Hosting a (Vegan) Halloween-Cookie Decorating Party!

My friend L casually mentioned wanting to decorate Halloween cookies.  Two weeks later, we did!  His wish was my command (although he never actually asked).  Anyway, fun was had.  I baked vegan sugar cookies and mixed up some vegan royal icing in four different colors.  It was my first time going vegan with both of them, and I was pleasantly surprised!  I pretty much picked recipes at random off the internet, which is a risky thing to do when baking for guests.  I was quite careful with how much liquid I added to the royal icing, choosing to add only 3/4 of the suggested amount and adding a tablespoon at a time until the consistency was moist but not runny.  Luckily, they both came out well and it made me happy that my vegan friend could participate.  Along with assorted decorating gels, multicolored sanding sugars, and Halloween-esque sprinkles, folks made some pretty amazing cookies. 

My friends are definitely talented.  The evening was a great excuse to light a fire in the fireplace, put on It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and mull some hot sangria apple cider.  Oh my god, it turned out so good!  I am not a big fan of alcohol, but I like it in theory.  As a foodie, I get that it is a whole other genre of taste and culinary creativity.  I do like sangria, and I love mulled apple cider, so I decided to try out a combination.  I mixed a half bottle of sulfite-free organic red wine and a half gallon of apple cider in a saucepan, then added a cup or two of fresh cranberries, two sliced oranges, a cinnamon stick, split in half, several whole cloves, a dash of ground ginger, and a couple of tablespoons of sweetener.  I warmed it over medium heat, starting about 20 minutes before guests arrived.  This way they would be greeted with the warm, sweet, and spicy scent of it simmering away.  The cranberries cooked and popped, and eventually disintegrated into little tangy bites that were fun to slurp up from the bottom of the cup.  I thought I had invented the hot apple cider sangria thing, but apparently someone got to it first.  In any case, it's a recipe that's going into my keep pile!