The leaves have turned a shade of fire-orange, there’s a cold bite in the night air and our little ones have started picking out their best zombie attire to don on the last day of October. It all adds up to one thing: Halloween is right around the corner and costume parties can’t be far off. For parents, the change in seasons often signals enjoyable activities like leaf peeping and taking the family to pick pumpkins and apples.
However, there’s no reason why adults can’t join in on the spectacularly spooky events coming up. After all, we were all a little bit younger once and who can forget the fun that was associated with playing dress-up and getting free candy while wandering around the neighborhood for hours on end?
For those who’ll be hosting pre-Halloween get-togethers for friends, family and children alike, there’s more to be done than putting out bowls of candy corn. In fact, using an air fryer as part of the meal preparation process is a sure-fire way to get guests asking about the spread of food you’ve laid out. That’s because an oil less fryer can be used to prepared food much the same way a traditional deep fryer would – but without an excess of the unhealthy oil. The “trick” to using an air fryer is that super-heated air is rapidly circulated inside the appliance, browning and crisping in the process; the “treat” is that a far healthier version of your favorite fried food is prepared. Below, you’ll find three air fryer recipes for of our favorite Halloween treats to serve up when the ghouls, goblins and their parents show up for your shindig.
Mummy Hot Dogs
Ingredients:
- 5 hot dogs
- 1 puff pastry sheet
- 10 candied eyes
- 1 drop of ketchup
Directions:
- Lay out the puff pastry sheet. With a knife or pizza cutter, cut five long strips of the pastry dough.
- Wrap each hot dog with strips of pastry in a spiraling motion leaving space where the eyes will be placed later. Repeat.
- Place each wrapped hot dog into your air fryer and set to 310 degrees for 12 minutes.
- Once the mummies are slightly golden brown, remove them from your oil less fryer. Where you left space for the eyes, add a few drops of ketchup and stick the eye on the ketchup.
Mummy Pizza:
Ingredients:
- 2 English muffins
- Half-cup of tomato sauce
- 8 slices of Mozzarella cheese (sliced into pieces)
- Half-cup of sliced black or green olives
Directions:
- Split open the English muffins and toast them in the air fryer. Set to 370 degrees for 2 minutes.
- Remove from the oil less fryer. Spread one heaping tablespoon of tomato sauce over the English muffins
- Stack two slice of cheese. Slice into strips. Repeat.
- Lay strips of cheese over the tomato sauce, leaving room for the olive slices as eyes
- For this and other air fryer recipes, place the mummy pizza into the appliance. Set to 370 degrees for 2 minutes.
- Remove and enjoy!
Pumpkin Spice Cannoli Pumpkin Patch
Ingredients:
- 8 large flour tortillas
- 4 tablespoon of melted butter
- Half-cup of orange sanding sugar
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
- 2 pounds of whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1.5 cups of pumpkin pie mix
- Half-cup of confectioners sugar
- Half-cup mini chocolate chips
Directions:
- Make the tortilla crisps. Use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out as many pumpkins as possible from the tortillas.
- Brush one side of the pumpkin cutouts with the melted butter. Sprinkle with orange sanding sugar. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir to combine. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the cookies.
- Cook the cookies, in batches, in your air fryer. Set at 400 degrees for 3 minutes or until crisp. Cool completely on cooling racks.
- Make the pumpkin spice cannoli dip. In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, pumpkin pie mix and sugar. Stir to combine all ingredients. Transfer the dip to a shallow platter.
- Arrange the pumpkin crisps in the dip to create a pumpkin patch. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.