It’s the season of trick-or-treat but there’s nothing tricky about these delicious Halloween recipes. Whipping up these flavorful, nutritional snacks is a fast and easy way to introduce children and adults alike to organic food. The majority of the ingredients in these recipes are widely available in their organic versions.

Roasted Nuts

Nuts are easier to roast than many people think. Start by coating a cup’s worth of organic nuts with a tablespoon of healthy cooking oil such as olive oil or macadamia nut. Spread the nuts out on a baking pan, put them in the oven at 350°F and roast for 10 minutes. For a snack that’s lower in fat and calories, or if there’s no organic oil to hand, dry roast the nuts instead. This involves following the original recipe, but omitting the oil.

Sesame Seed Candy Apples

For candy apples with a healthy twist, add balsamic vinegar and sesame seeds to the traditional recipe. After pushing the apples onto lollipop sticks, melt sugar, vinegar, corn syrup and butter together in a pan over a medium heat and then bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from the heat, add in the sesame seeds and swirl the pan. Dip each of the apples into the toffee to coat, letting any excess drip off. Put the apples on an oiled baking pan and leave to cool for 10 minutes.

Witches’ Fingers and Potions

It takes just a little imagination to turn healthy treats into spooky delights. On Halloween night, crudités and dips become witches’ fingers and potions. Cut up carrots, celery and cucumber into bigger crudités than usual so they resemble long, crooked fingers. Add some warts by using a little honey to stick sweet corn kernels onto the vegetable sticks.  For the ‘potions’, make dips using ingredients with deep, bold colors. A beetroot dip, for example, will go down well because of its deep red hue. Simply whip together beetroot balls, lemon juice and yogurt in a food processor.

Pumpkin Pie Seeds

This is not only a great way to use up the seeds from scooped-out pumpkins but also provides all the flavor of pumpkin pie for a fraction of the calories. Boil a cup of cleaned seeds in salted water for 10 minutes and put on a work surface to dry for half an hour. Toss the seeds in a tablespoon of melted better and mix in a tablespoon of sugar and some festive spices such as cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Spread the seeds out onto a baking pan lined with foil and put them in the oven at 250°F. Bake for 1 hour, stirring several times.

Bloodthirsty Punch

What better way to wash the snacks down than with a bit of ‘blood’? Stir together 1qt lemon-lime and 1qt cranberry juice with the juice of 4 limes. Pour into a punch bowl. To make it look like there’s a severed hand floating in the blood, fill a rubber glove with water, tie an elastic band around the end and put in the freezer overnight. After making the punch, take the ‘hand’ out of the freezer and use scissors to  remove the glove from the ice and to snip off a couple of the fingers. Drop the hand into the punch bowl of blood. Halloween is the perfect time of year to show that organic treats can be just as fun and tasty as their conventional counterparts. Kids will love making these snacks with their parents and will love devouring them even more.