Terrifying treats

Brain Dip
2 avocados
1/2 cup prepared salsa
1 head cauliflower
6 thin slices red and blue fruit leather

1.Slice the avocados in half. Remove the seeds and set aside. Scoop the avocado out of the skin into a bowl. Mash with a fork or whisk and stir in the salsa. Set aside. Slice off one side of each pit to make it flat and expose the cores of the pits. They will look like eyes.
2. Remove all of the leaves from the cauliflower and remove the stem, leaving a nice hollow area with the outer part of the head intact. Use toothpicks to hold it together if it starts to fall apart
3. Place the cauliflower into a small bowl, so that the hollow is facing upwards and most of the cauliflower is up out of the bowl. The bowl is just for stability. Fill with the avocado dip and arrange the pits as eyes. Decorate the white ‘’brain’’ by weaving thin strands of red and blue fruit leather between the florets to make veins and arteries. I wrap the bowl with cheesecloth and decorate with red food coloring to make it even more horrific.

Creepy Apple Teeth
4 Honeycrisp apples – cored and quartered
1 (2.25 ounce) package blanched slivered almonds

With a small, sharp paring knife, cut a lengthwise wedge from the skin side of each apple quarter, leaving the peel around the wedge for lips. If desired, rub the cut portions of the apple quarters with lemon juice to prevent browning. Poke 5 or 6 slivered almonds into the top and bottom of the cut-out area to make snaggly teeth.

Bloody Broken Glass Cupcakes
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 (16 ounce) can white frosting
3 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Sugar Glass:
2 cups water
1 cup light corn syrup

Edible Blood:
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water, or more as needed
15 drops red food coloring
3 drops blue food coloring
1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2, 12-cupcake tins with paper cupcake liners.
2. Blend cake mix, 1 cup water, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on low speed for 2 minutes. Divide cake batter between lined cupcake tins.
3. Bake cupcakes in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool completely. Frost cupcakes with white frosting.
4. Make the sugar glass. Mix 2 cups water, 1 cup corn syrup, white sugar, and cream of tartar in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Use a candy thermometer and boil sugar syrup until temperature reaches 300 degrees (hard ball), stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken as water evaporates. When sugar reaches 300 degrees, quickly pour onto a metal baking pan. Cool until completely hardened. Break into “shards” using a meat mallet.
5. Make the edible blood. Mix together 1/2 cup corn syrup and cornstarch in a large bowl. Slowly stir in the 1/4 cup of water, adding more if necessary, until the corn syrup mixture has thickened to the consistency of blood. Stir in the red and blue food coloring.
6. Stab each frosted cupcake with a few shards of broken sugar glass. Drizzle on drops of “blood” to complete the effect.