Halloween-Themed Cocktails: Graveyard Ghoulada and Ice Cube Eyeballs

These glasses are sure to elicit some blood-curdling screams. Plus, toast your Halloween guests with ghoulish flair by adding floating eyeballs to their drinks.

GRAVEYARD GHOULADA

Usually, glasses are rimmed with salt to help flavor cocktail favorites like margaritas. But at Halloween, rims coated with vampire's blood are much more appropriate for the holiday. If you experience any difficulty extracting the blood of an unsuspecting victim, you can substitute 1 teaspoon light corn syrup and about 2 tablespoons red food coloring--a mixture that is sure to give your lips a hideous, vampirish gleam. Pour the corn syurp mixture onto a small plate, slowly twirl the glasses into the mixture to coat the entire rims and turn the glasses upright. Let the "blood" drip slightly for a ghastly effect, then fill the glass with a bloody good drink.

RECIPE

Graveyard Ghoulada

Makes 2 medium drinks

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice, plus more if needed
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons good-quality rum (optional)

Directions:

Whisk together all ingredients. Place 1 scoop crushed ice in a blender, and add drink mixture. Blend until the mixture is smooth; add more pineapple if mixture is too thick. Carefully pour drink mixture into prepared glasses; serve.

ICE CUBE EYEBALLS

At Halloween--the one time of year when the gory, grotesque and gruesome take center stage--use the occasion to conjure up your wicked imagination with just the type of drink Dracula might have sipped at cocktail hour. With medium-size radishes and blueberries, you can prepare a batch of hair-raising ice cubes that seem to resemble eyeballs--ideal for a horrifying Halloween martini or in a gruesome glass of flavored water for your young ghouls and gals.