5 Halloween books with recipe goodies that kids and adults may enjoy

List by Tosca

"The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller..."
- Michael Jackson 'Thriller,' with voiceover by Vincent Price

I enjoy Halloween! As celebrations go, it contains all of the elements I need for a good time: scary movies, costumes, decorations and, of course, lollies. This time of year is perfect for staging my annual horror movie marathon. On my own, of course, because my siblings are not horror movie watchers. In our old neighbourhood you would have found them knee deep in preparations for our annual Halloween street party for the local kids. A street party that came complete with games, crafts, prizes for the best (and scariest and most creative) costumes, scary decorations and ending with about 20-30 kids dancing around on our front lawn to a weird combination of horror movie sound effects and pop music. (Although to me, pop music *IS* a form of horror music). We've moved since then and two of the nephews are too old for games like that (or so they tell me but they're the first to eat the lollies I buy), which leaves Mr. 7 celebrating on his own this year. I thought I'd expand (lower?) my movie marathon standards to showcase kiddie-friendly (not *quite* the term I was looking for) scary movies, instead. Before his bedtime, anyway. And everyone knows kiddie-friendly scary movies needs kiddie-friendly scary food! So his mum (which would, I think, make her my sibling - or so my mum says but I've yet to see the birth certificate) and I have a deal: I supply the movies and watch them with him and she takes care of horror snacks. It's a sweet deal and I think I come off all the better for it. I've been scouring our catalogue for Halloween-appropriate, i.e. ghoulish sounding/looking, recipes. Here's a roundup of 5 Halloween themed books I'll be raiding for ideas! I would have loved for this to be a definitive 'Top 5' list but I'd only just remembered last night that Halloween was coming up (yes, I'm a failure as an aunt) and so won't have time to request them, read them and assess them. Instead, I've been terribly shallow and based them on a combination of two things: book cover appeal and summaries. I know. Tosca did a bad, bad thing. Enjoy!



Love at first bite : the unofficial Twilight cookbook / Gina Meyers
The international phenomenon known as Twilight fever has ignited excitement in the kitchen. Delectable delights to satisfy the appetites of the humans can be found in the fictional book Twilight. Love at First Bite: the Unofficial Twilight Cookbook is meant to offer a satisfying array of warm, lovely dishes that anyone of any age can cook with ease and enjoyment. To help the reader determine the level of skill involved in preparing each dish, the recipes are labeled "easy", "medium", or "hard". One fork means "easy", two forks, "medium", and three forks means it is a "difficult" or "hard" recipe. Filled with forbidden love, action, and danger, so brace yourself, and bring your very best table manners and your appetites. Don't forget your forks. Beautiful Bella Swan will be serving up some scrumptious delights to satisfy even the pickiest puritan "vegetarian" vampires. Intertwined in the pages of Love at First Bite, you will find Bell's Lasagna, Harry's Famous Fish Fry, Mushroom Ravioli, Blushing Bella Punch, just to name a few. Your senses will be filled deep with the sweet aroma of mouthwatering I Dare You to Eat Pizza Edward, and sinfully delicious Red Velvet Cake. You know when the rooster crows, it is time to awaken your sense of taste and take a Bite at Dawn to Lemon Blueberry cake, Plum Pecan Waffles, or Grand Slam Sundae. Red juicy ripe vine tomatoes marinated in raspberry vinaigrette tempts the taste buds and is a featured salad in the There Are Cold Cut Sandwiches in the Fridge section. Pucker up and take a long cool sip of Sparkling Honey Lemonade in a citrus salt rimmed glass, one of the virgin recipes found in the beverage chapter. Give into your epicurean temptation and take a bite into Love at First Bite: the Unofficial Twilight Cookbook. The recipes will leave you breathless and hungry for more. Besides luscious recipes, you'll also find cast lists for Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, as well a Twilight Party Planning Checklist, Bella's Prom Planner, and tons of trivia. Also find invaluable resources on upcoming Unofficial Twilight Conventions, Twilight Cooking Classes and more.

Tosca's comment: I thought I'd seen any and every odd Twilight-related book title I possibly could...until this one.

Halloween fun and food / Sara Lewis
Packed with spooky step-by-step projects for all the family to make and enjoy, including scary masks and ghoulish decorations, this title contains everything you need to make Halloween parties a howling success. The guide provides fun ideas for dressing up, face painting and party games in addition to warming and delicious recipes for a chilly Halloween night suitable for both adults and children.

Trick or treat : bewitching halloween eats, costumes and decorations / Morgana de Ville
This book provides a wealth of seasonal delights for making the most of this celebratory time of year. Ideas range from scary party games to a delicious selection of warming recipes with pumpkins and bewitching sweets with ghosts and witches.

Ghoulish goodies / Sharon Bowers
Eat, drink, and enjoy the creepy yuckiness of Monster Eyeballs, Chocolate Spider Clusters, Buried Alive Cupcakes, and Screaming Red Punch. In her colorful collection of frightful foods, Sharon Parrish Bowers shares the fun of baking, decorating, and indulging in delicious treats that celebrate witches and jack o' lanterns, ghosts and graveyards. Everyone loves Halloween. It's a holiday that is pure fun and childish joy, an excuse to dress up and eat treats. Packaged candy may be the common reward for trick-or-treating, but plates of Spiderweb Cookies or big bowls of Sticks and Stones Caramel Corn are perfect contributions to school Halloween events, tailgating parties, neighborhood open houses, adult costume parties, and even afternoon play dates. It's difficult to imagine an autumn gathering that wouldn't be even more fun with ghoulish goodies to share. These frightful treats are not just for October, though. A birthday party for a nine-year-old or a scary movie sleepover for teenagers practically demands an I'Scream Cake or Spidery Cupcakes. And Chocolate-Chip Pumpkin Bars with Orange Glaze would be welcome at an office coffee break or an afternoon tea party. Baking from Ghoulish Goodies is a wonderful way to celebrate the change of seasons and the pleasure of working with kids in the kitchen. Baking cupcakes and making fudge are great activities for autumn afternoons, when the weather turns cool and the kids are underfoot after school. Put them to work stirring, decorating, and scraping pumpkin seeds. These are recipes that parents and kids can have fun making together. And the entire family will enjoy eating a warm Choco-Bat Cookie for dessert. Watch the author create Funny Bones featured in the book.

A zombie ate my cupcake! : 25 deliciously weird cupcake recipes / Lily Vanilli ; starring Paul Parker
After being banished for so long to the land of the pretty and identical, the domestic and the twee, cupcakes are biting back. Here, Lily Vanilli shows how you can take inspiration from anywhere - insects, roadkill, zombies - and recreate it in cake, but always with a delicious result. This book is an introduction to making cakes that look weird, ugly and even grotesque - but that taste divine! There are amazing materials for making edible sculptures and hundreds of things you can do with natural ingredients. Give guests a shock with revoltingly realistic Marzipan Beetles, or add a crunch to your desserts with Morbid Meringue Bones, dipped in raspberry blood sauce. Try out a black cherry Dracula's Bite red velvet cupcake with cream cheese, eat your way through heavenly Fallen Angel Cakes or go for indulgent and truly dark chocolate Devil's Delight Cupcakes. If Ozzy Osbourne made cupcakes, these are the ones he'd want to eat.

Tosca's comment: Because who doesn't want to take cupcake inspiration from roadkill...?