How can you make breakfast more Halloweeny? Turn toaster waffles into bats (photo Good Food Made Simple | Facebook).

[3] Mozzarella eyeball snaks, made with bocconcini (bite-size balls) and olives (photo courtesy Bel Gioioso):.

[4] Vampire ice cream sundae, with strawberry topping, mini marshmallows and chocolate chip eyes (photo Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

Halloween, short for All Hallows’ Evening, is celebrated on the evening of October 31st. It evolved from the festival of Samhain (sah-WEEN), celebrated by ancient Celts at the end of the harvest, a time to prepare for winter.

Samhain marked the end of the “lighter half” of the year and beginning of the “darker half.” The Halloween colors of orange and black represent the lighter side and the darker side.

The Celts believed that on October 31st, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc, including sickness and damaged crops.

To avoid the spirits and ghosts that roamed the countryside on October 31st, people began to wear masks and costumes—to mimic the spirits and avoid being recognized as human. To keep spirits and ghosts from their home, they placed candles in their windows, using hollowed-out turnips and other vegetables as the holder, or jack o’ lantern.

The festival of Samhain would frequently include celebratory bonfires. The fires attracted insects, which attracted bats. Thus, bats became integrated into the holiday.

Around 600 C.E., Christian missionaries replaced the pagan festival of Samhain with All Saints Day, also called All Hallows Even (even means evening).

The name Halloween (or Hallowe’en) first appears in 16th-century Scotland, evolving from All Hallows’ Eve.
 
 
BUT MUCH OF THE MODERN CELEBRATION CAME FROM AMERICA

Carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treating, costume parties and visiting “haunted houses”—not to mention pranking—evolved in the U.S. Pumpkins, a hardier, new world fruit (yes, a fruit), replaced the smaller turnips used in the Old Country.

It began with 19th-century Irish and Scottish immigrants who brought the tradition over. In the late 20th century, the “holiday spirit” spread to other western countries, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the U.K.

> More history of Halloween.
 
 
LEADING UP TO THE BIG DAY

No matter how you plan to celebrate Halloween, you can serve little touches of the holiday for the week prior to the event.

Halloween is too much fun to wait for one day of celebration. You don’t have to be a kid to want an entire Halloween Week.

 
Simply look at everything you’re planning to serve, and see how you can tweak it for seasonal fun.

If you need inspiration, check online sites like Pinterest or Google Images to see what others have done.

> The history of Trick or Treating.

> The history of the jack-o-lantern.

> Fun Halloween food recipes.

> Halloween cocktail recipes.

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Halloween sangria substitutes beer for wine (photo © Sid Wainer).

[2] What’s the difference between apple juice and apple cider? See the answer below (photo © Red Jacket Orchards).

[3] Orange bitters are sold next to the Angostura bitters in most supermarkets. Or, make your own with this recipe from (photo © Red Jacket Orchards).

Here’s something different for Halloween: orange sangria. In this recipe, apple cider substitutes for the wine, and wheat beer substitutes for the club soda or sparkling water.

What’s the difference between apple cider and apple juice? The answer is below.
 
 
RECIPE: HALLOWEEN / FALL SANGRIA

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the first four ingredients in a pitcher and refrigerate. When ready to serve…

2. MAKE the rim on the glasses. Fill a shallow bowl with water, and another with the smoked sugar. Dip the rim of the glass 1/4 inch into the water, then twist in the sugar until coated.

3. POUR the beer into the pitcher right before serving and stir once, gently, to combine. Add ice to the rimmed glasses, pour in the sangria and serve.
 
 
APPLE CIDER VERSUS APPLE JUICE: THE DIFFERENCE

Since Prohibition, which began in the U.S. (1920 – 1933), “cider” has referred to the unfermented, unpasteurized apple juice. If cider is made from another fruit, it must be called, e.g., pear cider.

“Hard cider” is used to indicate the alcoholic beverage.

In the U.K. it is the opposite, with “cider” indicating the alcoholic drink, for which special cider apples are used. Pear cider is called perry.

*Don’t hesitate to buy a bottle of orange bitters. It perks up every drink, including mocktails, iced tea, soft drinks and club soda. If a drink is too sweet or needs something extra, a drop or two of orange bitters does the trick. The bitters provide an extra note of complexity: deep, citrusy, spicy flavor. Here’s a recipe to make your own.

†You can buy smoked sugar on Amazon, or make your own by blending hickory smoke powder with coarse sugar (decorator’s sugar, sanding sugar). Other options include orange decorator’s sugar, in many stores for the Halloween season.

‡Alcohol by volume: the percent of alcohol in the bottled spirit, wine or beer.

This is such a nice fall recipe, we’ve made it several times—and we’re just a few weeks into fall.

Savory and sweet combine in this galette: caramelized onions and apples.

A galette (gah-LET) is a rustic, round, open-face pie, made without a pie pan. It is flat, with a turned-up crust that wraps around the filling to create a “dough pan.”

Called crostata in Italian and rustic pie or rustic tart in English, the concept hails from the days before people had pie plates, and the days after that when only the kitchens of the wealthy had them.

The precursor of the galette probably dates from the Neolithic Age, now called the New Stone Age, which lasted from about 10,200 B.C.E. to between 4,500 and 2,000 B.C.E. Thick cereal pastes—barley, oats, rye, wheat—were sweetened with honey and spread on hot stones to cook.

This recipe comes from Good Eggs, and was inspired by Alice Waters’ onion tart recipe in The Art of Simple Food.

Good Eggs adds this tip:

To save time, take the semi-homemade route. Use ready-made pie dough for the crust. It’s the perfect base for the recipe, and you’ll still have the fun of shaping it.
 
