You don’t need to have a big Halloween party to enjoy these adorable, sweet and savory treats. I have some terrific recipe ideas to get you started on your own wonderful love affair with October.

Putting out Skeleton and Brain Dip for an after school snack means they might eat like to eat their veggies instead of Goldfish crackers or cookies. Serve Yummy Mummy Meatloaf for dinner and you won’t get any complaints about “mealoaf again.”

If you’re in the mood for a party, try hosting a “trick or treat dinner” before the main event. This year, Halloween falls on a Sunday, which is a perfect day to try a party like this. Another idea for earlier in October is to host pumpkin carving. Set up tables in your driveway or garage, make some treats to serve, and make it BYOP (bring your own pumpkin).

I like to serve something hearty such as Chicken Soup with Dumplings or Route 66 Chili and cornbread for the adults. Halloweenies were introduced to me by a good friend and now they are an annual tradition. Treat the adults to a cup of Apple Pie Cider (if it is a chilly night) or Apple Pie Punch (if the night turns out to be warmer or you live in a warmer climate) to accompany the trick or treaters or pumpkin carvers, and they’ll be doing the Monster Mash in no time.

Read more by Robin Horrigan

Robin Horrigan writes the column Cooking from the Carpool Lane. She lives on Boston’s south shore and is a stay at home Mom to Ryan, seven, and Maegan, three. Her fascination with cooking sprouted from watching Julia Child cook on a little black and white TV; Robin helped her Mom in the kitchen until she was old enough to ask Santa for her very own copy of The Joy of Cooking. She experiments with all kinds of cooking and baking, from quick weeknight dinners and easy cookies to long simmering weekend stews and complicated, fancy desserts. Ryan thinks if his Mom will ever be famous, it will be “for her awesome cookies.” Her friends say it will be for the cocktails. Either way, if she’s not doing volunteer work or shopping for shoes, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen. Robin’s favorite recipe.

The photo of this Buckeye Pie called to me all summer as I sifted through my pages of recipes saved on Plummelo. I just had to try it. I love recipes that can be made in stages; you can make the crust for this dessert a day or two in advance and keep it tightly covered. Then after you fill the crust, the concoction needs to sit in the freezer for 4-6 hours (or even overnight). This is not a good choice to start at the last minute, but it has its place in a well thought out meal or party plan.

About the origin of the name Buckeye Pie… methinks it comes from the more common Buckeye candies, which are also a peanut butter and chocolate confection made, according to the ever-so-reliable Wikipedia, to resemble the nut of a buckeye tree. Personally I’ll refer to this as an icebox peanut butter pie before I’ll start casually referring to Buckeye Pie. But that’s just me.

Mmm, the ganache. Cook’s treat to lick the spoon after the pie is covered with this rich, silky chocolate glaze. Enjoy.

Chocolate Recipe #2. I’ll start by saying that these Chocolate Chip Brownie Pillows are a fantastic, unexpected treat. But the recipe needs work. This is not one of Pioneer Woman’s signature recipes–it is something posted in her own online community by her fans.

The ingredients are mostly fine. If you are skeeved by the thought of using shortening, I think you can safely go with all butter (but not margarine). Three cups of chocolate chips are a tad excessive–an 11-ounce bag is plenty.

These are giant cookies. The recipe says it will yield 15, but I got 18 huge cookies. You basically need 18 teaspoons of baked brownie. Feel confident that you’ll be able to cut a half dozen good sized brownies out of that part of the project that you can set aside, freeze, or serve alongside the cookies.

The instructions with the two spoons on how to assemble the cookies are a little too fussy for my taste. Use the best tools in your arsenal–your hands and fingers. I do use a one-ounce ice cream scoop to drop most cookies. Set up three cookie sheets covered with parchment paper and drop the dough by rounded tablespoon, six cookies per sheet. They spread a fair amount. Wet your hands and flatten out the dough a bit. Wash your hands and then scoop the brownie part. Drop a teaspoon of brownie on top of each flattened mound of cookie dough. Then scoop and drop 18 more portions of cookie dough. Wet your hands again to shape the dough over to cover the brownie. You should have a bit of cookie dough left in the bowl to seal up any “holes.”

Bake 10 minutes. Rotate all the trays and bake 8-10 additional minutes. Chocolate heaven.

