Be an Adult: Celebrate Halloween

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

My family didn’t really celebrate Halloween when I was a kid. My mom didn’t like the “evil” association the holiday had with witches, ghosts, and so on. So, instead, we went to our church’s “fall celebration,” which, ironically, fell on the actual holiday of Halloween, featured a costume contest, and provided vast amounts of candy.

Whenever we had a house in a neighborhood (which wasn’t often), we usually turned our lights out so trick-or-treaters would leave us alone. If they were the extra determined sort of trick-or-treaters, they ignored the darkened house and came to the door in their costumes: a little fairy losing pieces of tulle from her wings, a Spider-Man in Reeboks, and of course, always a tiny witch with a pointed hat taller than she was.

My mom handed out apples. She told the kids, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away! Eat this after you eat your candy. It will clean your teeth.” It was a great idea on her part. The kids, however, didn’t buy it. I’m sure they mentally checked our house off the list for trick-or-treating the next year.

The first time I actually went trick or treating was in college. Yes, I am lame. I went with my roommate, who was the kind of person to try just about anything. We put on some crazy hats and cruised around the neighborhood. People laughed at us, but they willingly filled up our candy bags.

Later, some of our other guy friends joined us. I lectured one about the evils of stealing after he nabbed a political sign out of someone’s front yard. And when they suggested we start knocking over garbage cans, my roommate and I decided that trick-or-treating was the only way we wanted to celebrate the holiday.

Another year, I worked at a coffee shop. It was the day before Halloween, and sometime in the middle of our shift, my coworker and I remembered what the next day was.

“You want to dress up?” I asked.

“Okay, sure,” he said.

“You have to dress up,” I said. “I don’t want to look like a dork all day, dressed up, while you are looking normal.”

“I’ll dress up!” he said.

The next morning, I walked into work at 6:30 a.m. as a gypsy. I didn’t see my coworker, and was worried that he hadn’t kept up his part of the bargain. Suddenly, he popped out from behind the counter…dressed as a ninja. I still have a picture of us, standing at the espresso machine, me looking all sassy, him intense and holding a sword (I’m not sure how he was allowed to bring a weapon to work…).

Since I didn’t really get into Halloween until I was an adult, my philosophy is that it shouldn’t just be for the kids. So, this recipe provides you with a way to celebrate Halloween in a very grown-up way. And you can let the kids try this, too. Just make sure they eat an apple afterwards.

Serves/Makes: 12

• 1 teaspoon butter
• 16 ounces dark chocolate candy bars
• 30 large marshmallows
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 pint whipping cream