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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
Denver Post
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."
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