By Daniel Gao, Staff Writer

Spooky foods of Halloween, ah yes, it’s that time of the year again. From exotic grapes that look like witch fingers to durians that look like a medieval mace and smell like rotten flesh, nature brings wonders to the Halloween landscape. Out of these naturally grown horrors, there are fun unearthly recipes to create during this spooky season.

Ever tasted edible dirt? Dirt pudding is one of the most realistic replicas of soggy dirt on the night of Halloween. The addition of wiggly gummy worms gives another hair-raising level of appeal. (FYI, Dirt pudding is made with crushed oreo cookies). 

To make this specialty Halloween dessert, you’ll need

1. 14 oz of Oreos
2. two small boxes of instant chocolate pudding
3.  three and a half cups of milk
4. 4 tablespoons of melted butter
5. 8 oz of cream cheese at room temperature
6. one cup of powdered sugar
7. 12 ounces of whipped topping
8.  gummy worms. 

Here’s the recipe: 

1. Put the Oreos in a big zip lock bag and crush them with your bare hands (the recipe tastes best when there is a variation of small and large chunks).
2. Pour 4 tablespoons of melted butter into the bag of crushed Oreos and shake.
3. Whisk the pudding mix and milk together for 2 minutes until it thickens, then set it aside.
4. Place the cream cheese(preferably softened) with the sugar in a bowl and mix until the mixture is smooth with no lumps remaining.
5. Next, stir the pudding with the bowl of cream cheese and sugar.
6. Finally, Spread a layer of whipped topping over the pudding and cover the pudding with Oreo crumbs and add gummy worms.

Boom Shaka! You made your first chocolate pudding! Surprise your friends and family with this recipe for your Halloween parties. If not, it proves to your parents and your culinary art class that you have mastered the art of preparing desserts.

If you want to go above and beyond store-bought gummy worms, try making realistic replicas of earthworms with Jello. To make jello worms, you’ll need the following:

1. Strawberry Jello mix
2. ¾ cups of Heavy whipping cream
3. 50  straws

Now here’s the recipe:

1. Follow the instructions on the jello package. Boil only half the amount of water required on the jello box instructions.
2. Dump the jello powder into a bowl, pour hot water, and mix. Set it aside after mixing.
3. Meanwhile, waiting for the jello mixture to cool down, stretch out the straws and make them stand upright, side by side, in a tall glass.
4. Pour the heavy whipping cream into the lukewarm jello mixture.
5. Finally, pour the jello mixture into the straws and refrigerate for 2 hours.

After refrigerating, run hot water through the straws and push the jello worms onto the dirt pudding. With the addition of custom jello worms, this dirt pudding comes to life and will cause your friends to second-guess eating this dessert. 

A floating hand punch will be your best bet if you want to make something more manageable. Floating hand punch has a pair of frozen hands made of ice floating in the drink to give an eerie appearance. 

What you’ll need:

1. Fruit punch.
2. Sparkling water.
3. Peeled lychees.
4. A pair of disposable latex gloves.
5. A large bowl.

Here’s the recipe:

1. First, rinse the latex gloves and fill them up with water. After, tie a knot on each glove as you would on a balloon and place them in the freezer overnight. 
2. Pour the fruit punch into a clear bowl.
3. Add peeled lychees into the fruit punch to resemble floating eyeballs.
4. Finally, pour in sparkling water to carbonate your fruit punch.

Add some witch-finger grapes on the side for a complete-looking dish. Whether you are looking for some fun or desperately trying to find recipes to make on Halloween, hopefully, these recipes satisfy your cravings.