday next to Christmas. At its heart are family and friends having fun together-which is what this book is all about. In this cornucopia of creative Halloween ideas, simple crafts, tasty treats, and ghoulish good times abound. From delicious "one cauldron" dinners such as creamy pumpkin soup to luscious devil's food cake and black cat cookies, here are recipes ideal for entertaining adults and children alike, both in the kitchen and at the table. And then there are the crafts. Kid-friendly projects such as trick-or-treat bags, spooky lanterns, and tissue ghosts, and easy ideas for beautiful centerpieces, place mats, and name cards keep everyone from the tots on up busy and happy. Filled with clever projects and delicious snacks, and illustrated throughout with colorful photographs, Halloween Treats will keep the whole family (and friends of all ages) entertained. Happy Halloween!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cocoa Cobweb Cupcakes, Black Cat Cookies, and Stained-Glass Spooks are just a few of the spirited tastes you'll encounter in Donata Maggipinto's delightful Halloween Treats. But it's not just recipes--you and your favorite little goblin will love creating spooky craft projects such as Candy Cauldrons, Leaf Lanterns, and Paper Bag Pumpkins together in anticipation of All Hallows' Eve. Maggipinto includes craft ideas for "Pixies" (children 4-8 years old) as well as older children, and nearly every recipe includes a safe task for younger helpers. (For example, while mom or dad should heat the milk for hot cocoa, kids can roll and stamp out marshmallow ghosts as accompaniment.) A few of the craft ideas will require a trip to the art supply store (such as lampshade paper for the very nifty flashlight lanterns), but Maggipinto leaves plenty of room for the magical combination of imagination and found objects. Her great "fanciful masks" are dime-store masks decorated with autumn leaves, candy wrappers, feathers, or anything else you might have at hand.

Maggipinto believes that Halloween festivities should last for at least a week; you'll find enough project instructions and recipes here for a month of Halloween fun. Grownups will love her Halloween dinner party menu (with Pumpkin Crackle Custard for dessert!) and kids can help by making corn kernel napkin rings and three-tiered pumpkin centerpieces. If you're looking for costume ideas, you won't find them here--the book is focused firmly on kitchen and decoration fun--but the beautifully illustrated Halloween Treats is a wonderful treasure trove of tricks and treats that every family will enjoy working on together. --Rebecca A. Staffel

Review

Ghost Witches Join Party Menu "Don't reserve your Halloween cookie cutters just for cookies. Consider these boo-tiful ideas from 'Halloween Treats', by Donata Maggipinto:

Flatten large marshmallows with a rolling pin, then use mini cutters to make a ghoulish garnish for hot cocoa.

Make 'ghost-wiches' by cutting sandwich bread or lunch meats (or both) with the cookie cutters; a pastry tip to poke eyes and mouth into the bread.

And here's a tip from Good Eating: If you're determined to think sweet, you can also use those cookie cutters for devilish brownies and cakes. Either cut the cakes into scary shapes, or use the cookie cutters as stencils to make designs - with frosting or colored sugar on top of the icing." -- Denver Post

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811821978
• ISBN-13: 978-0811821971
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,258,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful pictures, some good ideas but not much substance, October 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Halloween Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Holiday Celebrations) (Paperback)

I enjoyed the wonderfully festive pictures and I was able to glean some ideas from her book as a starting point for my own Hallowe'en projects. However, I'm not so sure there is enough substance nor wholly original ideas to make it a worthwhile purchase. It is a fun book to thumb through but most of the "magic" is to be found in the photographs. I tried some of the recipies: the cocoa cobweb cupcakes were not "chocolatey" enough and the pumpkin soup was okay but not spectacular.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great photos, inspiring ideas, December 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Halloween Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Holiday Celebrations) (Paperback)

It was so hot here in AZ this fall, I needed a jumpstart to get into the Halloween spirit. This was just the book. Great photos and seasonal recipes made me run out to buy sweet potatoes for making the baked chips! I envisioned keeping them on hand for lunches and snacks, but they were gone in a day. The black cats were cute, too, but we all suffered with black tongues after the fact. Plenty of other cute ideas for little ones.

If you want Julia Child, don't buy this book; but if you want a holiday read, with great pictures and some nice recipes, find a notch on your bookshelf for this one.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More trick than treat, July 16, 2000

By 

Michelle Craig "shellc1971" (Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Halloween Treats: Recipes and Crafts for the Whole Family (Holiday Celebrations) (Paperback)

Some of the ideas were cute and worth trying. But, for the most part, it is not worth the money. I loved the pictures, which were the best part of the book. I plan on trying some of the ideas, but depending on the age of your children, it's not really a family oriented book. I lost interest very rapidly, as did my 4 and 7 year olds.