13 Gross and Creepy Foods for Your Halloween Party

Disgust and horrify your guests or host by serving up something a little different this Halloween. Herein lie 13 truly awful food concoctions. Yes, they are edible, but only the bravest among you will want to take a bite.

To repeat, they are edible (we think). Bring 3 cups sugar, 1 cup water, and 1/2 cup light corn syrup to a boil and cook it until it reaches 290•F (use a candy thermometer). Stir in 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon extract and 1/8 teaspoon black food coloring, and dip the apples in one at a time. No razor blades, please.

For those of you who pray that they'll bring back ‌Fear Factor.‌ Using pitted dates as the shell, fill each "cockroach" with sweet almonds and arrange them atop an alluring chocolate cream pie.

Made you look twice, no? Take a full, cooked chicken and place it on a bed of lettuce or other greens. Dress it up with veggies, a stuffed avocado, and macaroni that looks like maggots. Add a clean doll's head to the top of the chicken and cover it with hot sauce. Or blood. Up to you.

Ever noticed that beef jerky looks a lot like a gnarly scab? Take some made-for-sushi ginger and place it on a plastic limb as the outer, slightly raw flesh around the centerpiece: a large, infected wound. Take strawberry jam (or hot sauce) and use it as glue for the jerky. And don't be stingy; ooze is a good thing. Add a plastic rat and flies if you happen to have some lying around.

Brains full of blood? Yes, please! Make a batch of vanilla cupcakes and scoop out a hole from the top. Fill the hole with a dollop of strawberry jam. Discolor buttercream into a brainy gray with a touch of black food coloring. Make a rounded dome with the first layer of buttercream and use a piping tip to make the squiggly brain details.

Everyone's talking about gut health these days. Roll out some pastry dough and add chocolate pudding and chocolate chips to the center. Fold the dough so the chocolate is tucked inside, and bake for 14 to 16 minutes. To add a fresh-from-the-flesh look, smear some strawberry rhubarb jam on top.

A question for your guests: If these were real spider sacs, would you rather they burst before you swallow them, or after? Simply mix up a batch of poison-colored cocktail, fill your glasses, and drop in some tapioca balls. Works with mocktails, too. (Why should adults have all the fun?)

It might take a few spider sac cocktails before anyone's ready to tuck into this ghastly treat. Knead bread dough into the shape of a face, and bake until it's golden brown. Add texture to the face by adding cracks and bumps while it's still warm enough to mold.

Place the face in the center of a mushed-up pumpkin pie. Fill in the empty spaces on the face with pumpkin filling so it looks like it's coming up from the pits of hell. Fill in the eye sockets and mouth with strawberry jam to complete the creepy silhouette.

Right up your alley! Craft this rotting wasteland by molding mice out of cream cheese and sweetened cocoa powder. Arrange the mice onto a platter of eyeballs made with doughnut holes, Band-Aids made from graham crackers (see below), and other "trashy" foods.

Eye-popping fun. Make shriveled and slimy eyeballs by filling the center of lychee fruits with red jam and inserting a blueberry in each one. Make veins by smearing a bit of jam around the outside of the lychee.

Who's turn is it to clean the litter box? Crumble up cake donuts or cake pops to look like kitty litter, and twist tootsie rolls to resemble ... you know. Make sure to keep your real cats out of ‌this‌ box.

Seriously, what ‌are‌ those things?! They look like fried mice (or tiny rats), but they're really just breaded and deep-fried jalapeños. Stuff jalapeño peppers with cheese (for some ooze), bread them in pretzel crumbs, and fry them in oil until a little beyond golden brown. Add fried spaghetti for tails.

For some, there's nothing grosser than a disembodied Band-Aid. These fun treats are made with graham crackers, cream cheese, and red gel icing. Ouch.