The Digerati Life: Save Money with Homemade Halloween Treats

Ah, the sights, sounds and smells of Autumn are here: Apple pies baking in mom's oven, the leaves turning yellow and red on the trees, and that familiar nip in the air as Fall comes around. Autumn is the season that most poetic people look forward to. Here's when we enjoy nature's show: The drama of the trees' changing leaves, the serenity of the colder weather and the richness of the cooking that surrounds us.

Autumn is the season which rings in the holidays. It's a time when you take a harder look at your budget and hope that your travel and hotel credit cards remain unused for a little longer. It's a time when staying at home can be its own reward. Autumn brings memories of grandma's home-cooked pies, pumpkins carved for Halloween decor and display, and of candy for Trick-or-Treating.

The food of the season will not only give you one of the reasons to gather around and bond as a family, it could also be a great source of savings, as you try recipes that save both time and energy to cook.

One of Yahoo Shine's bright ideas is to recommend slow cooker desserts. You don't need to whip out your Visa credit card to buy these desserts from a specialty bakery. You can simply make them yourself with the right kitchen tools! Slow cookers save energy and help tenderize meats while you're away at work or busy doing chores. But did you know that they could also help you make your desserts?

In the aforementioned Yahoo article, there were a few dessert treats that caught my eye, with recipes that you can make in your slow cooking crock pot. A few tasty samples include:

• Pumpkin Pie Pudding
• Rocky Road Chocolate Cake
• Walnut Stuffed Slow Cooked Apples
• Slow Cooker Maple-Sauced Pears
• Slow Cooker Berry Cobbler

If you already own a crockpot, then making and savoring these dishes can be something that the family can look forward to.

To make homemade Halloween treats that you can hand out to Trick-or-Treaters, allow me to share some ideas for making your own horror-themed candies. Marzipans are pretty easy to make and versatile to use. They're almond candies that are soft and chewy, and you can mold and paint them however you like.

Here is a recipe on how to make marzipans:

1 lb Almonds
1 lb Confectioner's Sugar
2 Egg Whites
2-3 Drops Vanilla or Almond Extract

1. Using a food processor, grind the almonds into a fine texture.
2. Transfer the almonds into a bowl and then mix the Confectioner's Sugar in it.
3. Add the Vanilla or Almond Extract.
4. Add the egg whites into the mixture gradually, kneading and mixing all throughout, until you have a very doughy, malleable mixture.
5. Roll it into a log and store if you won't use it that day, or start to mold it into horror-themed shapes.

Scare or delight the kids who come by your home with your homemade Marzipans: mold, shape and paint these candies into two-inch frightful decorations such as zombies, skeletons or Grim Reaper figures. These are fun for the kids to pick up and add to their bags of candy, and if you make them look real or cool enough, they'll be quite the hit!

Here are other great Marzipan candy ideas:

• Tiny realistic hearts
• Tiny bloodshot eyeballs
• Tiny "disembodied" hands or feet
• Marzipan Jack-O-Lanterns
• Marzipan Plants vs. Zombies characters

Sure, you may opt to purchase convenient bags of Halloween candies from your grocery store, but if you're ever in the mood to do something more fun, then you can make your own treats. Halloween need not be expensive to be special.--it's made for DIY projects with the family--and beyond the decor and candy, there are also the costumes. Save money with your own DIY Halloween outfits, which often take just a little creativity. There are a lot of online ideas you can try as well so you can make sure to preserve your budget throughout the holidays!

How are you saving money on Halloween this year?  Handmade costumes?  Homemade treats?  Tell me in the comments...

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