How to Make Ghostly Treats for Halloween

Ghostly treats for Halloween are easy to make by melting white baking chips in the microwave. It’s a fun project you can do easily with the grandkids.

First, mix the melted chips with crunchy chow mein noodles and toasted slivered almonds to create free-form ghost candy. Then, melt the remaining chips to coat pretzel rods and transform them into pretzel ghosts and mummies.

Package the ghosts in food-safe cellophane bags and tie with black ribbons. Hand them out as take-home favors for a Halloween party or share among co-workers or neighbors. Multiply the ingredient quantities, as needed.

For another Halloween treat, decorate cupcakes as pumpkin patches or graveyards.

Halloween Haystack Ghosts

• ½ cup packaged crispy chow mein noodles
• ¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted in the microwave and cooled
• 1 cup white baking chips from an 11-ounce bag (see note below)
• Candy eyes or currants

Line a small cookie sheet with waxed paper.

Put the noodles into a heavy-duty, zip-top plastic bag, and seal. Tap with a mallet to break up the pieces so most of the noodles are halved. Add the almonds and shake the bag to combine.

In a 2-cup, microwave-safe measuring cup or a microwave-safe bowl, melt white baking chips following package directions. Add the chow mein noodles and almonds and stir to mix thoroughly.

For small ghosts, drop by 1 tablespoonful on the prepared cookie sheet; for larger ghosts, drop a second tablespoonful over the first.

Repeat with remaining mixture. You should have about five or six ghosts large ghosts or 12 small ghosts. Press eyes into ghosts. Set aside until ghosts are set and hardened, about 20 minutes. Store in an airtight container.

NOTE:

I used Ghirardelli White Baking Chips. White baking chips do not have cocoa butter in them, so they can’t be called white chocolate, but for our purposes, the baking chips work better, since they can be microwaved to melt and aren’t fussy to work with.

Pretzel Ghosts

• About 1/2 cup white baking chips, remainder of the 11-ounce bag
• About 10 pretzel rods, 7 inches long
• Candy eyes or currants

Line a small cookie sheet with waxed paper.

In a 1-cup glass measuring cup, melt the white baking chips following package directions. Dip a pretzel rod into the melted white chips; use a spoon to coat the sides of the pretzel to reach about 3/4 of the pretzel. Lift pretzel out of the mixture and let excess drip; then lay on a prepared cookie sheet.

Repeat with remaining pretzels. Press eyes into ghosts.

To make mummies, dip one end of the pretzel into the melted white baking chips to mimic a bandaged head, then drizzle in zig-zags to form the wrapped mummy body. Set aside until the melted white chips are set and hardened, about 20 minutes. Makes about 10 ghosts/mummies. Store in an airtight container.

NOTE:

If you melt more white baking chips than I did and/or use a narrower vessel to create a deeper white chips “pool,” you’ll be able to dip the pretzel without having to spoon the melted white chips around the sides, making a smoother coating. (My purpose in making the mummies and ghosts was simply to use the leftover white chips from the bag.)

For some clever seasonal food, craft and decorating projects, visit my Halloween PInterest page, where I’ve collected some of the best ideas I’ve found online.

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