9 Spooky Halloween Party Treats

Trick-or-treaters don't eat homemade Halloween treats anymore, which is a shame for imaginative chefs. For those of you throwing a Halloween party, the sky is the limit for spooky, clever, and downright gruesome food and drinks. Try these out ahead of time, just in case your technique needs to be tweaked before the event.

1. Eyeball Martini

This is a regular martini with a very special olive garnish. The secret is small radishes, peeled to resemble eyeballs with veins and stuffed with olives. Be sure to leave the root trailing for the optic nerve! If you're not serving martinis, these look good on a vegetable tray.

2. Meathead

A simple meat and vegetable tray will "impress and distress" your guests when it's served as a meathead! Cold cuts are plastered to a plastic skull with gelatin, so they are easy to peel off and eat.

3. Stuffed Cockroaches

Make these stuffed cockroaches with pitted dates (for looks), walnuts (for crunch) and cream cheese (for goo). To get a larger picture than the one shown with the recipe, I searched for an image of "stuffed cockroaches", which I do not recommend, as most results are not Halloween recipes. But I found this picture at Almost Vegan in Paradise, where Alina Niemi used the same recipe with a vegan cream cheese alternative and added slivers of scallions for the antenna so they look perfect! Perfectly roachlike, that is. Check out her deviled egg eyeballs as well.

4. Jason Voorhees Jello Shots

From a blog that uses Jello shots as an art medium, here is an alcoholic treat from the Friday the 13th movie series. Jason Voorhees' ski mask is a Jello shot containing sweetened condensed milk for color, decorated with chocolate chips, chopped cherries, and red sorrel syrup.

5. Swamp Juice

This slightly green punch contains worms, fish, and aquatic "eggs" made of cooked tapioca pearls. I happen to like tapioca, but the appearance of these slimy balls can make any drink look gruesome, like these cocktails. Note the pearls can be colored, an idea which can lead to your own innovations.

6. Monster Toes

Monster Toes are made from cocktail franks with mustard nails and ketchup blood. They could also be passed off as monster fingers if your franks are long enough. A variation that might improve the appearance would be to insert almond slices for the fingernails.

7. The Morphing Martini

Not only does this drink drip fog like a mad scientist's formula, it also changes from blue to fuchsia as it cools. The secret is cabbage juice acting as a litmus test! Complete directions for making these can be found at Instructables. Better partying through chemistry!

8. Bleeding Brain Dessert

This molded gelatin brain recipe skipped the gray matter idea because people don't really want to eat gray food. The flavor is peach. It's still gruesome enough for Halloween because when you cut into it, raspberry pie filling spills out like blood from a injury.

9. Zombie Cake

Barbara Jo and Barbara May are known for their imaginative recipes. This Zombie Cake is a classic. They named him Orville. The eyes are cherries soaked in brandy, and the blood is raspberry jelly. See the process of making this confection at Do It Myself!

For more horrible yet delicious treats, see the posts Gruesome Halloween Party Food and Creepy Halloween Party Food.