FOCUS ON FOOD

On All Hallows’ Eve, I want to be spooked, not nauseated. Every year, I cringe at the sight of gory Halloween paraphernalia. A matter of personal preference? Perhaps. Now that we are parents to a young child, I have mixed feelings about terrifying the innocent. No trick-or-treater should be scarred for life by a 10-foot-tall disemboweled animatronic zombie reaching for him as he walks up the sidewalk with a bag full of candy wearing a pumpkin suit. What’s wrong with the tried-and-true classics, like black cats, friendly ghosts and cackling witches?

This goes for food as well. In all my recipe-developing, food-styling and photographing years, I have successfully dodged making ghoulish treats for Halloween, goodies as ghastly as cream cheese stuffed “roach” dates, or zombie brain Jell-O shots. Thanks, but no thanks. Esthetics do matter. Unless you have lost a bet, you should not be subjected to red velvet brain cake, or worse — and it can get much worse. So let’s move on to a delightfully, frightfully, whimsical Halloween the whole family can enjoy.

For my part, I’m planning on casting a spell on my All Hallows’ Eve tablescape with chai spiced candy apples — no artificial dye needed, unless you want a deep crimson. I quite like the natural, organic glow of these apples, which retain coloring from the rooibos tea. I have also tested these with natural food coloring, which worked well enough. Keep in mind that at 300 degrees Fahrenheit — the required temperature to create a hard candy shell — most natural dyes fade; some more, some less. If you use red apples (pick your favorite variety), you might fall in love with the naturally tinted, glossy and traditional look of these slightly haunted — but not too much — candy apples.