Everybody loves Halloween.  Who wouldn’t?  People go out in costumes and haunt parties.  Children go around trick or treating.  When you think of Halloween, you’d conjure up images of superhero costumes, neighborhood haunted houses and Jack o’ lanterns.  Americans will purchase millions pounds of candies to hand out.  But how did Halloween started out?

Halloween is a time of celebration and, yes, lots of superstitious belief.  The practices of Halloween came from ancient Celtic festival in the British Isles, the Festival of Samhain.  People would light bonfires and they would wear costumes to ward off spirits.  The Celts would try to appease the spirits by giving those treats.

When Christianity came to Britain, they figured the best way to convert people is to incorporate the Pagan practices into their practices.  A lot of people think Halloween is an American holiday. It is big in the United States, but its roots are actually Celtic-European.

There are so many spooktacular Halloween recipes you could prepare for your Halloween party:

Spooky Fingers
(via delish.com)

These are delicious chocolate dipped pretzels with the simple addition of pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients

• 8 oz. white chocolate
• 20 pretzel rods
• 20 pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper
2. Place chocolate in a large microwavable bowl.
3. On high, microwave on 30-sec increment until the chocolate melts.  Continue to stir until chocolate is smooth.
4. Hold a pretzel rod at a time over melted chocolate. Spoon chocolate and coat the pretzel with chocolate. Make sure to leave about 3 inches of pretzel uncoated.
5. Place the coated pretzel on prepared cookie sheet. Press a pepita onto the coated tip to look like a fingernail.
6. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.
7. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. You can keep the pretzels at room temperature in airtight containers for up to 2 weeks.

Crunchy Doughnut Eyeballs
(via delish.com)

They may look scary on the outside, but the crunch doughnut eyeballs will have kids screaming for more. It’s simply delicious.  These soft doughnut holes are covered with white cholate to make an easy base for these after-dinner Halloween sweets.

Ingredients

• 20 glazed doughnut holes
• 1 c. premier white morsels
• 2 tbsp. solid vegetable shortening
• 20 pieces of gummies
• 20 medium mini candy-coated milk chocolate candies
• 2 drop red food coloring

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cut 1/8-inch thick slices from the opposite sides of each doughnut hole
3. Melt white morsels and vegetable shortening in a microwaveable bowl in the microwave.
4. Work with one doughnut hole at a time, dip it into melted morsels to coat.
5. Lift the coated pieces from the coating and shake excess mixture back into the bowl.
6. Place the doughnut holes, one cut side down, on the cookie sheet.
7. Place the jellied candies on top of the doughnut holes.  Dab chocolate candies with the melted mixture and press on top of jellied candies.
8. Chill for 10 minutes until the coating sets.
9. In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the mixture and 2 drops of red food coloring.
10. Using a toothpick, paint the colored mixture onto doughnut eyeballs to create scary veins.
11. Chill and then serve.

Strawberry Ghosts Recipe
(via tasteofhome.com)

Kids will be happy with these delicious strawberry ghosts.  Juicy strawberries, chocolates and almonds make these treat a howling Halloween success.

Ingredients:

• 30 fresh strawberries
• 8 ounces white baking chocolate, chopped
• 1 teaspoon shortening
• 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Wash strawberries and pat dry with paper towels.
2. In a microwaveable bowl, melt white chocolate and shortening at 50% power.
3. Stir mixture until smooth.  Stir in extract.
4. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper.
5. Dip strawberries in the chocolate mixture and then placed coated strawberries on the cookie sheet.  The excess chocolate will create the ghosts’ tail.
6. Press chocolate chips into coating to resemble eyes.
7. Freeze for 5 minutes.
8. In microwave, melt remaining chocolate chips until smooth.
9. Dip a toothpick into melted chocolate and draw a mouth on your ghosts.
10. Refrigerate.

Chocolate Halloween Mice
(via food.com)

Ingredients:

• 4 (1 ounce) semi-sweet chocolate baking squares
• 1⁄3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup chocolate wafer, finely crushed
• 1⁄3 cup additional chocolate wafer, finely crumbled (for dark mice)
• 1⁄3 cup confectioners' sugar (for white mice)
• 24 silver dragees (small silver, edible balls for eyes)
• 24 sliced almonds (for ears)
• 12 licorice, strings (for tails)

Directions:

• Melt the chocolate and combine it with sour cream
• Stir the mixture in a cup of chocolate wafer crumbs. Mix well.
• Cover the mixture and refrigerate until firm.
• Get a tablespoonful of the mixture and roll into balls.  Mold to create a slight point at the end to resemble a nose.
• Roll dough in sugar to create white mice or in chocolate wafer crumbs to create dark mice.
• Place dragees to create eyes, use the almond slices for ears, and the licorice string as tail.
• Refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours until its firm.