Make This Halloween A Monster Mash of Color and Flavor with McCormick® Food Colors and Extracts

Let’s get ready for Halloween! Who doesn’t have a baking shelf stocked with McCormick food colors and flavor extracts? I have all the basic primary colors, and tons of fall flavors! McCormick tells us how to scare up some spooky fun with what might already be in your cup board:

Jack-o-Lantern Orange. Banshee Black. Frankenstein Green.

This is the colorful monster mash of Halloween, encouraging creativity in everything from costumes to decorations to tasty treats. The results are sometimes wicked and sometimes whimsical — and, with the help of McCormick, always colorful and flavorful.

“McCormick orange extract and food colors are the perfect combination for Halloween,” said Mark Garcia of the McCormick Kitchens. “And, our Creepy Crawly Cake Truffles make great use of this combo. Not only are these bite-sized spiders, ghosts and bats fun on the outside, they also hold a surprise on the inside: a bright orange-flavored cake. This is just one of many playful ‘tricks’ you can try with food color and extracts on Halloween.”

For more treats that’ll turn your festivities into a delicious graveyard smash, try these recipes from the McCormick Kitchens developed especially for the season:  

·         Creepy Crawly Cake Truffles: Transform orange-colored (and flavored!) cake balls into edible monsters with sweet decorations like melted chocolate, black licorice and jelly beans. Create the mini vampire bats, spiders and ghosts or experiment with creatures of your own to match your costume.

·         Black Velvet Whoopie Pies: Dive into the spirit of the season with a tempting new take on red velvet cake. These mini cake sandwiches pop with Jack-O-Lantern Orange, Frankenstein Green and Electric Purple fillings that can be customized to your taste with flavors like Orange, Lemon and Raspberry.

·         Orange Hocus Pocus Fizz: Rim this tantalizing cocktail of rum, coconut and pineapple with black sugar for a sweetly spooky beverage that’ll be the hit of the land. Leave out the rum for a virgin “mocktail” all your little ghouls and goblins can enjoy.

·         Harvest Scarecrow Cookies: It’s fun and easy to “dress” vanilla sugar cookies as sweet scarecrows by adding shredded wheat “straw hair,” a sugar wafer “hat,” and a smiling red licorice face.

·         Candy Corn Cupcakes: Inspired by Halloween’s signature candy, these bright cupcakes feature vibrant layers of orange and yellow cake topped with creamy white frosting and sprinkles.

Monster Color Mash-up 
Need to tint frosting a freaky Frankenstein Green? Looking for the perfect potion to turn your cakes Jack-O-Lantern Orange? McCormick’s Monster Color Mash-Up has your recipe for spot-on sweet and spooky Halloween colors.

MONSTER COLOR  MASH-UP:	WHITE CAKE MIX (1 package)	GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE MIX (1 package)	WHITE ICING (16 oz. container)	CHOCOLATE ICING (16 oz. container)
Frankenstein Green*	100 drops neon green		25 drops neon green
Jack-O-Lantern Orange	50 drops yellow 25 drops red		25 drops yellow 12 drops red
Autumn Red		1 (1 oz) bottle red		100 drops red
Banshee Black		3 Tbsp black		50 drops black

*Neon green is included in the McCormick Neon Food Color and Egg Dye package

NOTE: 1 tsp equals about 100 drops.