Halloween Sweets Project for Kids

I'm going to disappoint a lot of folks in this confession: I'm not into Halloween. I think I went trick-or-treating twice in my life, and it was no big thrill. My mother is lucky her house was never egged or TP'd, as she gave out pennies on Halloween.

That said, I was inspired today to post about some fun food stuff to do with kids on Halloween. Another mother who is also a member of Holistic Moms Network posed the question of what to use to decorate cookies on Halloween that is not grossly unhealthy. So, I came up with a list of suggestions, and here they are.

Dark (brown, but almost black):
- Raisins
- Sprinkelz brand makes a few different types of sprinkles with no artificial colors.
- Carob chips
- Cacao nibs
- Use a microplane to shred some fair trade organic chocolate

White:
- Shredded coconut
- Coconut butter sweetened with agave, maple syrup, or your choice of sweetener, if you need something spreadable
- Cream cheese mixed with maple syrup and little vanilla (I stole that one from my friend, Rose)

Red (think blood):
- Pomegranate juice
- Beet juice

Orange:
- Egg yolk mixed with a little pomegranate or beet juice and sweetened (you'd need to then bake whatever you put this on)
- Turmeric mixed with pomegranate juice and sweetened - mix this into a white frosting or coconut butter to make it spreadable
- Steamed, pureed and strained pumpkin, winter squash or sweet potato mixed into white frosting or coconut butter
- Pureed mango (deepen the color with just a little molasses or brown sugar)

Purple:
- Blueberry juice

You could go the traditional route and have the kids decorate cupcakes or cookies. Maybe make a bunch of different color "frostings" for the kids to spread on them, and then give them a few other decorating options, like raisins, carob chips, shredded coconut and a bowl of pomegranate juice.

Another alternative to cookies and cupcakes is to make a jelly roll cake (with a healthier recipe - maybe this one), but don't roll it. You can get some Halloween cookie cutters and have the kids cut out Halloween shapes. That way, the decorating colors don't need to be spot on to still look Halloweeny.

For a very artistically inclined child, you could even give them a whole jelly roll cake to decorate so they have a full canvas to fill.

Despite my own disinterest in the holiday, I do hope you and yours have a healthy, happy, spooky Halloween!