Healthy Hallowe'en Treats

Love it or loathe it, Hallowe’en is right around the corner. One thing’s for sure, and that is that the kids absolutely love it – dressing up, parties and trick or treating, it’s part and parcel of the fun. And although they may love the sweets and chocolates, their tummies and teeth certainly won’t! The occasional sugary snack is inevitable, but we’ve rounded up the best healthy Hallowe’en treats that’ll be sure to delight your little witches and werewolves...

The best way to make sure your children don’t gorge too much on sugar, is to make sure they’re already full from dinner! Make their Hallowe’en dinner as fun as possible so they don’t feel like they’re missing out - their spooky feast can start with witch and mummy fingers! Present cucumber sticks with hummus or sweet chilli sauce for the witches fingers, and wrap mini sausages in thin strips of pastry before cooking to create gruesome mummy fingers – ideal, of course, to be served alongside blood-red tomato ketchup.

Next on the menu: zombie brains. With the bright colours of courgette and tomatoes, it’ll bring a supernatural atmosphere to the dinner table. If you have a spiralizer you can make courgetti from scratch, but due to its growing popularity pre-prepared courgetti can be found in most large supermarkets – ideal for busy parents! Simply stir fry your courgette in a little oil until softened and serve with a tomato pasta sauce – you can even add in carrots and blend for an extra hidden vegetable hit.

If even the thought of being able to chomp on zombie brains won’t persuade your kids to eat a bowlful of greens, never fear – we’ve got an alternative main course for fussy eaters: maggots in blood and pus sauce! Mixing with the same tomato pasta sauce, replace the courgetti with gnocchi, cook as per instructions and top with mozzarella before popping under the grill for a few minutes.

Now onto the main show: the sweet treats. Apples have been linked with Hallowe’en for centuries, and although apple bobbing has gone a little out of style, they’re still great for crafting as desserts. By cutting a horizontal slice out of the middle, you can create a spooky mouth which you can fill with sunflower seeds for gruesome rotten teeth on the top, and a small slice of strawberry on top of a layer of peanut butter for a cheeky tongue.

With only a couple of strawberries used in the fanged apples, there’s another great way to use the rest of the punnet – by turning them into chocolate dipped ghouls. There’s no denying that the kids will want some chocolate at Hallowe’en, so you may as well sneak in some fruit! Melt white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and dip whole strawberries in. Quickly add in two dark chocolate drops for eyes before the white chocolate sets and place on a baking tray covered with baking parchment and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to cool (or ghoul, depending on how much you love a pun!).

If you’re feeling inspired to whip up some healthy Hallowe’en treats for your children, we’d love to see! Send in your pictures to our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page.