Chocolate Recipe #3. If there was a button on Plummelo to “love” a recipe, I would click it for this one: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough + Cupcake = The Best Cupcake. Ever.

What a fantastic idea! Biting into a soft cupcake to discover a center of freshly baked chocolate chip cookie–what could be more decadent? This is almost the reverse of the Pioneer Woman’s chocolate chip brownie pillow cookies–I think they’d be terrific to serve side by side.

From the multiple reviews posted on Allrecipes, folks say they have had good success using premade cookie dough; the key is to freeze the cookie dough first. As always, be sure to read the instructions completely before you begin any recipe.

Now that I have been through the process, I know I can alter all the flavors, such as changing to chocolate cake or peanut butter cookie dough. Swirled with a cap of chocolate butter cream, this dessert contains all of the three major C’s: chocolate, cookies, and cupcakes.

Read more by Robin Horrigan

Photos: (top) Myrecipes.com and (bottom) Allrecipes.com

Robin Horrigan writes the column Cooking from the Carpool Lane. She lives on Boston’s south shore and is a stay at home Mom to Ryan, seven, and Maegan, three. Her fascination with cooking sprouted from watching Julia Child cook on a little black and white TV; Robin helped her Mom in the kitchen until she was old enough to ask Santa for her very own copy of The Joy of Cooking. She experiments with all kinds of cooking and baking, from quick weeknight dinners and easy cookies to long simmering weekend stews and complicated, fancy desserts. Ryan thinks if his Mom will ever be famous, it will be “for her awesome cookies.” Her friends say it will be for the cocktails. Either way, if she’s not doing volunteer work or shopping for shoes, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen. Robin’s favorite recipe.

I plied my guests with sugar. We drank a pitcher of a delicious, pretty drink I recently tried in Bermuda, called the Rum Swizzle. Made in advance so the flavors can meld and then served over ice, it is a perfect recipe for entertaining. Slightly more labor-intensive per drink were the Drunken Floats. One of the ladies said she has always been adverse to the “ice cream and soda” concoctions like root beer floats… until now. It makes a perfect creamy blend, and a touch of vanilla vodka poured over the ice cream cuts the sweetness enough to make it a welcome indulgence.

What’s a girls’ night without chocolate? Earlier in the summer I encouraged making cool treats ahead for the hot days, and Triple Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches have been a favorite among the kids. But when rolled in toasted crushed nuts along the sides instead of mini chocolate chips, they appeal to crowds of all ages. (Can I admit to you all that we had so much fun with the Rum Swizzles and the Root Beer Floats that we never even made it to these? My son jumped up and down to hear that all 12 sandwiches were still safely tucked in the freezer the following day.)

Last, but not least, we noshed on Chocolate Chip Brownie Pillows. Imagine biting into a chocolate chip cookie to find a fudgy brownie center… heavenly! Everyone was amazed that they were homemade cookies because they came out so professional looking. The brownie middle was such a great surprise.

True to fabulous form, my girlfriends came armed with cranberry-maple brie and baguettes and a wonderful hummus and feta dip with cucumbers sprinkled over the top. A little salty to balance the sweet.

Since I keep a well-stocked bar and baking pantry, I barely spent more money than I would on a couple of drinks out at a bar. We had a lot more elbow room and many more laughs this way. Before the weather cools down, try your next girls’ night out at home–out on the deck.

Read more by Robin Horrigan

Robin Horrigan writes the column Cooking from the Carpool Lane. She lives on Boston’s south shore and is a stay at home Mom to Ryan, seven, and Maegan, three. Her fascination with cooking sprouted from watching Julia Child cook on a little black and white TV; Robin helped her Mom in the kitchen until she was old enough to ask Santa for her very own copy of The Joy of Cooking. She experiments with all kinds of cooking and baking, from quick weeknight dinners and easy cookies to long simmering weekend stews and complicated, fancy desserts. Ryan thinks if his Mom will ever be famous, it will be “for her awesome cookies.” Her friends say it will be for the cocktails. Either way, if she’s not doing volunteer work or shopping for shoes, you’ll probably find her in the kitchen.

