Layered Fruit Dip for Halloween

I’m not a big Halloween recipe person. If we have a party, I tend to just serve my normal go-to appetizers. That said, I find there are ways to adapt my favorite recipes to make them more thematic. I’m also a huge fan of savory appetizers but sometimes, I do crave a sweeter option. This layered fruit dip for Halloween is exactly that – a slightly sweet appetizer that can be served with fruit and pretzels. The addition of clementines to the recipe, to represent pumpkins, gives it a Halloween flair that is sweet rather than ghoulish. A wonderful Halloween appetizer that will appeal to any age.

There is a little bit of prep work needed to make this recipe more Halloween appropriate, but it really does come together quite easily. If you’re not a huge fan of clementines, which we used as pumpkins for décor (and serving), you could also use large marshmallows to make ghosts and use Biscoff cookies as grave stones. The possibilities are endless.

The two layers of this recipe include a citrus cream cheese and sour cream spread and Biscoff cookies that have been reduced to crumbs. The secret ingredient is really the cookies. Yes, you could use Oreos or vanilla wafers, but the spice in the Biscoff cookies is the perfect match for the sweetness in the spread.

Once the spread has been made and you have the crumb mixture, the focus turns to the construction of the pumpkins, which are simply peeled clementines with pretzel rods dipped in chocolate to form the stem. You place the pretzel into the center of the fruit so you have a perfect pumpkin stem.

Using a Spatula Spreader, the cream cheese citrus mixture is spread into your pan, making sure you have an even layer. Then sprinkle the cookie crumbs evenly on top.

Once you’ve placed your Halloween decorations on the dip, use a Vegetable Peeler to form small chocolate curls to add some texture to the top. We didn’t overdo it with the curls, just enough for sprinkling.

Then it’s on to preparing the items you’ll use for dipping. We focused on green apples for their color, crunch and flavor. Using a 5" Petite Santoku knife, we cut the apples into thicker slices for dipping. If you have additional clementines, you can section those for serving (or just use the pumpkin clementines) and also your additional pretzel rods (which we really liked dipped in the chocolate).

That is all there is to making this Layered Fruit Dip for Halloween. The citrus flavor of the spread with the spiciness of the cookies is the perfect flavor combination. The addition of the clementine pumpkins and marshmallow walkway make this regular fruit dip a lovely Halloween appetizer for kids and adults alike. Use your imagination to create your own Halloween theme and tempt your sweet tooth.