 
RECIPE: CARAMELIZED ONION & APPLE GALETTE

Ingredients

________________

*If you’re using a frozen crust, it should be defrosted, but still cool.

[2] Apples and onions make a savory-sweet pie (photo courtesy Cubit’s Organic Living).

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Heat the butter in heavy-bottomed pot, add the onions and thyme sprigs; then sauté over medium heat until the onions are caramelized, about 20 to 30 minutes. Salt to taste. Remove from the heat and let cool. Meanwhile…

2. ROLL out the chilled pie dough on a well-floured surface, into a 12- to 14-inch circle (about 1/4 inch thick). Don’t worry if your shape isn’t perfect” any irregularities just add to the homemade charm!

3. TRANSFER the rolled-out dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let it firm up in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Spread the cooled onions over the center, picking out the thyme sprigs. Leave a good inch or two around the edge so you have ample dough to fold up around the onions.

4. FOLD up the edges, making sure there are no holes. You can freestyle it, or you can use a pinch-and-fold method as shown in the photo. Once the galette is wrapped up, coat the folded edges with beaten egg, using a pastry brush or your fingers.

5. BAKE for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown on the bottom. Let it cool slightly, garnish with a pinch of fresh thyme and serve warm.
  

[2] Provolone, originally made in a round or oval shape, is now made in loaves and wheels as well (photo courtesy DiBruno Brothers).

A boule (ball)-style Italian pull-apart bread, it’s made with provolone cheese, marinara sauce, garlic and seasonings.

We renamed it “brain bread” for the Halloween season.

For snacking, with a beer, or at the dinner table, it’s a special treat that’s actually easy to make—you start by buying a sourdough boule.

The recipe was developed for Bel Gioioso by Amy of BellyFull.net.

Prep time is 20 minutes, cook time is 25 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: PULL-APART PROVOLONE & MARINARA BREAD

Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375F. Tear off a large enough piece of foil to wrap around the loaf. Coat the foil with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet.

2. CUT the loaf of bread into 1-inch-wide slices with a serrated knife, leaving about 1/4-inch of the base of the bread intact (i.e., cut the slices down to the bottom quarter-inch, but don’t slice through the bottom). Repeat the cuts in the opposite direction to create a cross-hatch/cubed pattern (photo #1). Place the bread on the foil.

4. WRAP the bread up in the foil. Bake for 15 minutes. Open up the foil, increase oven temperature to 425°F, and bake another 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley, pull apart the pieces and serve.
 
 
RECIPE: ITALIAN SEASONING

If you don’t have Italian seasoning, it’s easy to make it by combining:

October 16th is World Bread Day. To celebrate the occasion, our colleague Hannah Kaminsky fulfilled a long-time goal: making homemade bagels.

She finally found a recipe that overcame a barrier:

“Traditional recipes call for lye, which is threatening enough to send me straight to the bakery, rather than the kitchen,” says Hannah.

But then, a revelation: “I joined forces with Chef Philip Gelb and lucked into one of his bagel baking classes.”

“Baking soda stands in for the caustic lye, reducing the risk of severe bodily harm right off the bat. Believe it or not, the rest is fairly standard procedure: a vigorous mixing, resting and rising, shaping and baking are all that separate you from savory satisfaction.

“Bagels can take shape either by punching out the centers with a quick jab of the fingers, or rolled into snakes and connected at the ends. Personally, I prefer to poke out the middles, as there’s less danger of them coming undone in the bubbling water bath.

“Purists will argue about what makes for the best bagels, but this much I know is true:

“Nothing beats the ones coming out of your own oven, hot and fresh, just barley cool enough to slice. Such beauty needs no further toasting to perfect, just a thick schmear of hummus or cream cheese.”

Hannah’s favorite bagel topping: everything.

Advice from Chef Gelb and Hannah: The bagels are best served within 15 minutes of emerging from the oven. Plan for an amazing brunch! But first:

The history of bagels.
 
 
RECIPE: CHEF PHILIP GELB’S HOMEMADE BAGELS

Ingredients For 12 Bagels

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the yeast, 1 tablespoon of malt and the warm water in a large bowl. Let the yeast proof until the surface becomes foamy, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the salt. Add the whole wheat flour and 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until incorporated.

2. PLACE the dough on a sturdy, clean surface and slowly work in the rest of the all-purpose flour. Knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

[2] Boiling the bagels prior to baking.

[3] Hot and fragrant from the oven.

[4] Hannah’s well-deserved reward: a hummus and vegetable sandwich for lunch.

4. KNEAD it lightly for 1 minute. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Roll each piece into a log and then fold it into a circle, firmly pressing the seam together. Place each bagel on a lightly floured surface, cover with a clean towel, and let rise until doubled; about 1 hour. Meanwhile…

5. PREHEAT the oven to 500°F and place a baking stone inside, if you have one. Otherwise, the bagels can be baked on a standard sheet pan.

6. BRING 3 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot; add the baking soda along with the remaining 3 tablespoons of malt. The baking soda is necessary to properly texture and brown the bagels. After the bagels finish their second rise…

7. BOIL each bagel for 1 minute on each side, keeping the water at a consistent, rapid boil. Now your bagels are ready to bake.

8. TOP them with any or all of the seasonings your heart desires, patting them gently into the top to make sure they adhere. Transfer the bagels carefully to the baking stone or sheet pan, and bake for about 15 minutes.
 
 
ABOUT CHEF PHILIP GELB

Chef Philip Gelb is the founder of Sound & Savor, a catering/personal chef business in the San Francisco Bay area.

In addition to catering and cooking classes, he hosts a very popular twice-monthly series of dinner/concerts that pair cuisine with the music of world-renowned musicians.