Mary Pogosian
Crimson Chronicle Reporter
As Halloween is approaching, Hollywood High students consume a lot of candy in celebration of the holiday. Our school’s Vegan club thought it would be a good idea to learn about vegan recipes for Halloween treats as a healthier alternative. Vegan recipes do not contain milk, eggs, or other animal-derived ingredients, which means we won’t be using a few ingredients that are commonly used for food and sweets.
Foods like yogurt, cream cheese, and even many candies, gelatin can be employed as a stabilizer, thickening, or texturizer. Gelatin should not be used while making these treats because it is made from animal skin, tendons, cartilage, ligaments, and bones made out of pork regularly. Carmine is a food dye that can be used to make a variety of colors for foods and candies. Carmine color, which contains red pigment from the crushed female cochineal bug, is another ingredient you should avoid using when preparing these Halloween treats. Confectioner’s glaze is a glossy, smooth finish that is applied to candy. Vegan foods usually do not use this ingredient as it’s made from resinous secretions of certain insects.
Halloween Pudding Cups:
This vegan dairy-free Halloween Pudding cupcakes only takes 20 minutes to make, exquisite for parties. Include crumbled Oreo cookies and candy pumpkins on top of the treat.
To make the pudding you will need to put cornstarch, cocoa powder, and sugar in a saucepan, then pour in half of the soy milk and stir to blend.The texture will be thick, as you keep stirring all of the powder has been incorporated. When the pudding has thickened, you’ll know it’s done.
Remove the pudding from the heat and divide it evenly between two regular-size cups or four smaller cups. Place the cups in the refrigerator to allow the mixture to thicken further.
We’ll have to make our own pumpkin candy because store-bought ones contain gelatin unless bought from a vegan store. To make the Candy Pumpkins, scrape the orange filling off the four Halloween chocolate sandwich cookies by twisting the tops off. Make a ball out of each of the four orange filling bits and place a broken pretzel piece on top.
Crush the chocolate cookies with a food processor or a rolling pin. Scrape the edges of the graham crackers with a butter knife to make them rounded, like a tombstone. On each graham cracker tombstone, write “RIP” in white icing for decoration. It’s also essential to double-check that the frosting you buy at the store is vegan.
Top each pudding cup with chocolate cookie crumbs once the pudding has chilled for at least 30 minutes. In each pudding cup, place one Graham Cracker Tombstone. On either side of the tombstones, place two candy pumpkins. Return the pudding cups to the fridge to cool until ready to serve.
Frankenstein Rice Krispies
Rice krispies are a Halloween favorite because we can decorate them to make them look spooky and taste delicious. Unfortunately, they are not vegan, but we can always use our own! These Frankenstein vegan rice krispies will be the healthier alternative for your Halloween party.
For the rice krispies, your ingredients will consist of 1 Tbsp of vegan butter, vegan marshmallows, organic brown rice cereal, and 5 natural green coloring. You’ll need non dairy chocolate and 1 tbsp of coconut oil to smooth out the chocolate sprinkles for Frankenstein’s hair and mouth. You will need 12 homemade googly eyes for Frankenstein so it could be enough for everyone. For the neck bolts on the Frankenstein, you will need 6 vegan marshmallows that will be sliced in half. You’ll need 6 popsicle sticks so your guests could have something to hold the frankenstein by.
To make these Frankenstein treats, start by lining an 8×8 pan with wax paper. Melt the vegan butter and vegan marshmallows in a medium saucepan over medium heat while stirring often. Remove from the heat once they’ve completely melted and stir in the natural food coloring until well blended. Combine the brown rice cereal and the water in a mixing bowl. Place in the 8×8 pan and gently pat down. Allow 10 minutes for cooling. 6 rectangles should be cut out. Each Treat should have a popsicle stick in it. Using melted chocolate and sprinkles, coat the tops of the pastries. Using melted chocolate for the eyes and marshmallows for the bolts, “glue” the created googly eyes together. More melted chocolate was used to draw the mouths. Lastly, allow time for it to settle.
Tangerine Pumpkins & Banana Ghosts
If these recipes were too complex or time-consuming for you, there is a faster and easier alternative for you to try. To prepare all of your ingredients, start by peeling the Tangerines and cutting the celery into short and tiny sticks. The bananas should then be peeled and sliced in half. Make sure you have your small chocolate chips available on your kitchen table. Place your cut celery into tops of the tangerines to represent the stem of the pumpkin. To make it seem like your ghost banana has eyes, stick two chocolate chips next to each other.
Harry Potter’s Pumpkin Juice
Watching the Harry Potter movies is perfect during Halloween time, so it could be a great idea to make a Harry Potter themed drink while watching the movies. There is a popular drink at Universal Studios called “Butterbeer.” However, this drink is not vegan because the foam on the top of the drink contains dairy, so we are going to be making our own alternative.
In order to make this drink you will need 10 dried apricots, half a cup of water, 2 cups of apple juice, 1 cinnamon stick, 7 allspice berries, 2 – 2 inch pieces of thinly sliced ginger, half vanilla bean, half a teaspoon of vanilla extract, half of a cup of pumpkin puree, and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg.
To begin, soak the apricots in water for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. In a saucepan, combine the apple juice, cinnamon stick, allspice, ginger, and vanilla bean. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low heat and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Then, remove from the heat and set it aside to cool. Then, in a blender, combine the apricots with the soaking water and process until smooth. Blend in the pumpkin puree and nutmeg once more. Only the liquid should come through when straining the apple juice combination into the blender. Blend everything together until you have a smooth texture. Place a fine mesh strainer over a pitcher and drain off the pulp, leaving only the thick juice.