Frightening Food Crafts

In preparation for Halloween, The Kitchen has cooked up frightfully simple food crafts for you. Try out these kooky crafts at your next ghoulish gathering.

Episode: Spooky Surprises
Geoffrey Zakarian, CruditÈ Skeleton, Food Network, The Kitchen

Geoffrey Zakarian, CruditÈ Skeleton, Food Network, The Kitchen

Crudité Skeleton

A great foil to all of the sweets is a crunchy Crudité Skeleton. It's an impressive display and all of the extra veggies can be served alongside in a basket or small tray. You'll want to lay out a large rectangular cutting board to build your display. On a separate board, cut slices of red, green or yellow peppers into rings and remove the seeds. Next, cut the rings in half and place one on the board cut side facing the bottom to create the pelvis of the skeleton. Cut 4 or 5 in half again and place them on either side of the spine as the ribs. Baby carrots make the spine, shin bones and feet.

Cut a head of cauliflower into small florets and use them as the joints. You'll need them at the hips, knees and elbows. Cut a cucumber into 4 pieces, first lengthwise then in half. Those are your thighs, biceps and triceps.

Use celery for hands! Cut it into 3-inch pieces and save the wide root end. You'll use that end to make the skeleton hands with a paring knife--just shave into the root end ever so slightly to create fringes that look like fingers. The rest of the celery can go on the side in the basket with the rest of your crudité.

Cut 2 grape tomatoes on an angle, only taking off a small corner of each at the top. Join the 2 cut sides to make a heart (secured by a toothpick) and place it in the chest of your skeleton.

To make an avocado skull, use a paring knife to carve out holes for the eyes on the wide end of an avocado. Carve the nose underneath by making an upside-down heart. Carve the eyes and nose all the way to the pit.

For the mouth, trace it out with the sharp point of a paring knife so that it's only skin deep. Peel back the skin of the avocado to expose the flesh underneath. Use the tip of the knife or a toothpick to trace out the teeth. Lop off a small piece at the back side of the skull and place it on the board to top the skeleton.

Sunny Anderson makes Shrunken Apple Punch, as seen on Food Network's The Kitchen

Sunny Anderson makes Shrunken Apple Punch, as seen on Food Network's The Kitchen

Shrunken Head Apple Punch

We've put our heads together and come up with a fun Shrunken Apple Punch idea perfect for All Hallows Eve! This craft is a great use for the abundance of apples after apple picking.

To make the shrunken head apples, mix together 2 cups of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of salt and set aside. Now you're ready to carve. Peel 6 to 10 large apples and use a paring knife or craft knife to carve out eyes, noses and mouths. Dunk the carved apples in the lemon juice solution and place on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. The solution will keep the apples from browning and the salt will help with the dehydration process. Bake the apples at 200 degrees F for 6 hours. Once the apples heads have cooled, you can now add them to a drink dispenser filled with white cranberry juice and apple juice or your favorite Halloween punch.

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