Tricks of the trade: Halloween Treats

Graduating from the University of Wisconsin, which throws one of the largest Halloween celebrations in the country, has made me a big fan of the holiday.

Admittedly our celebrations usually focused around the BOOze, but this year we thought we'd get in the "spirit" without drinking any - quite yet.

We decided to try out Graveyard cake and Finger cookies to bring to a friend's Halloween party. Both desserts are extremely easy, cute, and pretty hard to screw up.

Graveyard Cake:

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of low fat milk

2 - 3 oz packages of Jell-O Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

1 - 12 ounce tub of Cool Whip Whipped Topping

1 - 16 ounce package of Oreo cookies, crushed

1 package of Milano cookies (to make the tombstones and ghosts)

1 bag of candy corn/candy pumpkins

Black and red gel frosting

Pour the milk into a large bowl, add the pudding mix, and beat with a wire whisk.

Stir in the whipped topping and half of the crushed Oreo cookies and pour it all into a 13x9 inch dish. Sprinkle the remaining crushed Oreo cookies over the top, and refrigerate it for at least an hour.

Decorate using Milano cookies and candy corn/pumpkins.

Sundae School Tips:

• Choose the smallest possible tube of gel-frosting - the smaller nozzle makes it easier to decorate the Milano cookies.
  
• Crush your Oreos in a large plastic bag - but make sure the bag is completely closed so you can be as violent as you'd like!
  

Finger Cookies

Ingredients:

Package of sugar cookies

Sliced almonds

Red frosting gel

Use pre-packaged sugar cookies and mold into finger-shaped cookies on a cookie pan. Follow standard package directions.

Before cookies cool fully, use a knife to further shape the cookies to look like witch fingers (pointed at one end).

After cookies cool, place a dot of red gel on the pointed end of the cookie. Stick a sliced almond in the red gel to look like a finger nail!

Sundae School Tips:

• Cookies almost double in size in the oven, so form small finger cookies from the dough and avoid fat witch fingers (we learned this the hard way).
  
• Make sure you place the almond on top of the red gel - its the only way the almond will stay on the cookie!