Healthy Halloween Recipes for Kids

Author:
Stacie Naczelnik
Updated:
Mar 27, 2011

If you want to serve your children the healthiest snacks for Halloween, you could serve carrot sticks and apples, but where's the fun in that?

While these recipes might not be the healthiest options, they are healthier than a lot of other recipes and treats out there. Indulge your kids this Halloween by keeping them healthy and happy.

Trick or Treat: Hot Apple Cider, Pumpkin Seed Brittle, and Baked Cinnamon Apples.

Hot Apple Cider

Serve your kids and their friends mugs full of hot apple cider instead of sugary sodas. These warm, tasty drinks will keep them from bouncing off the walls, as well as heat them up after a crisp Autumn evening.

Ingredients:

1 gallon apple cider (look for something with as few ingredients as possible)
2 dozen cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves
3 oranges

Directions:

Heat the oven to 350º. Stud the oranges with the cloves (press the pointy ends into the orange skins). Bake oranges until the skins turn brown.
Combine all the ingredients, including the studded oranges, in a large pot. Bring the cider to a simmer over medium heat. You need to cook for at least 5 minutes, then keep warm on low heat.
Discard oranges before serving. Use the cinnamon sticks as a garnish.

Serve your Halloween Treats in Spooky Style

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Most brittle is made with corn syrup, which is not a healthy ingredient. This version uses butter, raw sugar, and honey instead. These ingredients are more wholesome and nutritious than corn syrup.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup organic, raw brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Directions:

Spray a rimmed baking sheet with a non-stick spray.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the sugar and honey, bringing it to a boil.
With a thermometer in the mixture, cook the butter mixture, without stirring, until it is a medium amber color. When the mixture reaches 280º, stir in the pumpkin seeds.
Continue to cook until it reaches 300º.
Pour mixture onto the baking sheet. Let brittle cool completely, then break into pieces.
Store in an air-tight container for up to a week.

Baked Cinnamon Apples

This tasty treat is not nearly as messy as bobbing for apples or sticky caramel apples.

Ingredients:

8 tsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbs. raw, brown sugar
8 red apples, washed and cored
8 cinnamon sticks

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º.
Beat the sugar and butter together in a small bowl, until the mixutre is fluffy.
Put a teaspoonful of the butter sugar into the middle of each apple. Then, add a cinnamon stick to the center of each apple.
Place apples in a glass baking dish.
Bake for 25 minutes, until the apples soften. Serve warm.

Creamy Pumpkin Squares

Crust Ingredients:

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5 tbs. butter, no salt
1/3 cup honey
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

Filling Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup milk
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. mace
1/4 tsp. allspice
dash of salt

Directions:

Food process or use a pastry cutter to combine the butter, honey, and flour until it looks like crumbs. Press into a square baking pan. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425º.
Beat together the pumpkin and milk until combined. Add the remaining ingredients. Beat together until it is a smooth and thick cream.
Pour the pumpkin filling onto the crust.
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 250º. Bake for another hour and 15 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares.