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Many parents these days celebrate Halloween with a fun party instead of trick or treating. This decision may be due to safety or nutrition concerns (or both). If you’re a parent looking for treats to make at your upcoming party, try these recipes which use honey as a sweetener. They can also be used for lunch bag and after-school snacks.

This old collection of recipes has been recently updated by Robin R (Editor) to include additional tips for making toffee apples as well as an alternative recipe using cream & honey.

These bars require no baking and can be ready in just five minutes!

🧙‍♀️👻🎃💀🦇

1. Grind nuts or seeds to consistency of flour.
2. Stir in honey, molasses and raisins. Press into a greased pan.
3. Sprinkle with carob powder and sesame seeds.
4. Chill and cut into squares.
5. Store in an airtight container. Refrigerate.

Helpful Hint : This recipe would also be good shaped into balls and rolled in unsweetened coconut.

No costume party is complete without some delicious toffee apples!

🧜🏻‍♀️👸🏻🧝🏻‍♀️🦄🧚🏻‍♀️

1. Wash apples and dry well. Insert wooden sticks into stem ends.
2. Put the butter, honey, sugar and vinegar into a heavy bottomed saucepan. Melt mixture over low heat.
3. Stir until mixture has melted then turn heat to medium, and do not stir while candy boils.
4. Boil for 15 minutes or until candy reaches 290 F on a candy thermometer. Remove candy from heat and let it cool for a few minutes.
5. Dip the apples into the toffee until they are well coated. Place apples on a well greased cookie sheet while the toffee hardens.
6. When cool, wrap toffee apples in clear plastic.

Editor’s Notes:

1. If your apples are waxed, the toffee may not stick well. Remove wax from the apples by immersing them in scalding hot water for about ten seconds. Dry with a towel and note the lack of shine (which means the wax has been removed).
2. Consider pouring the hot toffee in a smaller, more vertical, heat-proof container for easier dipping.
3. Before placing on the cookie sheet, you can roll the apples in sprinkles. I recommend using unsweetened shredded coconut, or very finely chopped nuts (or a mixture of those). If you want to dye your shredded coconut so it looks more like traditional sprinkles, check out the website called “The Things We’ll Make”. They have techniques for making home made dyes from natural ingredients.
4. Red apples will look great with the toffee recipe, but you can use any colour apples you like.
5. For caramel apples you can change the recipe to a mixture of cream and honey. The short video below by Farm to Table shows how to do it.

These are kind-of like a rice crispy square. . . but with better ingredients.
Sticky, crunchy & sweet!

Oo-oo-aa-aa!

🐶🐱🐵🐮🐷

1. In a saucepan, heat first 5 ingredients together, stirring to blend.
2. In an 8×8 pan combine oats, rice cereal, coconut and peanuts.
3. Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients. Mix until thoroughly coated. Pack mixture firmly into the pan.
4. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.

 Popcorn, nuts & honey make a Cracker Jack treat. A superhero makes a Cracker Jack costume!

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1. Mix popped corn, pecans and almonds on a large cookie sheet.
2. Bring honey and butter to a boil and boil for 15 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 265 F.
3. Pour over popcorn mixture and toss to coat with the honey mixture. Cool and break apart.

Easy peasy!
Yummy honey!
(Or is that easy pea-nutty)?

🧌🐲🧙🏻‍♂️🧝🏻🐉

1. Mix all ingredients together except peanuts.
2. Shape into bite-sized rolls. Roll in chopped peanuts.

The goblins will surely gobble these up!

👺🧛🏻‍♂️😈🧟‍♂️👹

1. Pop corn and pour into a large bowl. Add nuts if using (peanuts, cashews, walnuts, etc.).
2. Place honey in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.
3. Pour hot honey over popcorn and toss until coated. When mixture is cool enough to handle butter your hands and shape into balls.
4. Cool on a sheet of waxed paper. Store in an airtight container.

Editor’s Note: The 1 1/2 cups of nuts seems like a lot for an optional ingredient. If using, I recommend 1/4 cup at first and adding a bit more at a time until you get the results you want. I would also recommend doubling the amount of honey in the pot so there is extra in case the balls don’t hold together as desired.

Above feature photo of caramel apples by Kathleen Tyler Conklin / Wikimedia Commons.

Above border image of spiders by Petr Kratochvil / PublicDomainPictures.net.