Is there any more fabulous time of the year than Halloween? The high heat of summer has given way to crisp fall days, children’s excitement reaches a fever pitch and the holidays are just around the corner. There’s neighborhood fellowship, days of fun, and many excuses for some inventive entertaining! All of these recipes are super quick and easy to make, and they all deliver on the spook-o-meter! Click on any of the images for more detailed instructions. First up:

We’re big fans of cheese and jam combinations, and New Canaan Farms Jalapeño Jelly with cream cheese has been a hot favorite ever since we introduced this lovely flavor. It’s perfect for Halloween, the red pepper chunks and the texture bringing just the right degree of gore . All you need to do is shape the cheese into a bone shape, spoon over our jelly and you’re ready to go. Have a second block of cheese handy if you have a crowd, as this appetizer goes very fast!

For a more ‘bloody’ but equally delicious combination, how about:

Brie and jam is a great combination, New Canaan Farms Fredericksburg Peach, Peach Pecan and Amaretto, Lemon Fig, and Brazos River Blackberry jams make perfect pairings. But for Halloween you need a good blood red color, and for this season we enjoy our Cherry Preserves, Strawberry Almond and Raspberry combinations. Best of all, our fabulous Raspberry Jalapeño Jam delivers an extra spicy bite that fits beautifully into a Halloween bash. Just spread a whole brie with ½ – 1 cup of jam and bake at 350° for 20 minutes for a melty, gory feast!

The next dip is easy to make ahead and chill, plus it’s a great way to eat some vegetables!

It’s a yummy mixture of thawed and drained frozen spinach, hearts of palm, sour cream and mayo with New Canaan Farms Spinach Dip blend – click on the image for the full recipe. The fun part comes with staging the dip into a hollowed out bread loaf ‘coffin’; we used small kabob sticks to prop it open, and you could really go to town here, using breadsticks for handles and finding the perfect dollar store skeleton (make sure you wash it thoroughly). We lost our ideally-sized skeleton – can you tell?? Our friend here is, ahem, definitely too large for his home, but the effect was still awesome!

For a more elaborate make-ahead dip, it’s hard to beat:

Full of all good things, this dish layers refried beans with our Cilantro Salsa, Mexican cheese, guacamole and sour cream. Our Habanero Salsa is another great rich red option, and Demon Salsa will deliver a super spicy hit. Simply spread each layer on top of the last, leaving a small ring of the previous layer visible. For the spider’s web, spoon the sour cream into a ziplock bag, then snip a very small hole in one bottom corner of the bag. Then squeeze to form the cobweb. The hole should really be tiny! I thought that mine was, but the cobweb came out a little, er chunky. We garnished with a monster spider, but you can scatter over (again washed) mini plastic black spiders for fun.

For some sweet treat these Monster tarts are fantastically easy and fun for little hands to make:

We like the dark color of the jam, so eyes can appear out of the gloom. All you’ll need is a little flour, some rolled out pastry, New Canaan Farms East Texas Blueberry Jam (Brazos River Blackberry also works great), and some small edible eyes. Click on the image above for the recipe; it’s so easy and a great antidote to trick or treating spoils!

To browse all of our products, recipes and stunning gifts, or to just get a little dose of Utopia TX in your life, come visit us at New Canaan Farms. Happy Halloween, everyone!