The basic ‘boo’ is what we had before Pinterest.  If you’re old like me, you might remember the plastic printed masks with the garbage bag printed costume.  Of course, those retro costumes would look pretty fab today as an ‘old school’ kind of thing.  Our family of course was a “we don’t spend money on costumes” family so I got sent to 1st grade in a paper plate elephant mask that I made in class and my mom fashioned the rest of my costume out of paper bags.  She even had an “elephant seeds” pocket where I stored some homemade pumpkin seeds.  My teachers were less than thrilled about this highly ‘tear-able’ very delicate costume.  In the old days, there were the homemade treats which were kind of nice, but the basic candies that we find at Target today were the same ones that were handed out then.

This year, for the grown ups at least, I decided we could go beyond the basics and have some locally made chocolates on hand.  I popped into L.A. Burdick’s in Harvard Square (and got a cup of my favourite tea) and then went to town with all the seasonal chocolates.  There were ghosts and bats. There were one of L.A. Burdick’s year round favourite cute little mice but they look more possessed than cute in the Halloween boxes (and that’s a good thing).

I also stopped into Formaggio Kitchen and picked up some gâté comme des filles coffee chocolates.  They were on the pricey side, but they are a perfect combination of coffee and chocolate and they use one of my favourite coffees: George Howell.  Formaggio Kitchen also had some eery Halloween lollipops from the Melville Candy Co. and I loved this gruesome looking tablet from Chocolat Moderne out of New York City.

There are delicate marzipan pumpkins from L.A. Burdick’s and then there are the more playful chocolate oreo medallions from the Pocasset Pretzel Co.  Isabelle and I are kind of obsessed with their chocolate and candy covered pretzels too.  My favorite was the turtle and Isabelle’s was the Reese’s.

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New to me, were also Beth’s Chocolate out of Newton.  Chocolatier Beth Kirsch has a variety of flavours and some amazing hand painted chocolates as well.  I think my favourite was the Spicy Hot. A dark chocolate bonbon with spicy cinnamon and cayenne.

So whether you bring a box along for the adults as you go trick or treating, are having a party, or are going to a party, it is easy to go beyond the basic boo this year and get some ghoulishly good ganache for your crew.