Photo by Food Network

While I am never at a loss for inspiration, many of the recipes I lean toward rely a single ingredient that’s not common in most kitchens: simple syrup. Trader Joe’s now sells a very good, inexpensive version that is great in a pinch, but simple syrup is actually very easy to make and it keeps for a long time in the fridge. As an added bonus, simple syrup works so much better for sweetening iced tea and iced coffee than granulated or even superfine sugar. You can use it to have some fun making real lemonade with the kids, and bakers even use it to glaze cake layers in various desserts. Once you get the knack for it, you can start to flavor simple syrup with lemon, vanilla, or ginger depending on how you want to use it.

In the name of scientific research, I called on a willing group of friends to help me out with a dirty job: sampling and discussing cocktails made with simple syrup. The “tasting panel” comprised four men, including a retired bartender, and two ladies.

A Spiced Blueberry Mojito was the hands-down favorite. This is a little messy and laborious to make individually, so it is better suited to a small group. Everyone was surprised by the lemonade color of the Barbados Rum Punch. This drink tastes very exotic and is inexpensive to make; we agreed it would be great for summer entertaining. The next day I decided to throw the rest of this concoction into my ice cream maker and–voila!–instant rum slushies, which I daresay might actually be better than drinking the original mixture. We struggled with the Vanilla Pineapple Martini for the right ratio of lime juice: at first there was too much, so we eliminated it, and then we felt something was missing without it. In the end we decided on just a splash for the acidity to balance out the vanilla and pineapple. The Pink Gin Fizz is light and refreshing–perfect to serve at brunch or while sitting by the pool. You can increase or decrease the strength of the drink to your taste by adjusting the amount of club soda. In a completely opposite direction, while we all enjoyed the classic Sidecar, we felt it was something to revisit in the cooler months. Made with brandy, it is very different-tasting from the standard vodka, gin, and rum. But it warmed us up inside and made us feel like we should be inside by a roaring fire instead of battling mosquitoes on the deck.

Try making a signature cocktail at your next gathering!

Robin Horrigan is a stay at home mom to a 6-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. She is the cruise director for her busy family, keeping the calendar full of the stuff that makes life worth living, but leaves plenty of time to shop for shoes. When they’re all at home, you’ll find the Horrigans knee-deep in chocolate chips and cookie racks, baking treats together that celebrate the four seasons and even the silliest of holidays.

Photos courtesy of Kathleen Aker.

Appetizers are to entrees as dating is to marriage. You can have an awful lot of fun before committing to one specific dish.

So it’s ironic that as a married mother of two, I’m finding entrees are all but off the table when creating a menu. Dinner parties are often reduced to inviting other families over for takeout, and hoping none of the kids has a meltdown before dessert is done.

But appetizers—usually homemade—are always on the menu. Over the last few years, I’ve gathered numerous recipes for fast and delicious spreads and appetizers.

Dips and spreads are one of the easiest ways to stave off hunger while waiting for the main course. (Or in my case lately, while waiting for the takeout guy to arrive.) The recipes below are centered around ingredients that you can stash in your pantry or fridge, so it’s easy to whip up a couple of these starters, then relax and chat with your guests.

So don’t let a busy lifestyle interfere with hosting a dinner party. Open a bottle of wine. Serve lots of apps. Chat with your friends… and wait for the takeout guy. No one will mind. Really.

Branch out and try more complicated appetizers—you’ll soon become as big an aficionado as I am. See you by the catering station.

Life in my social circle is one food related adventure after another, and this February has been no different. A few weeks back, a friend threw a pickle party, where everyone buys or makes their own pickled something or other. (I know: something about me draws in the culinary eccentricity. I’ve learned to embrace it.) I was smitten with the idea; themed food parties can be so fun!

When one ingredient, preparation process, or general theme is made universal, creativity and playfulness (two of my favorite elements in cooking) often come to the fore. For example, when the same friend moved out of her old apartment in August, she had a rather more racily themed “Skin and Bare It” party to beat the heat. All food needed to be able to be unwrapped or peeled in some way; ingredients ranged from pistachios to bananas to Fruit Roll-Ups. Interpretation is half the joy: at an egg party, for example, there’s custard, meringues, quiche of all stripes. And if you broaden things to encompass egg shaped foods, you’ve opened your doors for festivals of olives, kumquats, and jelly beans to come dancing through.

