If there are two things I love about fall it’s food and Halloween! Who can resist an opportunity to dress up and entertain with spooky decorations, fun costumes, and party-friendly snacks that are both delicious and festive?

Whether you’re hosting, asked to bring something along, or just making something fun and festive for your friends, family, or your boo, here are some creepy-cute Halloween treats without the tricks!

Spicy Avocado Devilled Eggs

To colour the devilled eggs:

• 1 purple cabbage

Core and chop one head of purple cabbage. The smaller the pieces, the more concentrated the colour will be. Add to a sauce pan and cover with water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour. Strain the cabbage and reserve the liquid. Bring liquid back to a boil and reduce until approximately one cup of liquid remains. Cool and set aside. The remaining cabbage is ready to eat as-is or can be added to something like a borscht (just add the cabbage near the end). Any leftover colouring can be kept in the fridge for up to a week.

For the devilled eggs:

• 1 dozen eggs
• 1/2 avocado
• 1-2 small jalapeños, roasted and finely chopped
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp cilantro leaves, chopped
• Salt
• Purple cabbage food colouring

Hard boil the eggs and cool. Roll each egg on a hard surface to crack the shell but do not peel. Pour the cabbage food colouring into a bowl or plastic bag. Add half the eggs with cracked shells and allow to colour for 1 min. Remove and repeat with remaining eggs. Cold water can be added to the food colouring to ensure all eggs are dyed. Peel and halve eggs.

Add yolks and avocado to a bowl and mash with a fork. Add jalapeños, mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Mix until smooth. Add the filling to a piping bag fitted with a star tip (or cut a triangle into the corner of a ziplock bag) and pipe into egg halves. Garnish with black sesame seeds or paprika.

Vegan Graveyard Sweet Potato Puddings with Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

For the pumpkin sugar cookies:

• 1 cup vegan butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup pumpkin purée
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups gluten free flour (or 2.5 wheat flour)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, salt. Mix until well combined. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Divide dough into two, flatten into  rounds, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight (I like to use a container with a sheet of parchment between the rounds instead of plastic wrap). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out using a tombstone shaped cookie cutter. Bake on a parchment lined sheet for 8-10 mins or until golden brown around the edges. Transfer to a cooling rack.

For the pudding:

• 1 1/2 cups cooked mashed sweet potato (approximately 2 potatoes)
• 1/2 cup non dairy milk
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/16 to 1/8 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce sweet potatoes with a fork and wrap in tinfoil. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until fork tender. Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and mash with a fork. Blend the sweet potato mash in a food processor until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl. Portion into serving dishes and chill 30 minutes or until ready to serve.

To assemble the puddings:

Place one tombstone cookie in each dish of pudding. Top with cacao nibs (I ground mine a little in a food processor first) and an edible flower. Some leaf sprinkles add a little more fall fun!

Shrunken Head Apple Cider

For the shrunken heads:

• 3 apples, peeled, cored, and halved
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 4 cups cold water
• Whole cloves

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and prepare a bowl of lemon juice and cold water. Using a small paring knife, melon baller, or even your pumpkin carving kit, carve a face into each apple half. Keep apple halves you aren’t working on in the lemon water to prevent browning. Place carved apple faces onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes to an hour until shrivelled and dried. Allow to cool. Push whole cloves into the cooled apples as eyes, noses, mouths, whatever you like!

Mulled cider:

• 2L sweet apple cider
• 1 cider mulling kit (from Legacy Greens) - or use 4 cinnamon sticks, 4 all spice berries, 20 cloves, 1 star anise, and 4 cardamom pods

Add cider to a slow cooker or sauce pan and add the mulling kit. Gently warm on low for about an hour before serving. Just before serving, add shrunken apple heads