Here’s a clever, easy entertaining idea for creative serving pieces—which also lets you get your vegetables and decor all in one! There’s no need to buy special dishware for Halloween, Thanksgiving or any fall dinner—just hollow out two medium sized gouds, one larger and one smaller. Now you’ve got the perfect serving set for crudité and dip in a gourd.
To customize it for Halloween, add a “spiderweb” on top. Our Halloween Spiderweb Dip can be your favorite all-occasion dip, whatever that is—French Onion, baba ghanoush, chocolate hummus. The trick is just to serve it in one gourd, with crudités or sliced apples in another, and to make a contrasting spider web pattern on top.
To weave a “spiderweb” across your dip in a gourd, pipe concentric circles of a darker dip on top, and finish with a dot in the middle. Then stick a toothpick in the center dot and pull it through to the outer edge, repeating until you’ve created a spiderweb pattern. (The same technique works great for spiderweb-topped cupcakes.)
We used a mix of balsamic vinegar and Greek yogurt for a spiderweb on top of sour cream dip, and the same mix would work well on hummus or any other light colored spread. (You could also color the yogurt with sriracha if you like your dips spicy!) For a darker dip, like chocolate hummus, plain yogurt or even white icing would work.
What You’ll Need
- Two medium sized gourds, one larger than the other
- Knife and spoon to carve gourds
- Dip of your choice
- Contrasting dip for garnish
- Piping bag (a Ziploc with the corner cut off works well, too)
- Toothpick
- Dishcloth or paper towel
How-To
Step 1 Carve the top off the gourds off to form an opening, then scoop out the middle, creating two bowls.
Step 2 Fill one bowl with dip, set the other aside for cruite, breadsticks, or whatever you’ll be dipping.
Step 3 Fill a piping bag with the second dip in the contrasting color. Pipe concentric circles in the dip in the gourd, with a dot in the center.
Step 4 Stick a toothpick in the dot and pull it through to the edge of the gourd to create a spiderweb pattern. Repeat at evenly spaced intervals around the gourd until you have a spiderweb design.
Step 5 Fill the larger gourd with crudites or breadsticks, set the pair out and watch guests flock like flies!
For more fun, easy ideas for Halloween at Home, click here.
