Basirion Rosso, a Gouda flavored with tomato
pesto. Photo courtesy iGourmet.com.

Cahill’s Farm Flavored Irish Cheddar.

English Cheddar With Harissa.

Extra Triple Aged Gouda.

Huntsman Cheese.

Mimolette.

Pecorino With Chile Flakes.

Saxonshire Cheese:

What do these cheeses have in common?

They all are visually on point for a Halloween cheese plate.

Check out all of these “Halloween cheeses” in detail. Thrill your guests with a colorful selection of these artisan cheese beauties.

FOCUS ON MIMOLETTE

Mimolette is a cow’s milk cheese, fascinating for its round ball shape and vibrant, harvest moon color (which comes from annatto).

The balls of Mimolette are aged from 6 to 18 months, during which the cheese is kept in a damp environment. There, thousands of microscopic cheese mites feed on the rind. This natural process gives the cheese its unique appearance, and also its unique flavor.

The younger varieties are comparable in taste and aroma to Parmesan. As the cheese ages, it takes on a chewier and harder texture and hints of butter and hazelnuts. The longer the cheese ages, the more we like it.

Mimolette lends itself well to dishes that call grated cheese: gratins, pastas, salads and soups, for example. It also makes a visual splash when you bring it to the table to grate.

Mimolette is a wonderful addition to the Halloween cheese plate. Serve it with apples or pears. For a wine pairing, try a dessert wine like moscato, sweet Riesling, port or sherry.

If you can’t find it locally, it’s easy to order Mimolette from ForTheGourmet.com.

Mimolette, another cheese the color of a harvest room. Get it from ForTheGourmet.com.

Are you scared into eating your fruit? Photo
courtesy PEEPS.

Just top fruit salad with vanilla yogurt or plain yogurt (we use Greek yogurt slightly sweetened with a no-cal sweetener).

Then, insert Ghost Marshmallow Peeps into the the topping. The dessert is officially haunted!

You can also use Ghost Peeps to make ghost pops, by inserting a lollipop stick or a Pocky chocolate-covered biscuit stick.

Or use the marshmallow spooks as cupcake toppers.

You can also “kill the ghost” in a cup of hot chocolate.

Share your favorite way to use Ghost Peeps!

The recipe is from Karo Syrup, which, along with its sister brand Fleischmann’s Yeast, is joining the fight against child hunger. This year Karo and Fleischmann’s have donated $200,000 to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign. Learn how you can help at NoKidHungry.org.

> The history of Rice Krispie Treats.

> The history of Rice Krispie Treats.

> The history of cereal.

> More Rice Krispie Treats Recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: HALLOWEEN RICE KRISPIE TREATS

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Chill Time: 45 minutes
Yield: about 24 treats

Ingredients

Make these special Rice Krispie Treats for Halloween. If you can’t easily pipe a spider’s web with frosting, use Halloween candies to decorate. Photo courtesy Karo Syrup.

1. COOK: Cook corn syrup and sugar together in a large pan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Bring mixture to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter; mix well. Add cereal; stir until evenly coated.

2. POUR. Pour mixture into greased 15 x 10-inch pan and pat into place.

3. MELT. Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Spread over cereal.

4. COOL. Cool at least 45 minutes, or until firm. Cut into bars or fun shapes for Halloween.

5. DECORATE. If desired, pipe frosting to form Halloween shapes or the word BOO!
 
 
DECORATING IDEAS

Crazy Cats (in photo): Cut circles using a 2 to 3-inch biscuit cutter. Attach candies with a dab of melted white chocolate or frosting to make eyes, nose and ears. Pipe on whiskers with frosting.

Creepy Webs: Cut circles as above. Tint frosting orange. Starting at the center, pipe continuous spiral circles to edge. Drag the tip of a wooden pick from the center to the edge of the bar to create a spider web design.

Mummies: Cut circles as above. Drizzle or pipe white frosting back and forth horizontally and finish with two candy eyes.

Tombstones: Cut into bars, cutting off upper corners diagonally. Pipe frosting to make shapes or words on each “tombstone.” TIP: Tombstones will easily stand upright if the bottom of each is coated with frosting.

And save some for us!
 
 

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Drizzle with honey: It’s heavenly (photo © Bee Raw Honey).

Raisin bread, regular or toasted. It’s delicious plain, with butter or in this killer combination from Bee Raw Honey:

Fromage blanc and apple or banana slices on raisin bread, drizzled with basswood honey.

You can vary the varietal and the type of honey, the spread (butter, crème fraîche, fresh goat cheese, Greek yogurt, quark).

It’s special occasion breakfast bread.

Add some honey for a sweet treat. One of our favorites is Bee Raw Honey’s line of single-varietal American honeys—for yourself or for gifting.

Fromage blanc is a type of fresh cream cheese—but not in the manner of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Depending on the manufacturer, it can be very similar to both crème fraîche and quark.

How soft, how tangy a flavor a cheese has, and other factors are production decisions. Fromage blanc may or may not be low in fat and calories. Because there is no federal standard of identity in the U.S., one manufacturer’s fromage blanc could be another’s quark (see our article on fresh cheeses).

The fromage blanc from Vermont Creamery, for example, is extremely soft, with the consistency of sour cream and a similar tang. It is fat free, protein-packed and has a lower calorie count than other brands. The entire eight-ounce container has just 120 calories. Take that, sour cream!

In France, fromage blanc is often eaten with fruit and sugar as a dessert. It is also very popular in cooking because it heats without separating.

Pick some up during your next trip to the market.

“>Here’s a recipe to make fromage blanc at home.

This fromage blanc is fat-free and low calorie (photo © Vermont Creamery).

They’re almost too lovely to eat—but we’ll
manage. Photo courtesy Woodhouse
Chocolate.

Not only are the chocolate shell and peanut butter filling artisan quality, but the “dressed for Halloween” artwork deserves a shout out.

The PB cups are made by Napa Valley’s Woodhouse Chocolate, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week (read our review).

In bat, haunted house, raven and witch motifs, the two-inch-diameter cups are $4.00 each at WoodhouseChocolate.com.

Find more of our favorite chocolate in THE NIBBLE’s Chocolate Section.