Healthy Halloween Treats

by Leslie Cerier

Halloween used to scare me. My kids coming home with all that junk food sent shivers through my spine. Now Halloween is a treat, a chance to play dress-up with the kids, and parade around the neighborhood at night, greeting friends, nibbling on healthy, all natural candies, marveling at carved candle lit pumpkins and houses decorated with creepy masks and hanging skeletons.

Once, a pirate came to the door and invited us into his dark living room, where a witch greeted us in a shrill voice dressed in black with a tall pointed hat and blackened front tooth. She demanded the kids reach into one of two large boxes, which were covered with cobwebs to pick their treat. One box had worms, she said. Actually it was cooked spaghetti in cold catsup and the other had packaged candies.

Nowadays natural food stores are well stocked with natural candies: fruit leather and licorice in many sugar-free flavors: strawberry, raspberry, apple and grape… For suckers, there are plenty of vitamin C lollypops, peppermints, and fruit juice sweetened sucking candies. You will find little bags of organic pretzels, animal cookies, different flavored potato chips and corn chips, small boxes of raisins, chocolates with scary Halloween caricatures on the wrappers like ugly witches and black cats on a pumpkin.

To add to the fun, you can create your own-bagged delights from the bulk bins with all natural yogurt-covered pretzels, malt balls, chocolate covered nuts and raisins… Best of all, you can make your own organic candied apples, chocolate dipped dried fruits, date nut treats and maple syrup sweetened chocolate chip cookie treats that kids of all ages love.

To make your own candied apples, forget the artificial red dyes and sugary caramel coatings. You can dip your apples in honey or rice syrup and then roll the glazed apples in ground up graham crackers or small chunks of all natural sandwich cookies, granola, chopped up raisins, figs, dates, or calcium rich ground walnuts and almonds.

Dried sliced pineapple, pears, apricots, peaches, and oranges half dipped in chocolate are beautiful and easy to make. Simply melt bittersweet or milk chocolate in top of a double boiler over hot water, not boiling water. Then put a piece of dried fruit on a toothpick or dipping fork. Dip it half way into the chocolate. Swirl it around. Lift it out, and let the excess drip back into the pot. Stick the bottom of the toothpick into an apple or pear to catch the chocolate drippings, while the chocolate cools and hardens.

When making your own chocolate chip cookies, take advantage of the large assortment of chocolate and carob chips available at your local health food store: organic dark and organic white chocolate chips, vanilla chips, peanut butter chips, dairy-free espresso chocolate chips, vegan carob chips and guilt-free, sugar-free chocolate chips sweetened with malted barley. Feel free to use any of these in the cookie recipes.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 12-18 cookies depending on how big you make them

These cookies are quick, easy and fun to make. I love shaping them with my hands, but you could also use a cookie cutter.

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Put all the ingredients except the olive oil into a large bowl. Mix them together briefly with a wooden spoon; then shape them into cookies with your hands.

To use cookie cutters, flatten some batter between your hands and place it on a pastry board. Press in a cookie cutter and shake gently. Pull away the excess. Repeat till you use all the batter.

Lightly oil a cookie sheet with olive oil. Put cookies on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Let them cool before eating.

Date Nut Treats

Makes 15 walnut sized balls

Kids love to make and eat these.

• 1 cup tightly packed pitted dates
• 4 tablespoons water
• Pinch of cardamom (1/4 teaspoon, or to taste)
• 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 tablespoons brown rice syrup or honey
• 1/3 cup almonds, ground

Put the dates in a food processor with the water, cardamom, and cinnamon. Pulse on and off until finely chopped. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more spices, if desired. Transfer to a small mixing bowl.

Grind walnuts in the food processor, or coarsely chop them up. Mix walnuts into the dates and shape into walnut sized balls. Drizzle on and coat with brown rice syrup or honey.

Grind almonds into a meal in the food processor. Pour ground almonds onto a cutting board or plate. Roll date nut balls in almond meal and serve or wrap up to give away.

Leslie Cerier’s most recent book is Going Wild in the Kitchen. Visit Leslie at her web site to learn more about her books, classes, and photography.