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Vancouver Sun / Ian Smith,
Bleeding Finger Lemon Cookies made by Culinary Capers. The nails are almonds and the blood is raspberry jam.

An overnight survey of Halloween recipes from newspaper food sections turns up some scary recipes with unappetizing ingredients. But others have more than visual appeal.

Far edgier, on the Web we found credible Flying Spaghetti Monster treats that take a meme and make it a munchy. Read on...

Canada.com offers two good cookie recipes at Scary fare for visiting ghouls -- the Bleeding Finger Lemon Cookies pictured above, and Ginger Moons, which use fresh, ground and candied ginger.

Another Canadian recipe: Mini Cheese Ball Pumpkins, 3/4-inch cheese balls made with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, red onion, walnuts, horseradish, Worcestershire and salt formed into pumpkin shapes, then rolled in Goldfish crackers with a pepper slice for a stem.

Stir up some wicked Halloween concoctions, found at the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times, sounds good even without the spooky title:

VAMPIRE BLOOD DRINK

1 gallon cranberry juice
1 gallon orange juice
1 cup raspberry sorbet, softened
1 quart seltzer

Mix juices together. Add sorbet and stir until it disappears. Add seltzer. Chill before serving.

To keep it cold, you might fill a clean, unpowdered rubber glove with water and freeze it for a floating frozen hand.

The Sacramento Bee (Get in the Halloween spirit with fun recipes) decorates a tasty guacamole dip with a spider of black olives in a web of sour cream:

SPIDER-WEB DIP

Makes 15 servings

This recipe is quick to assemble with store-bought ingredients. The recipe is from the Land O' Lakes Web site, www.landolakes.com.

1 jar (16 ounces or 1-3/4 cups) black bean dip
1 container (12 ounces) guacamole
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded lettuce
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped tomato
Tortilla chips

Spread the bean dip onto the center of your serving platter, leaving 1 to 2 inches around the edge of the platter. Carefully spread bean dip with guacamole.

Spoon the sour cream into a resealable plastic food bag. Snip off the corner of the bag and use the bag to pipe sour cream into four concentric circles on top of the guacamole. Drag a toothpick or knife through the sour cream from the center outward to make a spider-web design.

Layer lettuce, cheese and tomatoes around the edge of the platter. Serve with tortilla chips.

Note: We added a spider made out of pitted colossal olives and a slice of cherry tomato.

...Cut one pitted colossal olive in half from end to end. Place half of the olive on the dip. Cut another olive into four rings. Cut each ring in half and place the eight pieces next to the olive half to look like legs. Slice the end from another olive and place it on the end of the olive half to look like a head.

Author Gwen Schoen also offers a couple of easy ideas:

Stuff a grape with a chocolate chip so that it looks like an eyeball.

Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies make great tombstones on top of Halloween cupcakes. Or create a whole graveyard by pushing the cookies into the top of a cake. Use ready-to-use decorating gel to write "RIP" on cookies.

Be warned: The Morning News of Fayetteville, Ark., uses the small candy bars offered in markets this time of year (Bone Appetit!) as a basis for super-sweet treats. The pumpkin variation on Rice Krispies treats starts with, "1 bag Snickers Fun Size, 2 bags Dove Miniatures Dark or Milk Chocolate, 1 bag M&M'S Milk Chocolate Candies for Halloween,1 cup soft caramels..."

Sugar rush, my pretty!

The California Raisin Board has some interesting Halloween confections at its Candies page.

One Hundred Percent EDIBLE Googly Eyes! at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories is just the beginning of Flying Spaghetti Monster Treats -- using Ramen Noodles instead of Rice Krispies.

From the same source, there's easy and elegant Eyeball Caprese: Store-bought olives and mozzarella balls, tomatoes, basil, and olive oil.

Guaranteed to elicit a giggle from your most sophisticated guests, whose haughty exteriors will probably melt after a few of the Evil Mad Scientist's Pumpkin Spice Truffles for dessert.

More real food: Oozing Brie, Scary Cerebrum (using shrimp and roasted red peppers), Slime Soup (peas and mozzarella) and Warm Pumpkin Salad With Polenta and Candied Pumpkin Seeds at YumSugar's Come Party With Me: Halloween Dinner -- Menu.

In case you -- like me -- would be happy with a tasty pumpkin pie variation, here are three candidates I saved from an in-depth search:

Best Pumpkin Pudding or Pie | Healthy and Green Living

Sticky Steamed Pumpkin Pudding Recipe by - CHOW

Pumpkin Puff Recipe: Recipes: RecipeTips.com