Trick or Treat?

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

This week I did something that I think would have surprised myself ten or twenty years ago. I bought a sack of individually wrapped Halloween pretzels to give out along with our Halloween candy! They are cute little pumpkin shaped pretzels and I have to say both my little guys really love them (we may not even have any left to give out!).

But when I told my sister about these Halloween “treats” she scoffed at me for being a Halloween buzz-kill. She reminded me that growing up in the same neighborhood as my dentist, we always turned our noses up at the nice fresh apples his family would give out.

After all, Halloween’s all about the sweet treats, right? I never thought I would be “That Parent,” the one that wanted to restrict my children on what is supposed to be the most blissful, candy filled season of the year. But just this past weekend, we experienced the effects of too much sugar in too little time. My son had received a Halloween goody bag and proceeded to tear into it, devouring a pile of sweet treats in a matter of minutes. This lesson of natural consequences (you probably don’t want the full details!) taught even my three year old, a diehard candy freak, that moderation is usually best.

In fact, during most of the year we have really tried to limit added sugar and food additives such as dyes and other chemicals, after seeing the effects too much sugar and other extras can have on my older son. You can see the hyperness and frenzied behavior bubble up in mere moments, especially when he eats things like Italian ice or “fruit” candies, that are mostly all sugar and chemicals, and very little fruit.

What might be fun in the moment, though, makes us wonder how these additives are wreaking havoc on the inside (Especially given my side of the family’s history of type II diabetes). Certain common food dyes have also been linked to cancer, learning impairment, and increased hyperactive behavior in some sensitive individuals. So while I don’t like to be the “bad guy,” I am seeking out ways to control what our kids will be putting into their bodies on this most sacred of children’s holidays.

What works for us this year is to have our older son choose just a few (say five) candy packs from his trick or treat bag, and then trade in the rest of the most offensive candies for some more natural, less sugary, yet still yummy treats. We’ll donate the rest or bring them into work.

We made a special trip earlier in the week to pick out these “trade treats:” all natural fruit gels, chocolate energy bars, caramel corn, spider rings, and stickers. We’ll also make homemade chocolate cake pops decorated with all natural sprinkles as a special treat. So there’s still plenty of Halloween fun to be had!

As a former “Halloween categorizer”-–I could tell you at any given point how many peanut butter cups, fruit chews, and chocolate bars were in my bag, ranking them all in a complex system of what to eat first–-I am not sure what we will do in future years but I think this system will work this year.

While I don’t want to be like Santa Claus giving the bad kid a lump of coal (or a dentist giving the neighborhood children apples!), I do remember that some of the neighborhood trick-or-treaters were excited to choose the pretzels we had in our candy basket last year. Happy Halloween!

Serves/Makes: 24

• 1 pan brownies or chocolate cake

***Frosting***

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk (more if needed)

***Decorating***

• 12 ounces milk chocolate or white chocolate chips
• colored sugars (optional)
• shredded coconut (optional)
• decorative sprinkles (optional)