One for you, two for me! That’s what you’ll be saying to trick-or-treaters this Halloween season when you have these UnDiet treats around. So when someone says “trick or treat”, smile and hand them a Snickers bar while you reach for an UnDiet Halloween treat – or two – or three. I won’t tell.
Citrus Chews
Using a vegetable peeler, remove large pieces of peel being careful to leave the bitter white pith with the fruit. Try one or more of the following:
- oranges
- lemons
- limes
- grapefruits
Use a small sharp knife or cookie cutter to trim the peel into interesting shapes (stars, moons, bones, bats, cats …), then in a small saucepan over low heat, simmer peels and
- 1 cup honey for every 6 pieces of whole fruit
Stir frequently for 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, tongs, or collander remove peel from honey. Cool on foil or saran wrap lightly sprayed with a light coating of cooking spray, or use a large piece of wax paper and no cooking spray.
Chocolate Coated Cherries
Chocolate dipped fruit is one of the simplest, tastiest, healthiest desserts with the potential for an infinite number of variations. I use this basic recipe for many UnDiet holidays, varying it to suit the season.
2 cups grain-sweetened chocolate or carob chips
4 tablespoons butter
fresh cherries with stems, or strawberries, grapes, raisins, dried date nuggets …
In a small heavy saucepan over very low heat, stir chocolate and butter until melted and smooth then remove from heat. You can also microwave the chocolate with the butter until it is melted.
Using a fork dip cherries one at a time, into melted chocolate. Place chocolate-dipped cherries on wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to set chocolate. If the kids are bugging you for a quick snack you could place a few pieces in the freezer to speed up the process, but don’t put the whole batch in the freezer; the chocolate will develop a white film.
Liqueured Up Cherries
Soak cherries overnight and up to 4 days in your choice of liqueur. Pat dry before dipping in chocolate. Caution: don’t dip and drive
Oatmeal Candy
- 4 cups unrefined sugar
- 6 tablespoons cocoa or carob powder (use carob if you’re losing weight, cocoa if you’re maintaining)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup cream, nondairy milk, or mix of cream & nondairy milk
- 1 cup nut butter
- 4-1/2 cups oatmeal, not instant
Mix sugar, cocoa, butter and cream in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.Remove from heat. Add nut butter and stir until smooth. Add oatmeal and stir until well blended. Drop by teaspoon or tablespoon onto wax paper or lightly oiled cookie sheet. Cool and eat!
Shaped Candies: dump the candy mixture onto a buttered cookie sheet. Use a spatula to smooth the top so it’s all level. When the cookies are cool cut them with a small sharp knife or cookie cutter into whatever shapes you like. If the knife or cookie cutter sticks to the candy, dip the cutting instrument in vegetable oil or spray with oil.
Caramel Chews
Eat these as is or use them to make many other goodies such as Chocolate Dipped Caramel Fruit.
- 1-1/3 cup honey or agave nectar
- 2 cups heavy cream (or 1/2 cup cream & 1/2 cup soy/nut/seed/rice milk)
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup heavy cream (or 1/2 cup cream & 1/2 cup nondairy milk)
- Combine honey, 1 cup heavy cream and butter in a medium-size heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Do not stir. Cook until the mixture begins to get dark and thick. Add 1 cup heavy cream, stir to combine and continue to boil without stirring.
After about 5 minutes use your stirring spoon to drop a small glob of syrup into a glass of ice-cold water. If the mixture forms a firm but not hard ball after hitting the water it’s ready. If it floats to the bottom of the glass in threads boil a few minutes more and test again. When mixture is ready, pour it into a well buttered square pan. When cool, cut into squares.
Note: sometimes a caramel recipe just doesn’t harden like you would like it to. If that happens, don’t despair, you can use this as a caramel sauce or to dip caramel apples into.
Pecan Raisin Clusters
- 1 cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped toasted pecans and 1 cup raisins or chopped dates
In a microwave or double boiler melt chocolate chips until smooth. Dump in pecans and raisins, stirring until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate 30 minutes, until set. Store in airtight container in cool place, but they don’t need to be refrigerated.
Stay tuned – I have lots more Halloween recipes coming over the next few weeks.