Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
One dark and stormy night, in a spooky mansion overlooking the town, there sat a group of compers – sullenly peering into their laptops and lamenting about a ghost that had stolen their entire stash of creative Halloween competition mojo.
Da Dah DAHHH!
Just then, a piece of old parchment floated down and…
Da Dah DAHHHHH!
One of the compers unravelled it to reveal a Creative Competition Trick and Treat Sheet – what a coincidence!
This must be some kind of OMEN! It just so happens that The Competition Hunter received this VERY DOCUMENT this morning. How suspicious… Here are the main contents:
During Halloween, creative food and recipe competitions will ask you to send in a photo of your Halloween cooking. Many of you have a full-time job or are busy in other ways, so if you are short of time – try some of these. For easy reference, I’ve arranged the ideas by items you might have in your fridge.
Remember: Some competitions are judged and some winners are selected at random. For the random ones, it’s great to have a little album of your earlier or less spectacular creations on hand.
Marshmallows, ‘squirty’ cream and food colouring treat
Huge Marshmallow ghosts are very quick to prepare. This is so quick and easy and it’s a great one for the kids to sink their teeth into. Create a small ring of marshmallows as a base, use the cream as glue and then build it upwards! Marsh mallows are light so the cream holds them for quite a while – just ensure your kitchen isn’t too warm. You can use food colouring to draw the face – or if you have some plastic googly eyes in your craft draw, that could work. Top Tip: Mr Potato Head eyes look funny and you can also stick them into the marshmallows.
Individual ghosts are just as easy – just draw faces on the marshmallows for an instant ghost. I wouldn’t necessarily suggest that these ghosts can be used in isolation, as the main focus of your photograph, but they make a great little detail in another, more detailed, creation.
Chips and flaked almonds trick
You can make Ghoulish Hands very quickly, and depending on how they are presented, they can look deceptively realistic. Flaked Almonds look like fingernails, and so halfway through cooking, press an almond into one end of each chip – and finish cooking. The results can be made better with red, blue or green food colouring around the edges of the ‘nail’. If you have more time – you can swap chips with ready-made short crust pastry. Style them into despicable fingers, and create some dastardly results – not forgetting the bloody tomato sauce on the side! Again – it’s a great one for the kids and quick and not much mess for the parents.
These examples are for those who are ridiculously busy but don’t want to miss an opportunity to submit a photo in Halloween food competitions. – but for more intricate and mouth-watering creations – browse the recipe stands in your local supermarket. For presentation ideas, I suggest looking at how the treats are presented in the recipe booklets as well – it’s amazing how quick your creativity works once it is nudged.
What is your quickest, easiest creative Halloween foodie tip? Have you ever entered a creative food photo competition before? How do you prepare for seasonal creative competitions? We’d love you to share your devilishly delicious suggestions!
