Take a break from the pre-packaged sweets and try these traditional ones SWEETS and treats play a major role in Halloween celebrations, but they don’t always have to be of the commercial, pre-packaged variety. Adults and children alike can enjoy some of the seasonai recipes that fend themselves to Halloween nibbling. . If you’re looking for something slightly more sophisticated than ‘chocolate bars, try turning ‘your ~ Halloween “pumpkin into a pump-. kin pie. One carved squash can yield enough pumpkin to make pump- kin loaf, pumpkin cookies and [; _ More, but you can get started with the’ Light Pumpkin - below. Pie recipe. tat caramel apples and Jack Q’. - |: yen Sandwich Cookies wiil be - a: ar hit ‘at. any’ children’s . party you’ re planning for the 31st: : : Light Pumpkin Fie. : 2 e cooked pumpkin: . Ie cream 4A" tsp. molasses or maple: syrup: % tsp. salt 1% tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. ground ginger pinch each of cloves, allspice 4 eggs, separated _l tsp. rum or rum extract 1-9" baked pie shell Mix first eight ingredient: with egg yolks in the top of a double boiler until thick, Cool slightly and fold in-stiffly. . beaten egg whites; add extract. Pour into a baked pie shell and refrigerate two hours or until set. ’ Serve with whipped cream that contains a pinch of. cinnamon, or with ice cream. Jack O’ Lantern . Sandwich Cookies 1% c. all-purpose flour le. icing sugar - . a THE KNOBBY under- ground swellings of the plant, ‘‘Solanum tuberesum’’ are the stuff of life for many of the world’s people. Yet this incredible vegetable, commonly known as the potato, is also gourmet fare. It’s distilled in- to vodka and aquavit, and pro- cessed to starches, pastes and dyes. The potato is a tuber, which means the swelling of the under- ground stem, not the root, of the potato plant. In early summer, tubers are tiny tasty nuggets. By fall, the amazing spud has become substantial and mealy with accumulated starch. Its skin has toughened, making it less susceptible to abrasions and disease. And a thickened surface helps the potato store well ovei the winter as it loses moisture less easily. : : 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa . 1c. butter orange sherbet or vaailla ice cream filling Sift’ together fiour, sugar and cocoa. Cream butter until light, ‘and gradually blend in dry ingre- dients to form stiff dough. Divide dough into two balls and press each into 2°’ thickness be- tween sheets of waxed paper. Chill 10 minutes. On lightly-fioured board, roll chilled dough to approximately 1/8” thickness. Cut out 24-2 3/4”’ . rounds, Carve out eyes, moses and mouths on half the cookies. At- tach piece of dough cut out to form mouth as stem on Jack O’ Lantern. Bake in preheated 300° F oven, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool five minutes on cookie sheets. photos submitted HALLOWEEN IS a great time to try some fun baking. Jack O'Lantern sandwich cookies are a real favorite with the kids and easy to make. A pepular old-time treat are caramel ap- ples. Choose. firm, crunchy appies. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Choose a filling and proceed as follows. Makes 12 fill- ed cookies. Cookie Filling Pack softened sherbet or ice cream into two empty 12% oz. frozen juice containers. Cover and freeze until firm. To fill cookies, use can opener to remove botton of juice cans and push sherbet from containers. © Cut into 12 slices. Place a slice on. each plain cookie; top each with a face cookie. Wrap and store in freezer until serving time. : Caramel Apples 2c. light cream 2c. sugav 1c. corn syrup Y tsp. salt 1/3 c. margarine 1 tsp. vanilla 10 apples 19 wooden sticks Heat cream to Iukewarm in heavy saucepan. Set aside one cup cream. Add sugar, corn syrup and salt to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirr- ing constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Add remaining one cup cream very slowly, so that mixture continues to boil. .Cook five minutes longer, stirring constant~- - y. : . Stir in margarine, 1 tsp. at a time: Turn heat to medium low. Cook, stirring . constantly, to 250° F, or until a small amount . © forms a firm ball when tested in’ cold water.. Remove from heat; ‘add vanilla - and mix gently. Jab wooden sticks into each apple, and twirl fruit in caramel to coat. Stand apples.to cool on waxed paper sprayed with no-stick oil. nobby underground swelling’ inquisitive ANNE GARDINER WILSON In contrast to most vegetables that lose water as they soften, satatoes absorb water as they couk because of their abundant starch. Starch-filled cells swell in heat and moisture, making fluffy The humble potato is the stuff of life for many countries baked yotatoes and dry mealy french fries. Starch granules, however, can only absorb so much water without breaking down. If you’ve ever tasted a gluey baked potato, it’s usually caused by water being trapped in starch cells. As water accumulates, starch cells rupture and leak, transform- ing that fluffy baked potato into a pasty offering. Potatoes can also turn gluey if they’re overmixed during mashing. Prick potatoes before baking, particularly if they’re foil-wrap- ped, to let moisture escape. Or bake them on a layer of rock salt, turning them occasionally, so the salt draws out moisture during baking. Paring potatoes with a knife removes not only the skin, but up to 18 per cent of the edible por- tion. The amount of waste is significant because one-third of a potato’s nutrients are concentrated in a thin band lying just beneath the peel. To save the waste of peeling, cook potatoes in their jackets; heat dissolves the material holding the skin to the potato. Then, if you're not fussy about skins, it separates easily from the edible portion. Under a microscope, the starch granules of a potato appear a: smooth oval shells markcd in rings, like those of an onion. Just as they asbsorb the moisture within the potato once it’s heated, they.also absorb the surrounding hot liquid of chowders or stews. These seem to thicken naturally as starch | granules wash from cut potato chunks and soon bulge with fla- vorful broth. Extracted potato starch can be purchased in speciality stores. Blend to a paste with water and stir into simmering liquid. Try using one tablespoon of starch for each cup of liquid to be thickened. Watch it become translucent and gfossy as the starch granules swell. But use a gentle heat because the starch granules break down and lose binding power when they’re overcooked. As potato starch thickens at tower temperatures (160 degrees F; 71 C) than flour or cornstarch, it’s ideal for egg-based soups needing extra thickening without high temperatures.