Halloween Party Food: Potato Beetles Recipe

Crowd-pleasing fingerling potatoes, wild rice and creme fraiche combine to create a spooky Halloween snack that looks as though it could crawl right off the platter.

Halloween Potato Beetles

Photography by Buff Strickland

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Makes 24 potatoes

Ingredients:

24 small fingerling potatoes, preferably the purple or black varieties
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup wild rice
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened to room temperature
pastry bag, fitted with a very narrow tip (You could also use a zip-top bag with a tiny hole snipped in the corner.)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, toss potatoes with olive oil and garlic salt. Spread in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet, then roast until tender, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

2. Using about 10 pieces of wild rice per potato, create "legs" by sticking rice into either side of potato.

3. Fill pastry bag with cream cheese, then pipe "eyes" onto front of each potato. Pipe stripes or wavy lines to create decorative patterns.

Creepy - Crawly Halloween Potato Beetles

A decorator puts the finishing touches on these crowd-pleasing beetles. Made with roasted fingerling potatoes and creme fraiche eyeballs they look as though they could crawl right off the platter.