With Halloween fast approaching, Ed Halmagyi, celebrity chef and Mitsubishi Electric Australia Ambassador, has prepared his top spooky Halloween recipes to help you celebrate the day of dread with your young ones.
It’s time to dust away the cobwebs, crack out the cauldron and get ready for some devilishly good holiday snacking, because Ed Halmagyi believes that, with his 6 recipes, anyone can master Halloween cooking.
BAT CRACKERS WITH ROASTED BEETROOT AND APPLE DIP
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes: 48
Difficulty: 1/5
6 small tortillas
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 tsp fine salt
1 Granny Smith apple
½ cup roasted beetroot
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup aioli
1 Preheat oven to 160°C. Use a bat-shaped cutter on the tortillas, then arrange the shapes on a lined oven tray. Mix the oil, seasoning and salt, brush onto the bats, then bake for 15-18 minutes, until crisp. Cool on a wire rack.
2 Grate the apple coarsely and squeeze out the excess liquid. Put in a food processor with the beetroot, garlic and aioli and puree until smooth. Serve with the crackers.
JACK-O-LANTERN DEVILLED EGGS
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 12
Difficulty: 2/5
6 eggs
1½ Tbsp Japanese mayonnaise
½ tsp sweet paprika
½ tsp ground turmeric
sea salt flakes and freshly-ground white pepper
1 slice prosciutto, sliced into fine strips
2 chives, cut into 2cm lengths
1 Place the eggs in a saucepan of cold water and set over a moderate heat. Bring to a simmer then cook for 8 minutes. Immerse in iced water until completely cold. Peel, then halve with a wet knife.
2 Gently scoop out the yolks and mash in a bowl with a fork. Mix in the mayonnaise and spices. Season with salt and pepper. Pipe back into the eggs. Decorate with prosciutto lines and a chive stem
SPIDER BITES 
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 12 minutes
Makes: 12
Difficulty: 2/5
1 ready-to-use pizza base
½ cup pizza sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
24 pitted black olives
1 Preheat oven to 180°C. Use a 6cm round cutter to make 12 discs from the pizza base. Arrange on a lined oven tray then top with sauce and cheese. Bake for 12 minutes, until the cheese is just golden.
2 Halve 18 olives lengthways and 6 olives across the middle. Use a long olive half for the spider bodies and an end piece for the head of each. Slice the remaining halved into four pieces each and arrange on the pizzas to make the spider legs.
FUNNY MONSTER APPLES
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: nil
Makes: 8
Difficulty: 2/5
2 Granny Smith apples
½ cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp flaked almonds
¼ cup rockmelon
candy eyes, to decorate
1 Cut the apples into quarters, then cut a wedge out of the middle of each with a small knife. Fill with peanut butter.
2 Insert flaked almonds into the top and bottom of the open wedge to make teeth. Cut the rockmelon into small thin triangles and place in the mouths as tongues. Stick on candy eyes with a small amount of peanut butter.
MUMMY POPS 
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: nil
Makes: 8
Difficulty: 2/5
½ Madeira cake
200g dark chocolate melts
½ cup chocolate sprinkles
100g white chocolate melts
candy eyes, to decorate
1 Cut the cake into 4 slices, then make two 6cm discs out of each with a biscuit cutter, then insert a paddle pop stick into each. Freeze until firm.
2 Melt the dark chocolate and coat the cakes, then finish with sprinkles. Melt the white chocolate and load into a piping bag with a fine tip and pipe on to make mummy bandages. Stick candy eyes on with the remaining white chocolate.
ROASTED PEAR SPOOKY MUMMIES
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 18 minutes
Makes: 8
Difficulty: 3/5
8 pears
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
candy eyes, to decorate
1 Preheat oven to 200°C. Use a melon ball to remove the pear cores from the base, then use a small knife to slice off the cheeks of the pears. Reserve the pear trimmings for another use.
2 Slice the pastry into fine strips, then wrap around the pears in overlapping layers to make bandages. Brush with the egg, arrange on lined oven trays, then bake for 18 minutes, until golden and crisp. Decorate with candy eyes.