As friends rushed to find the most perfect gravlax recipe, or hunted down the platonic ideal of sake lee (a byproduct of the fermentation process) to cure small vegetables, I thought about what inspires me in food. Color, texture, and surprise were the answers I came up with–and with grey skies outside, I thought I might like a reminder that summer is coming back one day. Enter the pickled watermelon radish.

A derivative of daikon radishes, watermelon radishes are milder and not as spicy as their red-skinned cousins. When pickled, they take on a sweet, tangy taste that is at first at odds with their appearance (you expect a fruit to be lurking within those bright pink speckles), but gradually comes to win you over.

It was so exciting to see what everyone came up with. There were pickled sausages, pickled carrots, pickled peppers (not even close to a peck, though, by the time we were done). The aforementioned gravlax was a sincerely incredible capstone to the night; weeks later I’m still dreaming about it. And pickletinis, which had been threatened but (foolishly) not taken seriously by me, ended up being a surprise hit.

The guest who traveled farthest for the party, a preserving fanatic who came in from Northampton, brought something very special with her. It was pineapple, apple, and almond kimchi; the subtle complexity of tastes was lovely, and would be a great addition to the upcoming Greater Boston Kimchi Festival. And we’re off to the races again: another month, another odyssey of edible oddity. But it gets me sharing food with friends and keeps me smiling–and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

See below for photo source

Although most of us didn’t experience the 1950s, it was a time when people focused on family, friends, entertaining, and simplicity — which can be the perfect theme for your holiday party. With little money and effort, you can put together a tasty spread that will bring your friends back to holidays past (whether they were there in the 50s or not).

A typical 1950s cocktail party menu includes passed hors d’oeuvre — both hot and cold small bites and finger foods. Start with cold items you can easily pour from a can or jar, like salted almonds, cocktail onions, Chex mix, pimento-stuffed olives, and cornichons.

Next, go with some quick assembled foods, like a variety of canapés, deviled eggs, fruit kebabs, broiled grapefruit (a 1950s classic), shrimp cocktail, cream cheese stuffed celery, and potato chips served with onion dip or deviled-ham dip.

The popular hot appetizers of the time included food wrapped in bacon, fondue, and tidbits in “blankets.” For this part of the menu, I would take an old-time favorite and add a modern twist to keep it fun and interesting. The popular bacon-wrapped dish of the time was Rumaki – water chestnuts and chicken or duck livers skewered and wrapped in bacon. It had a pseudo-Polynesian feel to it. How about scallops and pineapple chunks marinated in a soy-based sauce, wrapped in bacon and broiled? Shrimp, swordfish, or chicken breast cubes would work well too.

And that fondue pot that is sitting on your basement shelf? Bring it out! You could do a savory cheese fondue, a broth fondue for cooking little bits of meat, or a chocolate dessert fondue served with strawberries and pound cake. My personal favorite is a classic cheese fondue, served with chunks of bread, apple slices, cubed ham or chicken sausage, and fresh vegetables. This Cheddar and Hard Cider Fondue is a seasonal fondue that is always a big hit at my parties.

And the stereotypical 1950s appetizer? Everyone loves pigs in a blanket. You can wrap other things in blankets too. Try slices of gourmet chicken sausage or grilled asparagus. You could do a modern take on the classic cheese puff by doing a goat cheese wrapped in phyllo.

For decorations, keep it easy and inexpensive… think glittery garland and a tree covered in tinsel. Put some classic holiday tunes on your playlist (Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby, Brenda Lee’s Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree) and you’re ready for a fun celebration!

For cocktails, traditional is best. Make sure you include one or two martinis and some type of punch, like this Fish House Punch, which was featured in Gourmet Magazine in July 1951. Little plastic cocktail hangers and swizzle sticks add a nice touch.

Fish House Punch

3/4 lb sugar
1 qt lemon juice
2 qt Jamaican rum
1 qt cognac
4 oz peach brandy
1 1/2 qt water

Dissolve sugar with just enough water and add 1 quart lemon juice. Let these steep together for about 1 hour.

In a separate container, preferably a large jug, blend Jamaican rum, cognac, peach brandy and water. Cover container tightly to prevent evaporation and to let the liquors steep.

Merge the two mixtures in a bunch bowl containing a large block of ice (if available, otherwise ice cubes will suffice). Stir gently occasionally, and let the mixture blend for about 2 hours. Taste for strength and dilute with water as needed.

Photo source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/ / CC BY-SA 2.0