Although warm drinks are popular at Halloween due to the often cool weather, a cold refreshing drink is nice to serve at the annual Halloween BOO-ffet. Guests are served inside, so there's no danger of them getting cold, and this Brain Freeze Frappé will complement the other scary dishes nicely. The drink consists of a frozen brain or two (or a large brain with several mini brains) floating in a large punchbowl. The brain(s) get soft enough that guests can spoon part into their glasses along with the liquid to make a flavorful slush. The base of the drink is a slightly thickened red drink to resemble blood (it will, however, turn a different color if you use a lot of food coloring in the brains). Depending on your preferences, you can make the brains dark so that the end result is a very scary dark slush, or leave them light so that you have an equally scary bloody slush. The slush pictured has very dark brains which make the final drink dark and scary.

With the deluge of specialty coffee shops serving frothy, slushy, frozen drinks, many think the French term frappé is a coffee drink, but the actual term refers to dozens of different frothy, frozen drinks; Brain Freeze Frappé has a refreshing fruit juice base.

Inexpensive brain molds are easy to find at specialty Halloween shops, variety stores, or online. The better ones, especially silicone and hard plastic, last for years and can be used for the following frappé as well as gelatin based salads and, depending what they're made of, cakes and molded desserts.

50 Servings

6 cups water
4 cups sugar
1 3 oz. package grape gelatin
Green gel food coloring

46 ounces pineapple juice
1 12 oz. can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 12 oz. can frozen grape juice concentrate

2 3 oz. packages raspberry gelatin
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup boiling water
2 gallons cranberry apple juice, well-chilled

1. Bring the water and sugar to a boil; turn down to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in the grape gelatin and a few drops green food coloring to make a sickly gray color. (You can add more coloring to make the brains black if you wish, so the finished frappe will be almost black.)
3. Add the pineapple juice and concentrates, and stir until mixed well. Adjust food coloring if necessary.
4. Fill several brain molds or bowls (you can use a knife to make them look like brains) and freeze. Pour the remaining mixture into a shallow airtight container and freeze.
5. Just before serving, mix the raspberry gelatin and unflavored gelatin.
6. Pour the boiling water over and stir until the sugar and gelatin are fully dissolved; stir in 4-6 cups of the chilled cranberry apple juice.
7. Remove the brains and frozen container from the freezer.
8. Place the mixture from the frozen container in the bottom of a large punchbowl.
9. Carefully use a knife to break up the mixture.
10. Pour the raspberry gelatin mixture over and stir in the remaining well-chilled cranberry juice.
11. Remove the brains from their molds and add to the punchbowl.
12. Serve, making sure each glass has some of the frozen mixture from the bottom.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 210 Calories from Fat 1
Percent Total Calories From:
Fat 0% Protein 3% Carb. 97%

Nutrient Amount per Serving
Total Fat 0 g
Saturated Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 37 mg
Total Carbohydrate 51 g
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Sugars 36 g
Protein 1 g

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 24% Calcium 0% Iron 1%

If you can't find a brain mold locally, you can order one from Amazon:
Brain Gelatin Mold
Silicone Miniature Brain Molds