Hauntingly Good Halloween Recipes

Are you looking to have the best Halloween party on the block? Then look no further—here are recipes for appetizers, snacks and desserts for your killer Halloween bash. 

Angel of Death Cheese

• 1 large bulb garlic, roasted
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2–4 fresh sage leaves, finely minced
• 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios

Combine roasted garlic with cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add Gorgonzola, cream, sage, salt and pepper. Press into a serving dish and sprinkle with pistachios. Serve with crackers or pita crisps. Makes 8-10 servings. 

Creatures from the Deep (Peppered Shrimp)

• 1 pound (large to jumbo sized) shrimp, peeled and deviened
• 3 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons white wine
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 green onions, chopped
• Extra chopped green onion 
• Hot red pepper flakes (as garnish)

In a bowl, combine the shrimp, Worchestershire sauce and white wine. Heat oil in a skillet over a medium high heat; add garlic and cook for a minute. Remove shrimp from bowl, reserving liquid. Return shrimp to skillet, toss in spices and green onion and saute 2 minutes. Remove to serving dish.

Add reserved Worcestershire mixture to pan and bring to a boil. (For a clearer sauce with more body, stir 2 teaspoons of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water and add to sauce and cook until thick). Serve as a dipping sauce for shrimp.

Sprinkle shrimp with chopped green onion and red pepper before serving. Serves 6-8

Halloween Chex Mix
(Courtesy General Mills) 

• 8 ounces white chocolate baking bars, coarsely chopped
• 4 cups Corn Chex or Rice Chex cereal
• 2 cups bite-size pretzel
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup candy corn
• 1/4 cup orange and black candy decors (sprinkles)

In a large microwaveable bowl, microwave chopping baking bars uncovered on high for 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth. Gently stir in cereal, pretzels and raisins until evenly coated. Stir in candy corn and decors. Spread on wax paper or foil until cool and choclate is set, about 30 minutes. Break into chunks. Makes 18 half-cup servings.

Black Cat Martini
(Courtesy HINT Essence Water) 

• 1 1/2 ounces Blackberry HINT Essence Water
• 2 ounces Blavod Black Vodka
• 1/2 ounce Chambord
• 2 blackberries

Mix the ingredients above, garnish with blackberries and serve. 

The Green Beast
(Courtesy Pernod)

• 1 part Pernod Absinthe
• 1 part fresh lime juice
• 1 part simple syrup
• 4 parts water

Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl over ice. Serve in punch cups. 

Spooky Graveyard Pie
(Courtesy Nestle)

• 3 cups (about 32 cookies) finely ground chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs, divided
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 can (12 fluid ounces) Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 3/4 cups (11.5-ounce package) Nestle Toll House Milk Chocolate Morsels
• 8 chocolate filled vanilla wafer cookies
• Black and purple decorator writing gels
• Wonka SweeTARTS Spooky Gummies Candy, Wonka SweeTARTS Skulls & Bones, or other assorted spooky Halloween candies
• Nestle Butterfinger and Nestle Crunch candy bars, crumbled

Combine 1 1/2 cups cookie crumbs and butter in 9-inch deep-dish pie plate. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and upsides of pie plate. Set aside remaining 1 1/2 cups crumbs for dirt topping.

Whisk together evaporated milk, egg yolks and cornstarch in medium saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is very hot and thickens slightly; do not boil. Remove from heat; stir in morsels until completely melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into crust. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 cups cookie crumbs. Press crumbs down gently. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until set.

Decorate cookie tombstones as desired with writing gels. Sprinkle crumbled candy bar topping over the top of the pie. Insert tombstones around edge of pie. With spoon, mound cookie crumbs to form "fresh graves." Decorate graves with gummies and Skulls & Bones. Makes 8 servings.

Oreo Dirt Pies

• 2 packages instant chocolate pudding
• 1 package Oreo cookies
• Gummy worms

Remove the white filling from the Oreos and discard it. Put the cookies into a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them until it looks like dirt. Cover the bottom of a large bowl with half of the Oreo cookie crumbs.

Make the pudding according to the directions on the package. Pour it into the bowl on top of the Oreo cookie crumbs. Place gummy worms on top of the pudding. Cover both the pudding and the candy worms with the rest of the Oreo cookie crumbs.

For an added touch, decorate with plastic flowers.

Suzanne Corbett and Nicole Mooradian contributed to this report.