Rachel Willen's 'S'moreWitches.' Image courtesy of Rachel Willen.

Rachel Willen, chef and creator of the blog “Food Fix”, offers her fun Halloween ideas for parents.  Read below as she recalls her favorite Halloween neighborhood tradition for the adults while the kids are out trick or treating.

One of our most memorable Halloweens ever, started an annual tradition in our household and it happened by accident. Our daughter, Lily was getting old enough to navigate the neighborhood on her own with her trick or treating friends, but we still wanted to be able to keep an eye on her and not miss out on Halloween fun. After all, we’d spent years helping her get ready, going out on the Halloween trail, meeting up with other parents along the way, and we just weren’t ready to sit home watching TV, or catching up on work, as though it was just any old ordinary night!

So, I pulled porch rockers and folding chairs out to the end of our driveway, set up a cooler full of water bottles,  and gathered our basket full of treats to give out too. It was going to be a cool night, so my husband dragged our backyard portable fire pit out front and got a big blaze going, and I filled a thermos with hot apple cider.  The fire naturally inspired me to dig out the leftover summer marshmallows and other fixings for s’mores to make things a little interesting for us, and anyone passing through, that was willing to have a homemade treat along the way.

Well, our little end-of-driveway Halloween way station ended up being a huge hit with parents in our neighborhood, as they pulled up a chair, had a cool or warm drink and indulged in a melty s’more. Even neighbors whose kids had long become too grown up to trick or treat came out to mingle and recapture some of that Halloween fun. In the years since that first impromptu Halloween we’ve teamed up with other parents, who bring their own chairs, beverages or food and it’s become quite a Spooktacular event.  Kids run off and do their Trick or Treating, then run back to the house to touch base, have a drink, a hug (if no one is looking!), and go back out again.

I’ve created these “S’moreWitches” as a special Halloween upgrade from store-bought fixins, with slightly healthier homemade cocoa marshmallows and graham crackers, and instead of chocolate, I substitute dark and creamy Nutella to make these especially bewitching! You can enjoy these with store-bought grahams and marshmallows, but making them could give you a great cooking project with your kids, and get you in the Halloween spirit!

TO ASSEMBLE “S’MOREWITCHES:”

1 Jar Nutella, or generic “chocolate hazelnut spread”

Graham Crackers (homemade or boxed)

Marshmallows (homemade or store-bought)

1.      Spread one graham cracker with Nutella. Toast marshmallow to golden brown and immediately transfer to Nutella covered graham cracker. Top with another graham cracker and enjoy!

2.      If you don’t have a fire going, these S’more witches are great just at room temperature since the Nutella does not have to be warmed to be melty and gooey, or indoors, you can microwave these ‘witches for 10 – 12 seconds and they will be warm AND gooey!